Rachel woke to the sound of Jamie's feet shuffling across the bedroom carpet. She blinked her eyes open, smiling at the sight of his young son in his arms. At first she thought he was pacing back and forth to soothe the child. But then she noticed he had his phone in his hand, repeatedly dialing a number that kept ringing once before going straight to voicemail.
"What's wrong?," she asked, arching her back to stretch it before she swung her legs out from under the blankets.
"Nothing. Everything. I have to go into the office today," Jamie huffed, clearly exasperated by what Rachel assumed was his ex's refusal to answer his calls. "I hate it when she does this," he griped.
Jamie swore Christina did this shit on purpose. She would never let him see his son when he asked to see the boy. Instead, she insisted on dropping the child off at the worst possible times. Usually when he had something important going on at work. He assumed it was just Christina's petty way of getting back at him for whatever imagined slights he committed against her. Like he walked out knowing she was pregnant instead of the other way around. He had been thinking about hiring a nanny or a babysitter. But since Christina refused to work out any sort of regular schedule with him, he had no idea until the last minute when he would need the potential care provider to be available. The whole situation was frustrating. And it seemed his ex had every intention of keeping it that way. On purpose.
Rachel rose from the bed and reached for the boy. Jamie smiled as he handed his son over. She cuddled him close as she lowered herself back down onto the edge of the bed. Her hair was rumpled from sleep and she was still wearing what she fell asleep in, her underwear and one of his old college t-shirts. Rachel was the only woman he'd ever spent the night with that managed to look even better in the morning than she had the night before. And he was surprised by how much he liked seeing her with his son in her arms. She held him close. And he looked happy and relaxed in her arms, smiling up at her as he reached for a lock of her long dark hair.
"Yes," she teased, her blue eyes flicking up at Jamie.
"Yes to what?," he asked, biting back a smile.
"Yes, I'll watch him for you," she said, tickling the boy's belly and making him giggle. "But not here. You've got to take us back to the ranch." Jamie groaned. He understood the reason for Rachel's conditional offer. Both times she'd been invited to his house, another woman showed up unannounced. And not even the same one. He could agree that he didn't think it would go well if Christina arrived to pick their son up and realized he'd left the boy with his new girlfriend. Especially since she didn't know he had a new girlfriend. But taking Rachel back to the ranch presented a whole separate array of problems. Problems Jamie would rather avoid as long as possible.
"...And if you're extra nice to me," Rachel teased. "I'll tell your dad about how you had a baby with your campaign manager while you're not around for him to yell at." Jamie snorted out a laugh. Then he raised an eyebrow at her, trying to decide if she was serious about her offer.
Rachel knew Jamie was afraid to tell his father about his son. But the way she'd seen John doting on his grandchildren and even on her daughter who he barely knew, Rachel didn't think getting another one would be such a disappointment to the man. And she wondered how much of a scandal having a baby could even cause. She didn't know a lot about politics. But it's not like the mother was underage. Or married. Jamie wasn't married. He slept with a woman he dated and got her pregnant. The relationship ended. He still assumed responsibility for the child. It wasn't exactly a juicy scandal. And even if it was, John would get over it eventually. The longer Jamie kept his son a secret, the worse it was going to be when he finally told his father about it.
Jamie lowered himself onto the bed next to Rachel. He tried calling his ex one more time. And once again, Christina sent him straight to voicemail. I guess it's a good thing he's not hurt or sick, Jamie thought. He shook his head and tossed the phone away onto the bedside table. Then he wrapped his arm around Rachel.
"Are you sure you don't mind?," he asked, pressing a soft kiss onto the side of her mouth.
"Of course I don't mind," she promised. She needed to make a few phone calls. Mainly to the realtor that was selling her parent's house. And she needed to hire movers to get her heavy equipment from her old bakery to the new one. But having Jamie's son around wasn't going to disrupt her day. Plus, he was cute. He was at her favorite baby stage. Old enough to interact with but still little enough that he wasn't tearing the house apart.
"Alright," Jamie said, giving her one last questioning glance to make sure she was offering to help with the baby because she wanted to and not because she felt obligated. Happy with the way she smiled, Jamie gave her one more lingering kiss before he darted off to shower and dress for work. A short time later, he was unbuckling his son from the carseat and handing him off to Rachel. She had the diaper bag slung over her shoulder and he laughed as Dakota pushed in to snatch the boy from her mother's arms. Rachel leaned against him, giving him a lingering kiss goodbye before she followed her daughter towards the house. Jamie shaded his eyes, hurrying to get in his car and pull away when he spotted his father on the porch drinking his morning coffee on the porch.
