the boy wouldn't be in this position now.
"Do your parents know?" Ron asked.
"I didn't know myself until today. I've been wondering what happened to her. If I hadn't overheard Leigh and Kerry talking at school I still wouldn't know. I knew it was my fault. Cynthia isn't the kind of girl to mess around with a lot of guys. Why didn't she tell me?"
"She didn't want it to ruin your life," Kathryn told him.
"That's what she said about me, too," Ron said, "but she has to realize this is your child, my grandchild. We've got to think about the baby as well as ourselves."
Arthur dropped his head into his hands. "I'm not ready to be a father. I haven't even finished high school."
"Biology doesn't know anything about high school," Ron said.
"My parents are going to kill me. They'll completely flip out."
"I'll leave you two to talk," Kathryn said. "I need to check on the girls."
"Don't go to bed before I get a chance to talk to you," Ron said.
"Okay."
She closed the door, wondering what Ron would say to the boy. Taking everything into consideration, from Geneva to walking out on the negotiations to meeting the father of his future grandchild, this had to be one of the most momentous days in Ron Egan's life. She was glad she'd been able to share it.
"Can I fix you a drink?" Kathryn asked when Ron found her in the kitchen more than an hour later. "Sorry, I forgot you don't drink."
"I'll take a glass of wine if you've got any."
"How about some brandy?"
"Okay. How is Cynthia?"
"She's upset about Arthur. I tried to tell her the baby is Arthur's as much as it's hers, but she won't listen. What did the boy have to say?"
"Poor kid, he reminds me so much of me. His family has too many children, not enough money. He's attending Country Day on a football scholarship and was hoping to win a scholarship to an Ivy League college. Now he says he wants to go to college here in town so he can work part-time and help support the baby."
"What did you tell him?" she asked as she handed him the brandy.
"I told him not to worry about Cynthia or the baby, that I would take care of them. He could go on to college, get his degree and start his life as if he didn't have anybody to worry about but himself."
"That was very forgiving of you."
"He said it was his baby, he wanted to help support it and he wanted to try to be its father."
"I think that's very admirable of him."
"So do I, but it won't work. If his parents don't convince him to turn his back on Cynthia and the baby, just trying to establish himself in life will." Ron took a sip of brandy and made a face. "This is awful! Why did you buy it?"
Kathryn laughed. "It was a gift."
"The person must have wanted to make you sick. I'll settle for coffee. Tell me where I can find everything."
"It'll be easier if I do it myself."
While she fixed his coffee and he drank it, he told her most of what had passed between him and Arthur and between him and Cynthia.
"When this started, you were between me and Cynthia," Ron said to Kathryn. "Now it looks like I'm between Cynthia and Arthur."
"What are you going to do about him?"
"Help him, of course. I'm partially responsible for this mess. I can't leave him to sink or swim by himself."
"I didn't think you would."
"What did you think I'd do?"
"I don't know. Once you decided not to kill him, I knew you'd help him."
They were sitting side by side at the table in the breakfast room. Ron reached out and took her hand. "And what made you think that?"
"You're the kind of man who tries to take care of everything. That's probably why you went into merger negotiations, trying to convince people to do what's best for them."
"Not everybody thinks my motives are quite so pure."
"I didn't used to, either, but I know you better now."
Ron leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back.
"If you know me all that well, then you know I'm in desperate need of some tender loving care. Why don't we sit in the TV room and cuddle for an hour or so?"
"What would the girls think if they knew?"
"That I'm lucky enough to be cuddling with the prettiest, smartest and nicest woman in Charlotte."
"I think they'd be more