Intercepted By Love: Part Four Part 5

"I can't help it if your mother decided to get high on smack." Roxanne rolled her eyes. "You're the one who said she was so reliable. It's your fault."

A nerve jiggled on the back of Cade's neck. How the h.e.l.l had Roxanne known what his mother was taking? He was sure he hadn't said anything to her.

"Did you give drugs to my mom?"

"Why would I?" Her eyes bore into him, too aggressive, like she was covering another emotion.

"How'd you know what she was high on?"

"Come on, everyone knows Barb Prescott's a junkie. Once a junkie, always a junkie."

"And you trusted her with your baby?"

"Look, Cade. I never wanted this baby. He cramps my style."

"Why didn't you give him to d.i.c.k instead of palming this baby off on me? Am I a chump? An idiot? Oh, let's fool Cade into thinking this is his baby. Let's blackmail him into taking the baby because we all know he'd never ever let a son or daughter of his go into the foster care system. Why? What's in it for you?"

Roxanne backed herself against the counter and glared at him. "You better keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you. You know why we picked you? You have the most to lose. After I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to get rid of it, but d.i.c.k wanted his piece of immortality. He wanted another baby, so I slept with a bunch of guys while they were drunk. The night you threw the interception was the deciding factor. d.i.c.k knew he had you by the b.a.l.l.s. You'll never ever play football again if he accuses you of throwing the game for Vegas bookmakers."

Cade's blood boiled so fast to his head he thought he'd explode in a sea of red. "What's in it for you? Why did you sleep with him in the first place?"

Roxanne's lips trembled and she blinked. Despite her tough act, she looked like a bird with a broken wing. "You don't want to know."

Andie heard voices downstairs. She opened her eyes and took in the dark room, the bed, and her mother sleeping beside her.

She was definitely not in ancient Israel, despite the memory of the big man with the brown beard. She closed her eyes and recalled the way he'd felt when he hugged her-warm and cuddly, comforting, yet exciting. If only she could be back in her dreams where men were rugged and rough, tough on the outside and mushy inside. Sigh. But this was no dream, and this room looked real and modern-her time in the twenty-first century.

She opened her eyes. Something seemed familiar about this room. She'd been here before. Opening the door, she peered down a spiral staircase. It was trimmed with wrought iron and had floating steps. She could see light beyond the stairs at the bottom. Feeling a little like Sleeping Beauty descending the staircase on her way to her destiny with the spinning wheel, Andie glided out the door and stepped toward the light.

A man and a woman were arguing about a baby. She quickened her steps. Were they taking her baby away from her? Where was he? Didn't she have a baby boy with bright blue eyes?

She shook the fog from her brain. She wasn't Michal and this was definitely not Israel. Except the man's voice was real-angry and gruff. He was speaking English.

Let's fool Cade into thinking this is his baby. Let's blackmail him into taking the baby because we all know he'd never ever let a son or daughter of his go into the foster care system.

Andie's heart raced, and the sound of the man's voice tugged her slow, cotton-candied mind. This was important. The man, Cade, he'd said to remember him. He'd handed her the baby and said it was theirs. So why was he denying their baby?

She perked her ears at the woman's response. Her voice was lower, so Andie crept closer. Vegas bookmakers? Some guy named d.i.c.k? And Cade throwing an interception?

Super Bowl, Super Bowl. Her pulse thundered in her ears. Someone named Cade was being blackmailed.

Cade was important. Cade said he loved her. There's no love like Cade's. Cade loved the baby, but the man in the kitchen said the baby didn't belong to him, that it was d.i.c.k's baby.

The kitchen door swung open, and a woman dashed out, flinging her hand over her eyes, weeping. Andie jumped back, but not fast enough.

The woman bounced off her and collapsed to the floor. Andie knelt by her side. "Who are you? What's wrong?"

"f.u.c.k my life. All of it. I'm done. They have nothing on me. Nothing."

"Who? What are you talking about?" Andie put her arm around the rail thin blonde.

"Take my baby. Take him and get the h.e.l.l out of LA." She flung Andie from her and ran out the front door, leaving it open.

Andie ran after her, but a strong hand gripped her shoulder. "Let her go."

It was the man named Cade, the one from her dreams. Or was this a dream and the dusty road to Jerusalem real? His eyes shone as blue as a desert lake, and the way he held her, made her tingle and feel protected and safe at the same time.

"Who are you?" she asked the man with the baby. "Why is she asking me to take her baby? Is he not mine?"

"Are you ready for the truth?"

Andie nodded. Behind her, her mother said, "Yes. You'd better level with us right now."

Chapter Eight.

"Let me take care of the baby." Andie's mother marched to the kitchen and found clean bottles in the dishwasher. "Then we're having it out. If I don't like what I hear, Andie and I are leaving in the morning."

