Alaska Home: Falling for Him / Ending in Marriage / Midnight Sons and Daughters

“Ben?” she called.

No answer. A sliver of light peered out from beneath the door that led upstairs to Ben’s private quarters.

Bethany opened the door and peered up the stairway. “Ben!” she called again. Smiling to herself, she climbed the stairs. More than likely he was asleep in his chair.

She was right. He lay stretched out on the recliner, the television guide on his lap. His head was tipped back, and he was snoring lightly.

“Ben.” Bethany pressed her hand over his.

His eyelids fluttered open, and he blinked. “Bethany? What time is it?”

“Nine.”

“Nine,” he repeated. “That’s early yet.”

“Yes, I know.”

He leaned forward, yawning, then reached for the remote control and turned off the TV. “I must’ve fallen asleep. Guess I’m beginning to feel my age. Soon I’ll be an old man.”

Shaking her head, Bethany sat down on the love seat. “Not you. Never you.”

She could see that her words pleased him. “It’s good to see you. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

She slipped off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her. “Mitch is on patrol and Chrissie’s spending the night with a friend. She’s been beside herself not knowing what to do while Susan O’Halloran’s on vacation. Those two have gotten so tight that Chrissie’s lost without her. I think it’s a good idea for her to make other friends.”

“Are you ready for school?” Ben asked.

“Yes. No,” Bethany quickly amended, and then because she couldn’t hold the news inside any longer, she blurted it out. “I’m pregnant.”

Ben’s feet slid off the recliner and hit the floor. “Pregnant!”

“Mitch and I are just as surprised—almost.” She nearly laughed aloud at his incredulous look.

“But you haven’t been married very long.”

“I know. We didn’t plan to have a baby this soon, that’s for sure. It was just...one of those things.”

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Unplanned pregnancies are sometimes the very best kind,” he said, nodding sagely.

Bethany knew he was referring to her own birth. He’d had an affair with her mother before leaving for Vietnam, and because of a disagreement, he’d never known Marilyn was pregnant. He’d never known of his daughter’s existence. Bethany had learned Peter Ross wasn’t her biological father while she was in college, after her mother had experienced a cancer scare. As the years progressed, Bethany had become increasingly curious about the man who’d fathered her. With a bit of detective work and the help of the American Red Cross, she’d been able to trace Ben to Hard Luck.

Soon afterward, she’d applied for a teaching position in the tiny Arctic community, hoping to meet him.

Bethany had never intended to confront Ben with the truth, but she was relieved—and happy—that she had. In many ways they were very alike, and in others completely dissimilar. No one in town, other than her husband, knew Bethany’s true relationship to Ben, although she wondered why no one had guessed. Ben was fiercely proud of her and staunchly protective; she felt the same about him.

“A baby,” Ben repeated, grinning broadly. “How does Mitch feel about this?”

“When I first told him, he was floored, but it didn’t take him long to adjust. The baby’s due in the spring. We told Chrissie this evening, and she’s thrilled. I can tell she’s going to be a wonderful big sister.”

“Have you told your mother and father?”

“Oh, yes. They’re thrilled.”

“I’m thrilled for you, too, sweetheart.”

“It still takes some getting used to. I’m just becoming accustomed to being a wife and stepmom, and now I’m about to be a mother.”

Ben chuckled. “Try finding out that you’re a father at my age—that’s what I call a bombshell. As for your little one, personally, I think of the baby as a delightful surprise.”

Bethany smiled, relaxing against the cushions. “What’s this wild rumor I’ve been hearing about your taking on an assistant?”

“It’s true,” Ben said. “Mariah Douglas is coming to work with me.”

“But... I thought she was the secretary for the O’Hallorans.”

“She is—was. What I understand, she’s already handed in her notice. Sawyer’s annoyed with me, but it’s not my fault—Mariah approached me. The way I figure it, she already had her heart set on leaving Midnight Sons. I tried to convince her to stay with the O’Hallorans, but she wouldn’t hear of it.”

“You’d think Christian would be pleased. He’s been looking for a way to be rid of her from the moment I met him,” Bethany recalled.

“Apparently he’s had a change of heart.”

“Isn’t that just a like a man?” Bethany muttered, shaking her head. “They don’t know what they want.”

* * *

Christian had never been this eager to get back to Hard Luck. In the past several days he’d talked to Sawyer half-a-dozen times. And every time, he’d hung up frustrated—and confused.

As far as he could grasp, Sawyer had released Mariah from serving out her full two-week notice, and the woman his brother had referred to as “the best secretary they’d ever had” was gone.

Scott and Susan were just as eager to be home. Christian had collected them from his mother’s, and Ralph Ferris flew into Fairbanks to meet their commercial flight. The short hop between Fairbanks and Hard Luck felt longer than the flight from Vancouver to Anchorage.

By the time the plane touched down in Hard Luck, Christian had his conversation with Mariah all figured out.

Sawyer and Abbey were at the airfield waiting for Scott and Susan. The kids leaped out of the plane and raced toward their parents, full of talk about their visit with Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Robert.

Christian waited impatiently for a moment alone with Sawyer. “Where is she?” he asked abruptly.

Sawyer blinked at him, wearing a baffled expression. “Oh, you mean Mariah.”

Who else would he have been referring to? “Yes, I mean Mariah.”

“Ben’s, I’d guess. She spends every day there, now that she no longer works for us.” Judging by the edge in Sawyer’s voice, he still seemed to place the blame squarely on Christian’s shoulders. He’d settle the issue with his brother later, Christian decided.

“Who’s minding the office?” Surely Sawyer wasn’t so irresponsible as to leave it unattended. The flight service had grown by thirty percent in the past year, thanks partly to the boom in population. An answering machine no longer met their needs, and Sawyer knew that.

“Lanni’s agreed to step in for now, but she’s got her own work, you know. I told her it wouldn’t take you long to find Mariah’s replacement.”

“Me?” he exploded. He’d left for a few measly days, and meanwhile his brother let all hell break loose, then calmly announced it was his responsibility to set everything right.