Jacqueline Diamond - The Surprise Triplets

Well, she was still tall.

The slightly open door swung wider, and she forgot to breathe. Then she saw with relief that her visitor wasn’t Edmond.

Karen Wiggins, the fertility program’s financial counselor and occupant of the adjacent office, handed her a cup of white liquid. “It’s almond milk—fifty percent more calcium than cow’s milk.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Melissa teased. Ten years her senior, Karen was a nurturing friend as well as her landlady.

“How’d it go with the ex?” Karen lingered near the desk. This month, she’d dyed her shoulder-length hair reddish-brown, which Melissa preferred to some of her friend’s more flamboyant choices.

“Smoothly. Oddly. I don’t know.” Staying alert for approaching footsteps, Melissa added, “He’ll be back any minute.”

“I’ll talk fast. Did you pay attention to the guest list for Saturday?”

“No. Should I?” Melissa and three other coworkers rented rooms in Karen’s large home. This weekend, one of their group, nurse Anya Meeks, was getting married there. “As long as we have enough food, who cares?”

“You don’t mind that Edmond’s invited?”

That was a less-than-welcome surprise. “I had no idea. I wasn’t aware he knew Anya and Jack that well.”

Karen shrugged. “Anya posted on her wedding website that he’d brought them together. You’ll recall she hired him to arrange for Jack to waive his paternal rights after she found out she was pregnant. That set off a whole chain of events leading to...” She hummed a few bars of “Here Comes the Bride.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Several months ago, Anya had asked about a lawyer to help her explore giving up her baby for adoption and Melissa had recommended Edmond. “That hardly qualifies him as Cupid.” She sipped the milky liquid, enjoying its slight vanilla flavor.

“She led me to believe she’d already told Jack about the pregnancy.” Edmond peered through the doorway, his brown eyes alight with amusement at slipping into the discussion. “I dropped off what I assumed was routine paperwork to Jack and—bam! Fireworks.”

Despite an instinctive tensing at his appearance, Melissa had to smile at the image of her normally unflappable ex-husband facing Jack’s outrage. “You smoothed things over.”

“Not entirely. It was among the more awkward moments of my career,” Edmond said. “But all’s well that ends well.”

“And you’re coming to my house on Saturday?” Karen asked.

He gave a start. “The wedding’s at your house?”

“The address is on the invitation,” Karen pointed out.

“I didn’t check where it was. I figured I’d GPS it.” A puzzled line formed between Edmond’s dark eyebrows. “By the way, why did the invitation come with nose clips?”

Both women laughed. “You’ll find out,” Karen said.

Aware that Edmond disliked being kept in the dark, Melissa explained, “The house is next to an estuary. The smell of decomposing vegetation and fish can get a little ripe.”

“Dare I hope the wedding’s indoors?” he asked. “Nose clips don’t work too well with glasses.”

“It is,” she assured him.

“Glad to hear it.”

Karen scooped up Melissa’s empty mug. “Later, guys.”

Then she left them alone.

Chapter Two

Edmond’s ethics had prevented him from questioning fellow staffers about his ex-wife’s pregnancy. Now that they were in private, though, it took all his resolve not to blurt the questions bedeviling him.

How frustrating that her condition made her glow even more than usual. That was saying a lot. The first time he’d seen Melissa, sitting with her friends at a UCLA campus coffee shop, light through a leaded glass window had bathed her in gold. Now, at the memory, her radiance hit him doubly hard.

They’d been a couple from the moment they met. He’d opened up to her, and she to him, or so he’d believed. They’d agreed that their marriage, their intimacy and their commitment would always be the center of their lives.

He’d been frank about the fact that fatherhood, on top of his demanding profession, would bring too many pressures. Edmond did nothing halfway, and he understood how important a father was to his children—a loving, devoted father, not a man who had them just because others expected him to. He’d taken on family responsibilities too young, filling in with his younger sister for an often-absent father and an emotionally withdrawn mother. And had done a poor job with her, as things turned out.

His wife’s announcement after five years of marriage that she wanted children had come out of nowhere. No warning, no hints before then that she’d changed her mind. Astonished and angry, he’d reacted strongly. Perhaps too strongly, but surely they could have saved their marriage if she was open to it. Instead, she’d walked out and cut off all communication about everything except divorce.

Despite his resentment, their deep connection had lingered in Edmond’s thoughts through the years. Although her presence in Safe Harbor hadn’t been his only reason for moving here, he’d looked forward to reconnecting, at least on a friendship basis. A friendship that might, in time, have grown.

No chance of that now. Not that Edmond begrudged her happiness. “Pregnancy suits you.”

Melissa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Nice of you to say so.”

“I never pay idle compliments.”

“I’m aware of that.” She waved him into a chair in front of her desk. A handful of brochures and papers were stacked more or less neatly on its polished wooden surface.

“Thank you for consenting to me being hired.” He’d been pleased to learn from Dr. Rayburn that she’d raised no objection.

“You’ll do a good job.” Her tapered fingers started to drum the desk, then stopped. “Why do you wish to be a consultant here?”

Noting her tension, he wondered at it. If she’d fallen in love with someone new, surely she’d be indifferent to him. Also, if she loved the father of her child, why was she sharing a house with friends?

“I applied for the post for financial and professional reasons,” he answered. “Until I arrived at Geoff Humphreys and Associates, the ‘associates’ consisted of a legal secretary and a receptionist. I’m slowly building a clientele, but it’s going to take a while.” He decided against mentioning that he’d also been attracted to the hospital opening because she was on staff.

“Why did you leave L.A.?” she asked. “I’m sure it paid better.” He’d earned a hefty salary, plus bonuses.

“It was cutthroat.” The partners at his old firm had encouraged associates to go for the jugular. The more Edmond saw of vicious divorces and custody battles, the less he appreciated that approach to family law.

Despite their pain, he and Melissa had behaved like rational adults during the divorce. That experience had been part of the reason he’d switched his focus to collaborative law and joined a smaller firm.

There’d been other reasons, as well. He’d sought to reduce his hours so he could help his parents and sister, who’d had a rough year. Then, after meeting Geoff and finding that their views dovetailed, he’d leaped at the chance to move to Safe Harbor. And possibly, to start over with Melissa.

Until today, he hadn’t admitted to himself how much he’d hoped she’d let go of her desire to have children. Once, she’d valued being with him above everything else, and as the years passed and she hadn’t remarried, he’d wondered if she might be experiencing some regret.

Obviously, he’d been wrong. Regardless of who the father was, she’d made an irreversible commitment to the child inside her. This pregnancy meant he’d truly lost her.