Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“ T heodore Carter, are you going to let me in, or are you going to let me stand out here and freeze?”
Teddy froze, his hand gripping the edge of the door as his mother’s voice cut through the air like a drill sergeant’s bark. He blinked at her, bundled against the snow in her military-grade parka. Her steel-gray hair peeked out from under a knit hat.
He felt sixteen again, caught red-handed, sneaking a girl into his room after curfew. His mom had always known. Always. She’d had an uncanny ability to knock at the exact wrong moment, whether he was stealing a kiss or watching a movie that was decidedly not PG.
Now, standing on his own porch as a grown man in his own house, Teddy still felt the same teenage dread wash over him. He ducked his head instinctively, even though he had nothing to hide. Or did he?
Sgt. Deirdre Carter swept past him like a force of nature. Her boots stomped across the floor, leaving a trail of melting snow in her wake. A gust of icy air swirled through the room as the screen door swung shut behind her. Teddy barely had time to process his mother's arrival before noticing movement in his driveway.
His mom hadn't come alone. The cavalry had arrived.
The sound of heavy machinery echoed through the quiet, snow-blanketed landscape. A snowplow rumbled past the house, its lights flashing like a beacon against the whiteout conditions. The driver gave a quick wave to Teddy from behind the frosted glass. The plow moved efficiently down the road, leaving behind a freshly cleared path.
The sound of car doors slamming drew Teddy's attention. Two cars, visibly worse for wear after battling the storm, sat idling in his driveway. They shouldn't have made it up the hill in these conditions, but somehow they had. The doors opened in unison, and the cavalry began to file out.
Frank, with his ever-present scowl. Teddy only recognized Preston because of the phone glued to his ear. The device peeked out from behind a thick scarf that Teddy thought he might have seen in a woman's fashion magazine. Pulling up the rear was Grant, looking smug as he stomped his boots clean of snow.
Teddy sighed, running a hand down his face. Whatever was coming, it wasn’t going to be good. "Well," he muttered under his breath, glancing toward Bunny and the baby. "Let the circus begin."
Frank stopped just inside the doorway. He shoved his hands into his coat pockets. His scowl went neutral as he took in the scene. Frank wouldn’t say anything—he never did. But Preston and Grant? They were another story. Both men sauntered in behind Frank, their gazes flicking around like they were cataloging every detail for future office gossip.
Teddy didn't care if they talked about him. What he didn't want was for them to speak a word against Bunny.
And then there was his nosy neighbor, Mrs. Hargrove. When did she get here? She didn’t even bother pretending she wasn’t snooping, craning her neck to peer inside.
Teddy tensed, glancing over his shoulder toward the living room. Bunny was standing there, cradling the baby in her arms. She was wearing his shirt—his shirt—and the sight of her like that sent a protective, territorial instinct surging through him.
He moved to block their view, but it was too late.
“You must be Bunny,” his mother said, her tone sharp but not unkind.
Bunny’s eyes darted to Teddy, then back to his mother. “You have me at a disadvantage,” she replied evenly, though Teddy could see the tension in her shoulders. “You are?”
His mom didn’t miss a beat. “Your future mother-in-law, it would seem. Now let me see my grandbaby.”
His mother’s words hit the room like a thunderclap. Gasps rippled through the small crowd. Mrs. Hargrove’s hand shot to her chest, clutching her pearls as though they might offer some form of divine intervention.
“Mother-in-law?” she breathed, her voice full of scandalized delight. “Well, I never?—”
Bunny’s horrified expression froze as though her brain had short-circuited. Her grip on the baby slackened. Sgt. Carter smoothly stepped in and scooped the infant into her arms.
Grant's grin widened like that cat in the Alice in Wonderland cartoon. His glare went dark and calculating. His jaw tightened, and his nostrils flared in triumph. Teddy didn’t have to guess what was running through the man’s mind—Grant’s ambition practically radiated off him like heat.
Preston, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction. His usually unshakable calm cracked. His eyes widened comically, and his thumbs began flying across the screen of his phone, likely crafting the perfect text to secure his next position in some other politician's cabinet now that the Carter boat was rocking.
