“The worst part is that I let myself fall in love with him, Daisy. It was so stupid of me. He just seemed to know how to get past every barrier I had. It had been so long since I felt like a man really cared for me. I must’ve been desperate for affection. Look where it got me...pregnant and alone.”
“You are not alone, Claire.” Daisy clasped Claire’s chin and turned her so she was forced to look at her. “You’ve got me. You’ve got Eva. You’ve got this new baby. We’re going to make this work, with or without this deadbeat billionaire.”
“How?” It seemed like a ridiculous question to ask, but she felt so bogged down in all of this, she could hardly come up with an answer.
“I’m going to move in,” Daisy declared. “I’m going to be your live-in nanny to help take care of both the children. We are two strong, smart, capable women. We will be just fine without a man. Frankly, we only need them to start the baby process, after that they’re kinda useless.”
Claire chuckled, wiping away the last of her tears. “You’re right. We will be just fine. No matter what happened between Luca and me, I’m coming out of this with another beautiful baby. I never dreamed I could ever have another, so I need to start thinking about this as the blessing that it truly is.”
“That’s the spirit,” Daisy said with an encouraging tone. “Now, there’s a roast chicken and vegetables in the oven for your dinner. Eva has already eaten her dinner and had her bath, so you two can take it easy tonight. Eat, relax and try not to beat yourself up too much about all this. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
Claire nodded. “Thank you for the pep talk, Daisy. You deserve a raise.”
Daisy laughed as she got up off the couch. “I’ll remind you of that when you write my next paycheck.” She walked over to the front door, slipping on her coat and waving good-night.
When the door clicked shut, Claire took a deep breath and tried to do what Daisy had told her to do. She scooped up Eva off the floor and carried her into the kitchen. She placed her in her swing and set it to a soothing rhythm the baby liked best. That kept her daughter occupied long enough for Claire to remove supper from the oven and make herself a plate.
Pulling up a stool at the breakfast bar, she took a few bites of chicken and started sorting idly through the stack of mail Daisy had left there for her. Bill, junk, bill... She stopped when she noticed the notepad that Daisy used to leave messages about phone calls.
Stuart, her attorney, had called. She’d had a missed call on her cell phone while she was at her doctor’s appointment, but it had come at a critical time and then she’d forgotten to check it later. Searching through her purse, she found her phone and she was right. Her screen declared she’d missed a call from Stuart Ewing. She pressed the button to listen to the voicemail message.
“Claire, this is Stuart. I really need you to call me back tonight. It doesn’t matter what time. There’s been a development.”
He left his personal number for her to call him. Claire’s hand was shaking as she copied the number onto Daisy’s notepad. She wished he hadn’t been so vague in his message. “A development” could be anything. It could be that Luca decided to backpedal on their agreement and sue for full custody. She didn’t think a judge would go along with that, but she couldn’t be sure. The last time she saw Luca he’d been angry enough to do almost anything. Would he try to take Eva knowing she was the only thing Claire had? Just to spite her?
She had to stop speculating and just call Stuart back. She was going to make herself crazy if she didn’t.
“Claire,” Stuart said as he answered the phone. “Thanks for calling me back. We’ve received a request to meet with Luca and his lawyer tomorrow morning.”
“Do we know if it’s good or bad news?”
“I have no idea. I wasn’t really expecting to hear from them when I did. Do you have any thoughts? How did the trip with Mr. Moretti go? I haven’t spoken with you since you got back from Martha’s Vineyard.”
That was a loaded question. “It was a nice trip. I think we had everything worked out between us, so maybe it’s just a finalization of our agreement to submit to the judge.”
Stuart hesitated on the line. “What aren’t you telling me, Claire? There’s something about your tone that tells me you’re leaving something out.”
“Well, that’s because I am. Things have gotten a little complicated since we left Martha’s Vineyard, so I can’t be certain that Luca will stick with the agreement we made.” Claire could hear Stuart sigh heavily on the line.