Nothing but a one-night stand, that’s what it had been.
But of course, good ol’ Murphy’s law had come for a visit and made sure Kate got pregnant.
And now they were going to have a child together.
“Yes. You’re pregnant,” Beth agreed when she came back out of the bathroom.
A silence settled bleakly in the room.
You’re pregnant....
Her chest gripped with yearning. Along with the inexplicable fear of dying alone, without a family or anyone to love her, Kate had harbored another kind of fear for years. It was one of those little fears that took root in you and you never really knew why you had them—only that you did.
She’d feared she’d prove infertile when she grew up, and that she’d never be able to have the family she’d always longed for. She’d imagined, on her best days, that if she ever got pregnant, the thrill she’d feel would obliterate anything else.
Now, maybe a little kernel of thrill had taken up residence somewhere, in some quiet, motherly part of her, but it was too hidden to recognize.
Kate had proven fertile, yes. Physically capable of having a family, yes.
But she had conceived this baby with Garrett Gage.
And her considerable pride already smarted like hell since she knew she would have to tell him. Especially after this past month, when they’d both pretended at the family Sunday brunches that they were still just friends.
Kate saw that Beth had her cell phone in her hand and leaped out of bed. “No! What are you doing?”
Beth held the phone out of Kate’s reach, her expression stern as a concerned mother’s. “I’m calling a doctor. Unless you want me to call Garrett, Kate. It’s his, isn’t it? You look pale, Kate. I think—”
“Call anyone and die. Do you hear me?”
The thought of Garrett knowing this so soon, before she had time to build up her emotional walls against him...the thought of him finding out that just the thought of carrying his baby inside her made her queasy and restless...and the thought of him demanding to marry her out of duty and honor and all he held dearer than Kate...
No. God, it was worse than she could imagine.
Her worst nightmare come true.
Beth paused when she noticed the angry flush spreading up Kate’s neck. Lips pursed, she hung up, and started dialing again.
“No! Beth, don’t you dare.”
“I’m calling Molly, okay? We need to figure out how we’re handling this with the family. Don’t even try to stop me this time.”
Kate groaned. “Molly’s getting her paintings shipped to New York, and she’s got enough on her plate with a wedding in five days!”
“Fine, then Julian. Julian will help us with this, Kate, you know he will.”
An image of hunky, easygoing Julian, never judgmental, always one for cool-headed thoughts, flitted through her mind. Julian had always been the perfect coconspirator. Not only did he know how to stay quiet, it was his nature to.
But Kate still shook her head. “Beth, the wedding is in five days. Let’s just...drop this for now. Please. Please don’t tell anyone until I’m ready.”
Beth met her eyes dubiously. “But what are you going to do when you see Garrett at the rehearsal dinner? At the wedding? When are you going to tell him?”
“After the wedding. I can’t do it before. I want Molly to enjoy her day,” she said miserably.
“No, no, no, that’s not a good plan. It might be too late, Kate. He might be engaged by then to another woman!”
Pain wrenched through Kate’s insides. “I don’t expect him to stop his plans for me. Honestly. We could be better parents if we weren’t together than if we are forced to be together.”
“You’re afraid, Kate, and that’s okay. But you’re turning into a coward. Where’s the girl I know? The Kate I know would fight for him. Stop being afraid that he will break your heart. You’re breaking it yourself without even letting him know that he has it.”