Teddy’s mother, blissfully unaware—or entirely unconcerned—about the firestorm she’d just ignited, cooed softly at the baby. “Aren’t you the sweetest little thing? Yes, you are. Teddy, she has your eyes.”
Teddy let out a slow, measured breath, but the heat crawling up his neck betrayed his frustration. "Mom, that's not?—"
“What's my grandbaby's name?"
Bunny shot Teddy a wide-eyed look. "We never named her."
"Haven't named her? She has to be six months old, and you still haven't named her?"
Did his mother even hear the words coming out of her mouth? How could he have hidden a six-month-old baby from her? Let alone a nine-month pregnancy? This was getting so far out of hand. Teddy had to put a stop to it.
He turned to Frank, but the man was eyeing Bunny like he'd never seen her.
"I'm hoping there's a secret wedding that I wasn't invited to in your past?"
Wait. What?
"That's the only way we're going to spin this to our advantage," Frank continued.
"Secret?" said his mom. "Not my son. We'll have a proper church wedding, with this one”—she held up the cooing baby girl—"as the most adorable flower girl in the whole wide world. Yes, we will. Yes, we will."
Preston cleared his throat, still staring at his phone as though it might shield him from the awkward tension. “Uh, should I, you know, get ahead of this...narrative? Maybe draft something for the press?”
“No.” Teddy forced himself to take a deep breath, his eyes meeting Bunny’s once more. Her shoulders were stiff, her hands curled into fists at her sides. But when their gazes locked, he saw the storm of emotions there—panic, anger, and something softer, something vulnerable. It was time to take control of the situation. His mother may have thrown the first grenade, but he wasn’t about to let the fallout spiral out of his hands.
"The two of you are together?" asked Frank.
"We're not…" But Teddy didn't finish that sentence. He couldn't. Because more than anything, he wanted to be with Bunny.
"And you had a baby? Out of wedlock? I cannot make this work unless you put a ring on her finger."
"It's not my baby," Teddy managed to get in.
"You can't deny parentage," Frank growled. "That'll look even worse for your election campaign."
"Frank, you've been in the office with the two of us for the past two years."
"Yeah, and I can't believe I missed it."
"Oh, you have your father's nose too," said his mother.
"Ma, that baby looks nothing like me."
"You hush your tongue, Theodore. I didn't raise you not to take care of your responsibilities."
Teddy looked to Bunny for help, but she was too busy tugging at the T-shirt. He went to her, placing a hand on her low back to comfort her. But she jerked away from him.
Mrs. Hargrove gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. “When Josie Steward said she'd seen the mayor with his baby at the grocery store last night, I didn't believe iy. Had to come see for myself. I thought you were different, Mayor Carter. And you, Ms. Chou…"
Mrs. Hargrove just shook her head without finishing the sentence.
"A scandal like this will tank your reelection chances." Grant smirked, the wheels in his head turning so loudly that Teddy could hear them.
"Not if we give the town a wedding to gossip about instead."
Teddy wasn't sure if it was his mother or his campaign manager that said that. All of their voices sounded the same right now. Because each and every one of them were out of their minds.
Teddy rubbed the back of his neck, trying to process the chaos swirling around him. His mother had the baby cooing softly as she rocked her in her arms. Frank rattled off statistics about how marriage improved reelection odds. Preston was typing furiously on his phone, no doubt crafting some spin for this latest “scandal,” and Grant had the audacity to smirk, like he was already rehearsing a victory speech for his own campaign.
This was ridiculous. Insane. Completely?—
His gaze flicked to Bunny. She was slowly backing away toward his bedroom door. Ready to make a run for it. Not that she could get anywhere. Teddy had the woman exactly where he wanted her. In his home, under his care, looking to him to take care of her needs.
What if they did this? What if they gave the baby a home, gave the town something to talk about—and gave themselves a chance?
It wasn’t like he hadn’t already made up his mind about Bunny. He wanted her, all of her, in every way. If this was the road that got them there… maybe it wasn’t so crazy after all.