Читать книгу Paws And Proposals - Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 20

‘THERE’s something I have to tell you before you agree to marry me, Bree …’

‘I thought I already had.’ Bree stirred sleepily in Jackson’s arms as they lay naked in bed together.

‘You might want to reconsider that decision once I’ve finished speaking …’

Bree’s attention sharpened as she noted the seriousness of his tone. ‘Whatever is it, Jackson, I’ll still want to marry you,’ she promised.

‘I hope so.’ He sighed shakily. ‘Bree—Danny isn’t my biological son. In every way that counts he’s mine, and he always will be,’ he continued firmly. ‘But I’m not his biological father.’

Bree felt completely awake now and she looked up at Jackson searchingly, seeing the truth of his words in the steadiness of his deep blue gaze.

‘But he looks so much like you …’

Jackson’s jaw tightened. ‘Yes.’

‘But how can that be if—?’ Bree frowned as her thoughts tumbled over each other in an effort to make sense of Jackson’s statement. ‘Your sister Jocelyn?’

‘I always knew you were too intelligent for my own good.’ Jackson smiled at her ruefully. ‘Yes, Danny is Jocelyn’s son.’

Bree shook her head in disbelief. ‘But how …? I know your sister … I know Jocelyn died … but where’s his real father?’

‘Still married to his wife, I imagine.’ Jackson frowned.

‘Ah …’ Bree grimaced. ‘Tell me what happened, Jackson,’ she invited soothingly.

It was a familiar tale: a university student falling in love with one of her married lecturers, the two of them embarking on an affair that culminated when Jocelyn found out she was pregnant.

‘My mother was horrified,’ Jackson continued grimly. ‘Refused to have anything to do with Jocelyn unless she agreed to have an abortion.’

‘Which she obviously didn’t.’

‘No, thank God!’ He gave a shudder. ‘There was never any question of it in Jocelyn’s mind. The baby was hers and she was going to keep it.’

Thinking of Danny, of how adorable he was, Bree felt eternally grateful for Jocelyn’s determination.

‘But Clarissa absolutely adores Danny.’

‘Yes,’ Jackson agreed drily.

‘And she knows he’s Jocelyn’s son?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Jackson nodded. ‘She adored him from the first moment she saw him—shortly before Jocelyn died.’

Bree swallowed. ‘Did the two of them manage to make their peace before …?’

‘Yes,’ he said gratefully. ‘And it’s because of my mother’s genuine love for Danny that I’ve been able to forgive her for so many other things,’ he added.

Bree could understand that. ‘You continued to love Jocelyn, though, didn’t you …?’

Jackson nodded. ‘She was and always will be my baby sister. I wanted her to come and live here with me once I knew she was pregnant, but she was adamant she was going to manage on her own. And she did. I helped her financially once the baby was born, of course, and visited her often during her pregnancy and afterwards, but otherwise Jocelyn was very independent. She did agree to let me be with her at the birth, though,’ he recalled, close to tears. ‘It was … truly amazing. The most profound experience of my life.’

‘What went wrong, Jackson?’ Bree asked softly.

He gave a shaky sigh. ‘The doctors discovered that Jocelyn had breast cancer when Danny was only six months old. It—She—By the time they realised it was too far advanced for them to do anything about it. I moved in with her—cared for Danny when she was too sick to do it herself. One night she asked me if I would take Danny, bring him up as my own son once she was gone. Hell,

there was no question of my not agreeing to do that; by that time Danny was my son in every way that mattered! We had the adoption papers drawn up and signed only weeks before Jocelyn died. She held him at the end, and—’ He broke off, overcome with emotion.

‘It’s all right, Jackson.’ Bree held him tightly in her arms.

‘Is it?’ He looked at her intensely. ‘Is it really all right, Bree?’

She looked down at him in gentle reproach. ‘You didn’t really think my knowing the truth about Danny was going to make any difference to how much I love you both, did you?’

He frowned. ‘I’ve always held off becoming too involved with any woman because I didn’t think she would be able to accept that Danny being adopted makes him as much my child as any other children I might have …’

He stopped speaking as Bree placed her fingertips across his lips.

‘He won’t ever be anything less, Jackson,’ she assured him emotionally. ‘I love him as much as you do. I—I would be honoured to be allowed to become his mother.’

‘Oh, you’ll be “allowed”, Bree.’ He smiled. ‘Danny already thinks the sun rises and sets with you, anyway,’ he added. ‘All he could talk about earlier was how much more fun it would have been if you had come outside and helped to build the snowman.’

‘That must have rankled.’ She laughed merrily.

Jackson grinned. ‘Only because inwardly I agreed with him. Everything … life is so much more fun with you, Bree!’

‘We’ll all go out tomorrow and build another snowman,’ she promised.

‘And then we’ll come back inside and make love again,’ Jackson added, winking impishly.

He paused to demonstrate that love with a slow kiss.

‘There’s just one other thing,’ he added, breaking off the kiss reluctantly. ‘I would like to tell Danny about Jocelyn when he’s old enough to understand.’

‘We’ll tell him together,’ Bree promised. ‘Talking of Danny …’ She looked at him in playful reproach. ‘It’s Christmas Eve and our son will be wanting his dinner. Then he has to have his bath before we take him up to bed and read him a bedtime story because Father Christmas comes in the—’ Bree broke off in horror. ‘Oh, my Lord, I haven’t got you a Christmas present!’ She gasped. ‘I couldn’t find anything suitable when I went shopping on Friday and—What are you laughing at?’

‘You, my darling Bree.’ Jackson chuckled, throwing back the bedclothes as he got out of bed, then picked her up in his arms, twirling around the room with her. ‘You’re my Christmas present, Bree!’ He kissed her. ‘You!’

He kissed her again, deeply, hungrily, with every ounce of love he had for this incredible, beautiful woman—this wonderful woman who was going to be his wife and Danny’s mother.

For ever.