"Mornin' ladies," John said, casting a curious glance towards the baby in Dakota's arms. "Who's this?," he asked, smiling back when the baby flashed a gummy smile at him.
"We found him in the cabbage patch," Dakota quipped, bouncing the baby around until he laughed. He had a long chunk of her blue hair in his hands, gripping it tightly in his chubby fist. Rachel tried not to laugh at the mixed expression on John's face. It obviously irritated him that Dakota was not only refusing to answer his question but sassing him instead. But he was also trying not to laugh at her antics. Rachel moved forward, untangling Dakota's hair before she lifted the baby into her own arms. Dakota tore off inside. From her speed, Rachel guessed she was after some breakfast.
"I guess you'd like to meet your grandson?," Rachel said, lowering the child into John's lap before she took the seat next to him. "Jamie Junior. But I think they mostly call him Jay." That's what she'd heard Jamie calling the boy when he spoke to him. She wasn't sure what his mother called him. Other than a mealticket.
"Grandson huh?," John repeated, shaking his head and staring at the direction Jamie took off in with an irritated glance. "Does he have a mother? Or did Jamie actually find him in the cabbage patch?"
"Christina," Rachel said. She didn't know the woman's last name. "His campaign manager."
John chuckled and shook his head again. Jamie had some nerve. Not only did he impregnate a woman that worked for him. Which was never a good idea. He kept it a secret. And he wasn't even man enough to tell John about it himself. He sent Rachel to do his dirty work. John wondered what exactly was going on between the two of them. She appeared to be having a good influence on his son. At least so far. But John worried what the fallout on the rest of the family would be when things inevitably didn't work out between them. Jamie always had a special talent for making problems where there didn't need to be any.
"You don't have a problem with this?," John asked, gesturing towards the boy on his lap. Who, despite his questionable conception, he was already having a hard time not getting instantly attached to. He was a cute little guy. With the same chubby cheeks Jamie had as a baby.
"I have enough of my own past that I'm not worried about passing judgment on his, I suppose," Rachel said, tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear.
John nodded his understanding of this. Unlike Jamie, the problems that Rachel was still having from her failed relationship didn't seem to be her fault. But anyone that chose to become involved with her would still have to be willing to deal with her crazy stalker ex. Something that John was sure lots of men wouldn't be willing to do. And as he pondered that, John began to wonder what the effects might be if whatever she had going on with Jamie did work out. She was Rip's sister. And Beth seemed to like her. Which was funny, because Beth hated pretty much everyone. If she took up with Jamie, it had the potential to bring them all closer together. If he could get Jamie and Beth working together instead of against each other, they would be unstoppable.
"You want more coffee?," Rachel asked, rising from her seat and grabbing his almost empty mug. John nodded, smiling when she ran her hand over the baby's head on her way past him into the house. When he heard the door open again, he assumed it was Rachel on her way back with her coffee. He was surprised when he realized Beth had joined him on the porch. She took the chair next to him, wrapping her oversized sweater around herself like a blanket.
"Where the hell did that baby come from?," she asked. John sighed as he considered telling her to watch her language in front of the kid. He decided not to waste his breath. Telling Beth to stop cursing only ever resulted in more cursing.
"He's Jamie's boy," John said, feeling his irritation increase when Beth did not display the expected amount of surprise. And he was starting to wonder if he was the only person in the family that wasn't aware of Jamie's dalliance with his former employee. "You knew about this?," John asked, casting a disapproving glance at his daughter. Beth shrugged.
"I was only surprised that this hasn't happened before now," she huffed. She'd run off enough low class social climbers and opportunistic legal aides to know that Jamie was clueless when it came to women.
Before John could lay into Beth about keeping secrets from him, Rachel reappeared on the porch and set his coffee refill down for him. She took the chair on the other side of Beth, leaning back into it as she sipped from her own mug. She and Beth exchanged good mornings as Beth rose from her chair and plucked Jamie's son from John's lap. She sat down with the boy, looking him over curiously.
"He's pretty cute," she finally admitted. "Are you sure he's Jamie's?"
