He advanced on her, closing what little space there was between them. “You know what? The same goes for you if you think I’m capable of hurting a kid, particularly one who belongs to me.”
“He’ll never belong to you,” Adrian shot back. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
He smiled because he knew without a doubt that he would prove her wrong. He’d prove his worth, both to her and Kyle. He’d earn his place in their lives, just as he’d earn his place in Fairhope. “We’ll see about that.” And just because it would catch her off guard, he hooked an arm around her waist. She stumbled into him, navel to navel, and gasped as his lips lowered to her ear. “By the end of this, you’ll both know you can count on me. I promise you that.”
She balled her hands against his chest and twisted out of his grip. “Let go.”
James obeyed. Spurred by the awareness that had flashed briefly across her face, he let his smile soften. “See you around, li’l mama,” he said in an undertone as he slipped by her, close enough to get a whiff of her scent. It was the same as it always had been—subtle, sultry with just a touch of sweetness. He trapped it in his lungs on his way out, striding confidently as he faced the blinding streams of sunlight.
* * *
“HE’SINSUFFERABLE.”
Briar Savitt sipped her tea, not responding to Adrian’s heated words. The tea was infused with chamomile. Adrian’s friend had taken one look at her when she brought Kyle to Hanna’s Inn that evening and ordered her to sit while she put the kettle on the stove.
In her checkered apron and high-necked silk top, Briar looked every bit the calm and collected innkeeper. Which was why Adrian had sought her out instead of Olivia, the matchmaker, or Roxie, the hopeless romantic. She’d needed a place to go that evening to avoid home and, more to the point, her neighbor. The inn offered the warm light of comfort and good food, and Briar was always willing to lend a sensible and sympathetic ear.
As an added bonus, Kyle loved picking her husband’s brain. Adrian could hear Cole’s deep voice from the next room, followed by Kyle’s laugh and the squeal of Cole and Briar’s baby girl, Harmony.
The homey noises soothed some of the frazzled edges Adrian had been struggling with for hours. She picked at the corner of the lemon square on the plate in front of her. She didn’t know how much she would be able to stomach tonight with her insides twisting and turning. Briar lifted the kettle from the trivet in the center of the round kitchen table to refill Adrian’s mug.
“James Bracken might be a lot of things,” Briar said thoughtfully, “but I don’t think even he’d stoop so low as to drop the paternity bomb on Kyle out of the blue, if that’s what you’re worried about. Not without your say-so. He’d be a fool to, at any rate. Especially if he’s telling the truth about wanting to earn a place in Kyle’s life. You don’t do that by force.”
“I wish I could believe that,” Adrian said, drinking the soothing tea. “You don’t know him like I do. He used to be rash, impulsive...he certainly didn’t listen to authority.”
“I remember,” Briar said with a nod. Adrian sometimes forgot they had gone to the same high school. Briar and Olivia had graduated a couple of years ahead of her. “My mom and his were both involved in the church. The reverend’s death hit us all hard. And I’d hear the gossip about James when I came home from college for summer and holidays.” A line appeared between Briar’s brows as she studied the place mat in front of her. “Grief isn’t an easy thing to bear, especially when it comes suddenly.”
Adrian pursed her lips. Briar would know all about grief, as her mother, Hanna, had died of cancer when Briar was fresh out of cooking school. “Be that as it may. It’s been eight years since he left. Longer since his father died. He’s a grown-ass man and I’d be a moron to buy that as an excuse for his behavior anymore. And besides, he didn’t leave me in the lurch because he was grieving.”
“I know,” Briar acknowledged. “I’m not trying to make excuses for him. And I do agree that caution is your best plan of action as far as he’s concerned—particularly for Kyle’s sake. However, I have a hard time believing he’d come back to Fairhope unless he really did think he had something to prove, something to fix. It takes a great deal of courage to come back or to redeem yourself. Especially in a place where you experienced or were the cause of as much upheaval as he was eight years ago.”
Adrian shook her head. “I don’t have it in me to feel sorry for him. I spent two months as his coping mechanism because his arrest cut off his other means of dealing with his problems, those of the substance variety. It took me a long time to accept the fact that that’s all I was to him.”
Briar frowned, glancing toward the living room where they could both see the baby crawling haltingly across the rug, encouraged by the dark-haired man and the enthusiastic boy. She sighed and lowered her voice. “That’s justifiable. But after seeing Cole cut off from his son the way he was for so long, knowing what it did to him...I’m sorry, I have a hard time agreeing that you shouldn’t at least let James try to earn a place in Kyle’s life, even just a small one.”
“This is different,” Adrian told her. “Cole didn’t deserve to be apart from Gavin the way he was. Nothing in James’s past tells me that I should trust him.”
Briar took a sip of tea and added, “So what are you going to do? You aren’t really going to send Kyle to The Farm to live with your parents, are you?”
“No,” Adrian agreed.
“You can’t keep them from seeing each other,” Briar pointed out.
“I realize that,” Adrian said darkly. “And I’ll deal with that, too. Even if I have to set up an electric fence on the property line to zap James if he gets within five feet.” She felt too tired now to contemplate that particular quandary. “Is Liv still sick?”
“She was here this morning,” Briar said. A small smile pulled at her mouth. “Asking about ginger. For nausea.”
“So she is still sick.”
“Yes, but...” Briar let out a laugh as she set down her mug with a clack. “Come on, Adrian. You and I have both been there. The first trimester is hardly a walk in the park.”
“First tri...” The words trailed off as Adrian finally put the pieces together. She gasped and sat up straighter. “No! Olivia’s pregnant? I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can she, bless her heart,” Briar admitted. “But she and Gerald are married. They’re happy. They just bought all of her grandmother’s land in Silverhill. It’s not like they don’t have the room, the heart or the capacity for a baby...”
“Sure,” Adrian said. “But it’s Liv.” She shook her head when Briar raised a brow. “I guess I just never thought of her as a mother. Especially not so soon.”
Briar tilted her head. “Did you think of yourself as one?”
Adrian blew out a breath. “No. Not until I was.” Glancing toward the living room again, she felt the knots in her shoulders loosen. “Not until I felt the first flutters, those first kicks. And then not completely until I held him the first time, until he looked at me...”
Briar smiled warmly. “And look at you now. The best mother any little boy could ask for.”
“Thanks for that.” She’d needed the vote of confidence, Adrian realized.
“Bring Kyle for breakfast tomorrow,” Briar said. “There will be quiche and beignets. Olivia and Gerald will be here, as well. You can avoid James for a bit longer and we can tell Liv she has another shoulder to lean on.”
Adrian nodded. The promise of breakfast at Hanna’s surrounded by friends who were as close as family cheered her immensely. “We’ll be here.”
“Hey, ladies!” Cole