“Dad’s fine.” If not being able to speak and having to learn how to use his body all over again was fine. “There’s no change.”

Kane’s expression grew grim. “Maybe we need to consider taking him to a different doctor.”

C.J. wanted to point out that there was no we in this situation, but Kane had stepped up after Senior’s stroke. He and their old man had never gotten along, but Kane had taken care of things here when Senior had been in the hospital, their father having suffered his stroke during that trip he’d made to Pennsylvania last fall. C.J. wondered if Kane realized Senior had come to try to reconcile with his second son, to see if there was some way they could be in each other’s lives.

C.J. thought his brother did know, and that was part of the reason why he’d made several trips to Texas since they’d taken Senior back home. Why he called every few days to check up on him.

“He’s seeing the best specialists in Houston,” C.J. pointed out. Funny but it was usually him wanting to take charge, wanting to make things happen when he felt they were moving along too slowly. “We have to be patient.”

Kane shook his head. “You must be drunk. You’re not patient.”

“I have to be in this case.” He’d realized he’d drive himself crazy if he tried to control things. He couldn’t make his father get better. He could only pray that it would happen.

“So you’re not here because of Dad.” Kane grinned. “What’s the matter, Junior? Miss me?”

C.J.’s answer to that was to flip his brother off. “I’m in town on business.” He accepted the fresh drink Kane poured for him. “Personal business.”

Kane frowned, but then a light C.J. didn’t like one bit entered his eyes. “Does this personal business have anything to do with a woman?”

C.J. nodded. “Ivy Rutherford. She works at King’s Crossing and Bradford House.”

“Never thought I’d see the day when a woman would have you so wrapped up you’d leave Houston—and your precious job—just to track her down. I hadn’t realized you even knew anyone in Shady Grove other than me and Charlotte.”

“I met Ivy at your engagement party.”

Kane’s eyebrows rose. “Must have been some introduction.”

“You could say that.” He sipped his drink. “She’s pregnant.”

C.J. didn’t have to wait long for his brother’s reaction.

Kane laughed. Hard.

“It’s not that funny,” C.J. muttered while Kane still guffawed like an idiot, so loud that several other patrons turned his way. Even his scary bartender with the neck tattoo frowned at him in concern.

“You’re not standing on this side of the bar. Trust me,” Kane said, still chuckling. “It’s freaking hilarious.”

“I don’t even know if it’s really mine.”

“Did you sleep with her?” C.J. gave a reluctant nod. “Then I guess it’s possible. Don’t tell me you told her you didn’t believe her.”

“What was I supposed to say? ‘Great? Let’s get married’?”

Kane shook his head, giving him a pitying look. Kane was pitying him.

His life was in the toilet for sure.

“You know how we grew up,” C.J. said. “We were taught to watch out for ourselves, that people always wanted something from us.”

“We were taught that,” Kane admitted. “And maybe there was even good reason for it, but we’re adults now and can make up our own minds. We learned how to spot the users, the people who wanted to get close to us for the money or because of our last name. Is Ivy like them?”

C.J. wasn’t sure, and that was the problem. “Look, I’m here to see if she really is pregnant with my child, and then she and I can decide what to do, how to proceed. If she ever talks to me again,” he mumbled.

Kane grinned. Looked like C.J. was really making his brother’s day all jolly and bright. “You pissed her off, didn’t you? You did a Senior and got all arrogant and controlling, and she told you to kiss ass.”

“Something like that.”

“It must kill you,” Kane said, leaning against the counter, all at ease and happy with his life while C.J. was just trying to figure a few things out. “To realize you’re human. You made the same mistake I made—though I was a dumb kid when I got Meryl pregnant with Estelle.”

No, what killed him was that he’d made the same mistake their father had made twice. Senior had been married to their mother when he’d had an affair and gotten his mistress pregnant with Oakes. Then, when he’d been seemingly happy in his second marriage, he’d cheated again and fathered Zach.

Worse than following in Senior’s footsteps? He’d acted like him. Kane had been right. C.J. had been arrogant with Ivy. Controlling.

A chip off the old block.

Shit.

But he could still fix this. All he had to do was stop reacting as though Ivy was out to get him.

Before it was too late.

CHAPTER TEN

THE NEXT MORNING, C.J. met the deliveryman at the door of Bradford House, accepted the envelope from the PI Oakes had hired. The envelope filled with information about Ivy, about her past and who she really was. He paid and tipped the deliveryman, then shut the door. His fingers tightened on the packet. He stared at it, wondering what he’d find out inside, wondering if he even wanted to know.

He looked up and felt his heart tumble when he saw Ivy walking toward him, holding hands with a little boy.

He had a flash, a premonition of her coming toward him, fingers linked with their child’s, her smile soft and inviting and sexy just for him, her stomach softly rounded with their second baby.

He shook his head, dispelling the image. Crazy. He wasn’t a man prone to flights of fancy or who believed in premonitions or visions of what was to come. The future was what you made happen. He didn’t believe in fate or destiny; he believed in hard work and following through.

But it had been a nice daydream, one he’d never thought he’d have pictured for himself, especially not with someone who wasn’t the type of woman he’d ever thought of having a future with.

“Skulking around, trying to get a look at me?” Ivy asked with that sexy smirk. “Or are you just taking your stalking up to a new level?”

“Neither,” he said, holding up the envelope. “Just had some work delivered.” He glanced at the boy, who was whining and holding his arms up to Ivy. Ivy picked him up, and C.J.’s stomach turned. Would he find out from the information the PI had gathered that this kid belonged to her? “Your son?” he asked, his words tight.

Though she and the boy both had blond hair, C.J. didn’t see much resemblance between them. “Would it bother you if he was?”

Hell, yes. “Is he yours?” he asked instead, not liking feeling so judgmental.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t make a habit of getting pregnant by random men. You’re the first. This is Mitchell, Fay’s youngest son. She has two, both born within the bonds of holy matrimony, in case you were harboring disparaging thoughts about her.”

He stepped closer. “I wasn’t. Hello, Mitchell.” The kid pressed his face into the side of Ivy’s neck and hugged her with enough force to have her eyes bugging out. C.J. frowned at her. “Is he afraid of me?”

“He’s shy.” She rubbed the child’s back. “He’s not used to strangers, and he’s not big on men in general, are you, buddy?”

“You’re good with him.”

Her mouth quirked. “You sound surprised.”

He was. She was so overtly sexy and not exactly maternal. “Do you have siblings?” Maybe she had younger brothers and sisters she’d helped with while growing up.

“Nope.” She winked. “Only child. I figure my mom was smart enough to realize once you hit perfection, there’s no point having more kids.”

He grinned. “I agree. Too bad that logic didn’t stop my father from having three more sons.”

“Just your father?”

“He had one of them with my mother. The other two with other women.”

The kid lifted his head and started playing with Ivy’s hair, and C.J. almost envied him. He remembered how soft it was, how fragrant, how it had trailed across his body, branding his skin. “Maybe I should be asking if you have a habit of getting women pregnant,” she said.