Cade swallowed, his throat dry. "Is Andie up for this? She's had a long day."

"I'm fine. All I've been doing is sleeping." She wrapped her arms around her nightgown. Sometime during the evening, her mother must have roused her and changed her clothes.

"I'll change the baby first." Cade retreated from the kitchen toward the bedroom where his mother had been staying. Things were spiraling out of control, and he felt like the little Dutch boy with his fingers and thumbs in the dike.

Maybe it was better to let it out. Andie didn't exactly remember him, but she hadn't rejected him either. It was her mother who had to be convinced.

Outside, dogs barked under the window. Great. He'd forgotten to let Red and Gollie in. He changed Bret's diapers and put him in a onesie, then wrapped him in a thin blanket. It was August, after all, and there was no sense overheating the poor little guy.

When he returned to the kitchen area, someone had already let the dogs in. Andie was on the floor with them, petting and kissing Gollie while Red sniffed at her, wagging his tail.

She looked up at him. "I remember Gollie. She's my dog. Mom, I remember getting her from Fran, and then she got lost."

Cade's heartbeat ratcheted. Did she remember him driving her around looking for Gollie? He wished he could speak to Andie in private and figure out what she could recall, but he owed it to them to tell the truth, wherever it would lead.

"Here, let me take the baby," Pam said. "I know you have to work tomorrow, so don't worry about him. We'll watch him since we're staying with you."

"Thanks, I'm really up a creek without a paddle." He let her take Bret, then extended a hand to Andie. "Let's sit on the couch in the living room."

"I'm still not sure how I know you, but I'm ready to hear it," she said, letting him pull her to her feet. Her fingers clasped around his. The connection between them was electric, warm, and real.

"I promise you the whole truth, but like your mom said, I won't push memories into you." It was enough that she trusted him. He'd have to earn her love all over again. Even though his heart was bursting and every yearning in his body was to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, he'd have to move at her pace. He wouldn't make the mistake of demanding her affection or claiming a spot in her memories. If she'd fallen in love with him once, hopefully she can do it again. The chemistry was more than enough, if she felt anything like he felt just from touching fingers.

Together they settled in the sunken living room on the expansive leather sectional. The shades were up and the night lights of Los Angeles twinkled below them, silhouetted by the tall spindly palm trees with heads like scruffy dogs.

He put his arm around Andie and drew her close, then kissed the top of her head, while her mother settled catty corner from them. She held Bret and put the bottle to his mouth. "I can't believe what I heard about this baby, so maybe you should start there."

It wasn't the best place to start, especially since Andie appeared not to know anything about him, but he'd take it, since Pam seemed to have accepted her role in helping him with Bret.

"Sure, except right now, I need a promise from you two not to expose what I'm about to tell you, at least not until I have a plan. I haven't figured out who is behind this scheme and which people can get hurt. I'm trusting you not to mention it, especially to Declan."

"Sounds fair," Pam said.

"Same here," Andie agreed. "Declan's already lied to me. He said all my clothes were destroyed in the car accident and pretended we had just gotten married, when in reality, two years had pa.s.sed. I'm interested in figuring out all the missing pieces."

"Okay." Cade took a deep breath, unable to help the shudder that rattled his throat. "The baby is Roxanne's and a married man's child. I got roped in because I threw the game losing interception for the LA Flash in this year's Super Bowl. I admit I slept with Roxanne New Year's Eve, but I never suspected she could be pregnant. I met Andie in New York where I went on vacation after the Super Bowl, and Roxanne found me there. She claimed I got her pregnant, so I came back to LA and accepted the baby because Roxanne showed me a prenatal test which came back positive for me being the father. Once the baby was born, I scheduled another test with the blood drawn from the umbilical cord, but before I got the results, the real father called me. He told me he's married to a rich woman and that if I didn't claim the baby, he would say I purposely threw away the Super Bowl to help my sister's gambling cronies. She's in jail for racketeering and money laundering for the mob. This man also says he could put my mother in jail for embezzlement and that he put up the funds for the movie Andie's working on about the life of King David."

"Who is this man?" Andie's mother asked. "Did he threaten Andie?"

"Only to the extent she would lose her job. Mostly it was my family and me. He could ruin my career." Cade rubbed Andie's arm gently as she leaned against him, still relaxed, even as her mother cross-examined him.

"But we've heard the gambling rumors already," Pam said. "You've been cleared by the commissioner. Why would this man's word be taken over yours?"

Cade swallowed a lump the size of a golf ball and bit his bottom lip. "He's very powerful, and if I don't have to tell you who he is, I'd rather not. My friend, the guy who's putting up the movie, said it could get dangerous. I don't know if we're dealing with the mob or not. Apparently, it has something to do with the revitalization of Los Angeles and rebuilding projects, and of course there is the bookmaking and sports gambling connection."

