Another Man's Child

Lisa, too, had hoped that Marcus would contact Beth. He usually liked to have a handle on everything. She sighed. “He doesn’t say much about the baby yet, but he’s fine with it.”

Which wasn’t entirely true. Marcus never said anything about the baby. And he hadn’t completely forgiven her yet for her duplicity in conceiving it. He also hadn’t made love to her since she’d told him she was pregnant. But she was completely certain that he was as committed to their life together as she was. The rest would come with time, just like her father said. It had to.

MARCUS WAS HOME for dinner the very next night. Hannah had left a casserole in the oven, and Lisa served it in the kitchen. She and Marcus had been eating in there for years, preferring its homier atmosphere to the formal dining room Marcus’s parents had insisted on using for every meal when they were home.

“Do you remember Sue Carrin, that ditsy blonde who pledged my sorority our senior year?” Lisa asked Marcus over dinner.

“The one with the big—”

“Marcus!” Lisa laughed, cutting him off.

Marcus looked up from buttering his roll to grin at her. “Well, if she was going to make out with her boyfriend where someone could trip over them, she should have kept her top on.”

“And if you were going to try to sneak in my window after curfew, you should have been watching where you were stepping.”

“How was I supposed to see them? She and Skinny were behind the bushes! He was panting so hard the lenses in his glasses were all steamed up. Poor Skinny, it was probably his first real kiss, and I had to go and ruin it for him. I wonder what ever happened to him.”

“He married Sue. I ran into her at the hospital today. She was bringing her mother in for cataract surgery.”

“I’ll be damned. Little Skinny Whitehall married Big Bazookas—”

“Stop it!” Lisa said in mock outrage. “Sue’s a very nice woman. You’re just mad because you got caught trying to besmirch my virtue. And I guess Skinny’s not so little anymore. He’s made quite a name for himself as a computer-systems consultant, with a couple of nationwide firms on his client list.”

“I ought to put him in touch with George Blake,” Marcus said, no longer smiling.

Lisa pushed her plate aside. “George is still holding things up?”

“Yeah, but I don’t blame him, Lis. I’d do the same thing if our positions were reversed. Still, he questions every move we make. It’s so damned frustrating. A merger that was supposed to take weeks is taking months.”

Lisa reached across the table to lay her hand over his. “George Blake is lucky he found you.”

“I’m not sure he’d agree with you, but it’s too late to pull out now. So, what’s for dessert?”

They had their choice of chocolate cake or apple pie. Neither sounded good to Lisa, but she sat with Marcus while he had a piece of each. She wanted to ask him which one of them was eating for two, but wasn’t sure he’d see the humor.

“By the way, our two-month obstetrical appointment is next Thursday morning at ten o’clock,” Lisa said as she cleared the table after dinner. “Is that okay with you?”

Marcus was rinsing dishes at the sink where they’d leave them for Hannah to do in the morning. He stopped and turned to look at Lisa, his expression blank.

“I just…” she said hesitantly, “that is, you always said you wanted to be a part of things…”

Marcus turned back to the dishes. “That was a long time ago, Lisa. I’m not a part of what’s going on with you now.”

Lisa’s stomach knotted. “’What’s going on with me?’ I’m having a baby, Marcus. Our baby.”

He turned off the water with such force Lisa was surprised the faucet didn’t break off in his hand. “We need to get something straight here,” he said, facing her again.

Lisa backed up a step. She’d never seen him this angry.

“The child you are carrying is not, and never will be, ours,” he said through clenched teeth.

Lisa stared at him, her world teetering dangerously.

“When I said I wanted to be a part of every aspect of our child’s birth, that included the concept

ion.”

She fell back another step. He hadn’t forgiven her. He wasn’t ever going to forgive her.