Temptation - Brenda Jackson [19]
“And just what are you accusing me of, Brad?”
“You’re too intelligent to play dumb, Abigail. I know you’re the one who arranged to have that baby left with a note claiming it’s mine, when you know good and well it’s not.”
“What! How can you accuse me of such a thing?”
“Easily. You want to be the TCC’s next president.”
“And you think I’ll go so far as to use a baby? A precious little baby to show you up?”
Zeke cringed. He could actually hear Abigail’s voice breaking. Hell, it sounded as if the woman was crying. He paused outside the door.
“Dang, Abigail, I didn’t mean to make you cry, for Pete’s sake.”
“Well, how could you accuse me of something like that? I love babies. And that little girl was abandoned. I had nothing to do with it, Brad. You’ve got to believe me.”
Zeke inhaled deeply. The woman was downright bawling now. Brad had really gone and done it now.
“I’m sorry, Abby. I see that I was wrong. I didn’t mean to get you so upset. I’m sorry.”
“You should be. And to prove I’m not behind it,” she said, still crying, “I suggest we suspend campaigning for the election until the case is solved.”
“And you’ll go along with doing that?”
“Of course. We’re talking about a baby, Brad, and her welfare comes first.”
“I agree,” Brad said. “Thanks, Abby. And again I’m sorry for accusing you earlier.”
Zeke thought it was time for him to make his entrance before Brad made a bigger mess of things. At least he’d had the sense to apologize to the woman. He opened the door and stopped. Brad was standing in the middle of the room holding a still-weeping Abigail in his arms.
For a moment Zeke thought he should tiptoe back out and was about to do just that, when they both glanced over at him. And as if embarrassed at being caught in such an embrace, the two quickly jumped part.
Zeke placed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and smiled at the pair. “Brad. Abigail. Does this mean the two of you are no longer at war?”
A short while later Zeke was getting back in his car thinking that he hadn’t needed to put out the fire after all. Brad and Abigail were a long way from being best friends, but at least it seemed as if they’d initiated a truce. If he hadn’t been a victim of abandonment himself, he would think something good had at least resulted from Sunnie’s appearance.
Sunnie.
He shook his head. Sheila had deemed the baby be called Sunnie for the time being, and everyone had pretty much fallen in line with her request. He had refrained from calling her earlier just in case she and the baby were sleeping in late. But now it was close to two in the afternoon. Surely they were up by now. While she had been upstairs taking a shower last night, he had opened her refrigerator to grab another beer and noticed hers was barer than his. That meant, also like him, she must eat out a lot. Chances were she wouldn’t want to take the baby out, so the least he could do would be to be a good guy and stop somewhere, buy something for her to eat and take it to her.
While at the TCC he had checked and nothing had gotten caught on the video camera other than a woman’s hand placing the baby on the doorstep. Whoever had done it seemed to have known just where the cameras were located, which meant the culprit was someone familiar with the grounds of the club. Could it have been an inside job? At least they knew they could erase Abigail off the list. She had been in a meeting when the baby had been dropped off.
Besides, to say Abigail Langley had gotten emotional as a result of Brad’s accusation was an understatement. He couldn’t help wondering why. He knew she was a widow. Had she lost a baby at some point while she’d been married? He’d been tempted to ask Brad but figured knowing his and Abigail’s history, he would probably be the last to know. He’d heard from more than one source that the two of them had been butting heads since they were kids.
After buckling his seat belt he turned his car’s ignition and eased out the parking lot, wondering what type of meal Sheila might have a taste for. Still not