"I don't get it," Andie said. "Why you? Couldn't he have paid off any guy without a job to claim the baby? I don't see why he needs to blackmail you for something you've already been cleared from."

"He said he trusted me to raise his son and love him." Cade knew how stupid this sounded. Andie was right. Any halfway decent guy without money could have been chosen-someone less well known and less likely to draw attention.

"So, basically, your mother could go to jail and you could be disgraced," Pam concluded. "It does sound weak. Did he offer you any carrots other than Andie's job in the movie?"

This was the part Cade had not wanted to divulge. After all, Coach Settles claimed he had earned the part of starting quarterback. If word got out that he had traded his integrity for the job, he would be not just disgraced, but ruined.

"Nothing that I didn't earn." Cade hedged. After all, he'd refused that part of the deal. "He did say he'd pay for Bret's schooling and expenses. I a.s.sume he made a similar deal with Roxanne."

"Sounds like she's cracking," Pam said. "I heard her when she left. What did she mean get out of LA? Are we in danger?"

"I hope not." Cade didn't want to sugarcoat. "Trust me. I would never endanger you or Andie, but if I uncover anything, I will personally send you back to Itasca on the next flight."

"So, the baby's not mine?" Andie laid her hand on his chest and peered into his eyes. "Not yours either?"

"No, but I'm taking care of him until we figure out what the deal is with his real parents."

She leaned into him and kissed him. "I feel like he should be ours. I feel like I've met him before and loved him."

Her soft, tentative kiss was like a rebirth, filling him with hope and wonder. He'd never felt the same sense of belonging and being accepted as he did with her. And having once tasted this, he'd never want to let it go.

"We'll see if it's meant to be." He couldn't help kissing her back. "All I know is I love you, and with love, anything's possible."

"I don't even know you, and I believe you." She opened her mouth and melted into his kiss.

Chapter Nine.

Andie took a nice long bath, making sure to shave her legs and fix herself up after her ordeal in the hospital. She was missing a patch of hair where the doctors had operated and drained fluid from her brain, but fortunately, it was covered by the rest of her long, flowing hair. Besides, she could wear a bandana to be on the safe side.

The man, Cade, loved her. Could it really be possible that in the two years since she'd married Declan that she'd met and fallen in love with a rugged football player? One who was embroiled in a mess of scandals and intrigue? What must her mother think about her kissing Cade right in front of her?

Except it had all felt so right and so true. Every cell in her body was drawn to him, not only in a s.e.xual sense, but in a way that felt elemental, that she belonged with him.

"Ready to video conference with your father?" Her mother knocked on the bathroom door. "I spoke to Aunt Helen and she's figured out how to set it up. They're on screen right now."

"Let me put on some makeup." Andie peered at her pale face. She really did look like a ghost with bags under her eyes. Her cheeks had thinned, making her face longer. The fringe benefit of being out cold for a week was that she'd lost ten pounds. She rubbed blush on her cheeks and brushed on a light coat of mascara. She picked over the cosmetics arranged on the counter and sniffed the perfumes. Everything was hers, but unfamiliar.

Except for Cade. Even though she couldn't recollect a thing about him, he felt right-not to mention totally hot, strong, loving, and protective. If only her mother wasn't such a prude and a stickler about that piece of paper she supposedly had with Declan, she'd be exploring her connection with him and enjoying it.

Andie spritzed the perfume with the lady bird on it, Dot by Marc Jacobs. It held a fun energy in it, and she was ready to tackle whatever came up. The kiss with Cade was still tingling on her lips. It wasn't every day that a girl woke up like Sleeping Beauty to find a man like Cade professing love and devotion, all without her having a clue where he came from. The story he told about the baby, Bret, and the woman, Roxanne, was so bizarre it had to be true. Besides, he seemed honest and trustworthy-a man without guile-good people. And face it, how could she not fall in love with him?

"Andie," her mother called. "Your father's getting tired waiting. We set up the video already."

"Oh, sorry. I kind of got lost in my thoughts." She opened the door. "How do I look?"

"Pretty, as always." Her mother had Bret in one arm as she leaned over and smoothed her hair back.

The screen in the bedroom, some kind of converted home theater, covered the entire wall. Her father and aunt smiled and waved.

"Dad!" Andie held her arms out as if to hug him. "I'm coming home as soon as I can fly. I can't believe what happened."

Her father had a tablet computer of some sort propped on an extension of his wheelchair. He moved a joystick with one hand, and a mechanical voice said, "I've missed you, sweetie. I'm doing okay."

"Did Mom tell you I forgot two years of my life? I'm supposedly a consultant on a movie about King David. I'm also supposedly married to Declan and getting a divorce, and I met a guy named Cade this spring."

Her father moved his hand. "You did. You were supposed to bring him to our house for dinner."

"Do you like him?"