Kara Lennox - The Pregnancy Surprise

“Oh, yes. The maid. Well, you’ve had your fun and games. You better get yourself on a plane and get back here. In another couple of hours, every seat on every plane will be double-booked and you’ll be stranded for days. Make no mistake, Reece, if you’re not at that meeting Monday, don’t bother to come back at all.”

The pain in his chest grew stronger, and Reece found himself taking in great gulps of air. “I’ll be there,” he said, because any other answer would prolong the conversation.

“You’d better be.” His father disconnected.

Sara got tired of listening for the sound of Reece’s car. How long did it take to grab a toothbrush and razor?

She wasn’t the type of woman who sat around waiting for a guy. So she got out of bed, took a quick shower, threw on her most comfortable jammies and set about cleaning her room.

As she attacked the clothing strewn all around, she tried to see her space through Reece’s eyes and shuddered. Her lack of housekeeping skills had probably bothered him a lot, yet he hadn’t said anything.

Reece was like her father in some ways, she realized with a start. He ran his life with an almost military precision and attention to detail. But unlike her father, he didn’t criticize or expect everyone else to live up to his standards.

She knew Reece might never understand her ways, but he’d stretched out of his comfort zone to meet her halfway. The least she could do was try to do the same. Keeping her room a bit neater was a start.

She put a quick coat of furniture polish on her table and placed a grouping of candles in the center. She was about to light them when her cell phone rang.

She knew even before she answered that it wasn’t going to be good news.

“Reece?” She tried not to sound too anxious.

“Yes. Listen, I’m really sorry, but-”

“You’re not coming back?” Her voice sounded shrill even to herself. Deep breaths. Listen to what he has to say.

“There’s a hurricane.”

“Right, Chelsea. But they don’t even know if it’s going to hit near here, and even if it does, it won’t make landfall until Monday morning.”

“You knew about the hurricane? And you didn’t say anything?”

“Um…yeah. I didn’t think it was that important.”

Now he was the one taking deep breaths. “Well, it is important. Apparently flights are already being rescheduled, the airport is crazy-you should watch the news.”

She hated watching the news. It was so depressing.

“I’ve got to try to catch an earlier flight,” Reece continued in a harried-sounding voice. “I’m going to the airport now. I can’t afford to miss my meeting on Monday. I’m already skating on thin ice.”

She sighed. Maybe he was simply looking for an excuse to disentangle himself from her. Their affair had gotten pretty serious pretty fast; she’d probably scared him off with her intensity.

“Okay. Have a safe flight.”

“I’m leaving the car here. You can use it until I figure out what to do with it. I’ll give Max the key.”

That was something, at least. “That’s very generous of you. I’ll take good care of it.”

“If they order an evacuation, promise me you won’t stay on the island.”

“This house has withstood more than a hundred years’ worth of hurricanes. It’s not going anywhere.”

“Promise me.”

“All right, I promise. But it’s not going to be that serious.”

“Sara…there’s a lot of stuff I want to say, but I don’t have time now.”

Ditto.

“I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” He sounded agitated, and she could hear someone yelling in the background, urging Reece to hurry.

“All right. Take care.”

“You, too.” He disconnected, and Sara sank onto the bed, feeling like a flat tire. Was this it, then?

She’d started to believe, or at least hope, that Reece was the one in capital letters. She’d never felt like this about any man. She’d started to fantasize about how they could be together, even going so far as to wonder if she might learn to love New York. She’d envisioned exploring the city with Reece, going to the top of the Empire State Building, trying funky little restaurants tucked away in obscure neighborhoods-okay, maybe not that.

But clearly it wasn’t going to happen. He was going home-alone. His stupid meeting was a lot more important than her, and if she was going to fall in love with some guy, he damn well better make her a priority.

She reached for the lamp, then thought about the pregnancy test she’d shoved into her bathroom cabinet. She should take it now. She wanted to know the worst.

Five minutes later, she had her answer.

She was going to have Reece’s child.

Sara turned off the lights and crawled under the covers, feeling oddly peaceful. A little scared, but…happy. She’d thought it would be a disaster, but it wasn’t. It was a miracle. Reece might not see it that way, though.

Oh, Lord, how was she going to tell him? On the phone? Should she fly to New York?

She hoped the answer came to her during the night.

THERE WERE TWO WAYS off the island. The short way was to take a five-minute ferry ride, the long way was to drive south for several miles, then cross a causeway.

A long line of cars waited for the ferry, ensuring at least a twenty-minute wait.

“Let’s take the causeway,” Reece said, too antsy to wait in line. “I don’t like the ferry anyway.”

“You’re the boss.” Max pulled a highly illegal U-turn and headed for the two-lane highway that would take them to the causeway. Traffic was pretty heavy on it, too, but at least it was moving.

“You think I’m crazy for leaving, don’t you?”

“I’m thinking any guy who chooses a crowded airport over a beautiful woman waiting in bed for him is beyond crazy,” Max replied.

“It’s not like I’ll never see her again. I’ll come down to visit you guys and-”

“And she probably won’t be speaking to you. Girls don’t like it when you cut out on them.”

“I talked to her. She wasn’t mad. She’s very understanding.” But she had sounded disappointed. So much so, in fact, that his decision to leave had wavered slightly. Was he walking away from the best thing to ever happen to him? Would he regret choosing work over Sara, as he’d regretted his treatment of Elaine?

He’d liked Elaine, enjoyed her company, and was sad when they broke up. But that was nothing compared to the way he felt about Sara. She made him feel like…like his birthday and Christmas morning and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one.

“Why do you keep rubbing your chest?” Max asked.

Reece hadn’t even realized he was doing it. “I’ve been having chest pains.”

“Are you serious?” For once, Max sounded solemn. “Have you been to a doctor? My dad had a heart attack, remember. It’s nothing to fool around with if you’re having symptoms.”

“I’m thirty-four years old. I’m not having a heart attack. It’s just…indigestion or something.”

“So have it checked out. You’re so anal about everything else, I can’t believe you didn’t see a cardiac specialist at the first twinge. Your face is kinda red.”

“It’s nothing.” But he had to admit, at the moment it didn’t feel like nothing. The pain was sharper than it had ever been before. Each breath produced a new stab, and he felt he couldn’t get enough oxygen.

The roads near the airport were insane. Reece was on standby for several flights to New York over the next few hours. Surely he would get on one of them.

But when he saw the crowd at the airport, he got a little nervous.

“I’ll park and come in with you,” Max said. “My bet is you aren’t getting on a flight tonight.”