A Baby in the Bargain by Victoria Pade Page A

their cars. See the line already backing up along the side...” He pointed at the busy drive-through window. “And his donuts are great,” he added as he slipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket.
    “Since you bought last night, how about I treat to donuts now and you can tell me more about clearing your great-grandfather’s name,” Jani suggested, not eager to get into the subject, but knowing she was going to have to and wanting to get it over with. And thinking that donuts could only help.
    “Okay,” Gideon said without skipping a beat. “Walk or drive?”
    “It’s just across the street. I think—if I really work at it—that I can make it without falling on my face if we walk,” she said, joking about her own previous displays of gracelessness.
    And Gideon Thatcher cracked the slightest of smiles.
    Which thrilled Jani more than she could understand. And—unreasonable as it might have been—made spilling her purse, and fumbling to get her coat on at the coffee shop the night before, and nearly falling in the parking lot earlier, all worth it.
    “Let’s give it a shot then,” he said as if he doubted her abilities and they set off across the cracked and crumbling cement walkway that led from the building’s entrance to the road.
    They made it to the donut shop without incident. The owner greeted Gideon as if he were an old friend and announced that today’s donuts and coffee were on the house.
    Then he left Jani and Gideon alone to take their coffee and donuts to a corner booth where they both removed their coats.
    As Jani slipped into her side of the booth she could see that Gideon was having a good long look at the fuchsia dress that hugged her every curve like a wetsuit. Unless she was mistaken, he seemed to have some trouble taking his eyes off of her.
    He managed, though, by concentrating on drinking his steaming coffee.
    Still, Jani was happy that she’d opted for the dress and the shoes today, and she fought a smile as she tasted the donut.
    It was crispy on the outside, light and cakey on the inside, glazed with a hint of orange—one bite and Jani rhapsodized over the luscious delight.
    Gideon agreed that his was delectable, too, before he got down to the business at hand.
    “Lakeview has a monthly newspaper that’s doing an article next month—a past and present piece—on me and my great-grandfather. It’s been scheduled since before you showed up with your park idea and I’ve already met with the reporter a few times. The part on my great-grandfather will make it clear that what he promised Lakeview all those years ago, he promised in good faith, that he was not in H. J. Camden’s pocket.”
    “Will the article be smearing my great-grandfather’s name in the process?” Jani asked, wondering if he was giving her a heads-up.
    “That isn’t the slant, no. The paper doesn’t want to be sued by the Camdens, that’s for sure. And while no one is happy that Lakeview’s economy ended up depending on your factories and warehouses, that’s still how it is, and no one wants to bite the hand that feeds it, either. It’ll be the plain-and-simple facts that Franklin Thatcher believed what he said, what he promised his constituents. That he’d met with the developers H. J. Camden was supposedly bringing in, he saw the plans and proposals with his own eyes. That everything he promised in return for allowing those warehouses and factories to be built, he firmly believed would be taken care of, and that it was completely out of his hands when it wasn’t.”
    “Okay...” Jani said with reservation, wondering if Gideon was merely giving her information or if he wanted something from her.
    Then she found out.
    “But I’m thinking that a quote from you that confirms that what my great-grandfather did, he did in all honesty, would help exonerate him. A from-the-horse’s-mouth kind of thing—”
    “Except that the horse— H.J.—died in 1996, so it would only be coming from the