The Baby Gamble (Texas Hold'em)

Still…

“By the way, I didn’t get a chance to thank you for the other night.”

“No problem.” Her voice was warm, and it occurred to Blake that Annie’s best friend didn’t seem all that inclined to end this conversation, either. Did that mean he had her support?

But support in what? He had no intention of having a life with Annie.

“So, you didn’t hear from Annie today?” Becky’s question brought him back into focus.

“No.” How much did Becky know?

“Oh.”

“And she didn’t call you?” Did they each know what they were talking about?

“No. But if there was a problem, she would have. She always does.”

Was that supposed to be reassurance? How about if there’d been news of a baby? Or not.

Thanking Becky again, Blake rang off, frustrated, worried and just plain in a grouchy mood.

AT SIX, keys in hand, Blake dialed June Lawry. Having become reacquainted with June while visiting with Cole over the past couple of years, Blake figured she was his final hope.

“Blake, good to hear from you,” the older woman said, her voice kind and welcoming.Biding his time through the pleasantries, Blake tried to figure out, now that he had Annie’s mother on the phone, how to ask about her daughter.

And in the end, he just came out with it. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Annie is, would you? I’ve been trying to reach her and can’t get her to pick up.”

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nbsp; “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do know.” June’s tone was more tentative. “She’s here, actually.”

At her mother’s? As a rule, Annie could hardly be dragged to the home she’d grown up in for an hour for Christmas dinner, let alone at any other time during the year. “She is.”

“Yes. She’s been here most of the afternoon.”

“She has.”

Had Blake not been married to this woman’s daughter for several years, he might not have understood that June was telling him something. But they both knew Annie just didn’t hang out at her mother’s.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s having kind of a hard time at the moment, but overall she’s fine.”

“Is she right there?”

“No, she’s back in my bedroom. She fell asleep about half an hour ago.”

Annie asleep? At—he checked his watch—five after six?

“Did she, uh, get some bad news today?”

“I don’t think so, why?”

June knew something. She had to. But for some reason, she didn’t know that Blake would be aware that today had had special significance for Annie.

“June, I know about Annie’s plans,” he said, still careful, on the off chance that Annie hadn’t told her mother everything.

In the days of their marriage, it would have been a given. But more things had changed than he’d realized.