Marie Ferrarella - Safe Harbour

“I’m not lying,” Cris protested. “I’m not coming down with anything, not in the traditional sense.”

Stevi’s curiosity went up another notch. “Okay, how about in the nontraditional sense?” Stevi pressed. Interrupting herself for a second, she looked toward Jorge and made a request. “Could you make that to go, please, Jorge?”

Jorge nodded.

“You’re taking breakfast to go?” Cris asked. “What’s the matter, you suddenly don’t like my dining room?”

“It’s not that,” she protested, noting that somehow, Cris’s domain had spread from the kitchen to the dining area, as well. “I’ve got a few things to do in my room, wise guy, so I thought I’d eat and work at the same time. And don’t think you’re changing the subject that easily.”

“There is no subject to change,” Cris said, turning back to flip the omelet.

Stevi shifted so that she was able to at least see Cris’s profile. “We have a slight difference of opinion there.”

“I’m fine,” Cris insisted once again. “Just a little woozy, maybe.”

If Cris admitted to being dizzy, then there was more she wasn’t saying.

“Cris, Jorge can take over. Heck, even I can do some cooking in an emergency—”

“The emergency would be after you started cooking,” Cris interjected.

Stevi ignored the comment. “There’s no shame if you take a sick day once in a while. Nobody expects you to be invincible. If you caught a bug, then—”

“It’s not a bug,” Cris protested, losing her patience. “It’s a baby.”

Stevi’s jaw dropped open. “Whoa. Back up. You caught a baby?”

Cris sighed. “It wasn’t supposed to come out like this.... But it was bound to come out sometime. Yes, in a manner of speaking, I guess.”

Stevi’s eyes widened even more. “Then you’re—”

Closing her eyes, Cris nodded. “Yes, I am,” she said.

Jorge was grinning ear to ear. “Congratulations, boss.”

Cris inclined her head, uttering a modest, “Thank you.”

The surge of pure joy was a beat late, but when it came, it all but exploded within her. “Cris, why didn’t you say anything?” Stevi threw her arms around her sister, hugging her hard. “That’s wonderful! Why are you keeping it such a secret?” Granted Cris was one of the more quiet of the Roman daughters, but when she discovered she was pregnant with Ricky, everyone in the family knew within about twenty-four hours.

“I didn’t want to steal any of Alex’s thunder,” she confided. “I’ve already had one baby. This is Alex’s first.”

That was not a valid reason as far as Stevi was concerned. “Alex can deal with sharing the spotlight, she’s not a narcissist. And it’s not like you could’ve kept this a secret forever, you know. Eventually, we would have figured it out. So, does anyone else know?”

Cris inclined her head. “Shane.”

“Well, of course! What about Ricky?”

“I would have loved to have included him in this, but if he knew, then the immediate world would have known, as well.”

Stevi laughed in agreement.

“There’s no such thing as keeping a secret as far as my boy is concerned—especially if it was labeled a secret. The information would have burst out of him the very first opportunity he had. Prefaced with ‘Mommy doesn’t want anyone to know, but—’”

“Well, always a good thing to let the father know anyway,” Stevi said, patting Cris’s hand.

“Your breakfast, Miss Stevi,” Jorge said, placing a large brown bag on the steel counter next to her.

“Thank you.” She flashed the assistant a quick smile.

“Please don’t tell everyone,” Cris begged her.

“Of course not! I think that kind of information should come from you.” She rolled her eyes. “But make sure you call Dad in and tell him first. He’ll appreciate being told before the others.”

Cris smiled as she placed her hand on her still very flat stomach. “I guess you’re right—for a change.”

That was the nature of their relationship. Nothing serious could be left alone for long. There was always a bite of sarcasm, a zinger attached somewhere. The Roman sisters were determined not to get mushy on one another.

“Can you get Dad for me, Stevi?” Cris requested. “Ask him to come to the dining area?”

Any other time...but she was acutely aware of the time and she had left her mystery man alone in her room for far too long. What if he had awakened while she was gone? What if he had wandered off? She couldn’t have that. Not until she got their stories straight. Otherwise, she would be on the receiving end of a lifetime of lectures from not just her father, but everyone else in the family, as well.

“I’d really love to, Cris, but there’s something important I have to get to.” She looked at Jorge. “Jorge, can you get my father down here, please? There,” she told Cris. “All done. Gotta fly.” She grabbed the large brown bag Jorge had brought her and left the kitchen through the back delivery entrance.

She left a bemused Cris staring after her in her wake.

Stevi circumvented the veranda at the back of the inn and made her way to the same side entrance she and Silvio had used earlier. Again, this was the long way around but if she’d gone out through the dining area, Alex and Andy would have grilled her.

The way she saw it, it was better to avoid questions altogether until she had some viable answers.

As she skirted the grounds, her thoughts went back to what she’d just discovered. Cris was going to have another baby. That made two babies being born in the not-too-distant future. Life was moving right along for Alex and Cris, she thought with a touch of envy. They each had a great husband and now they were busy creating their own families.

And where did that leave her?

Confused and restless, that’s where, she thought.

Not just that, but with an unidentified man lying in her bed, unconscious to boot.

Life had certainly gone from dull to extremely tangled in a few short hours, Stevi thought as she reached her door.

It was still closed, she noted. Either the stranger was still inside—or he had made an orderly escape, closing the door behind him after he departed.

Holding her breath, Stevi tested it: still locked. Turning the key, she eased the door open.

Her mystery man was just where she had left him, sleeping in bed. Coming a step closer, she never took her eyes off the man. Just as on the beach, he didn’t look as if he’d even moved a muscle since she had left.

She set the bag of food down on the writing desk in the corner, then quietly crept over to the bed.

She studied the man for a long moment. “Are you getting better, or worse?” she wondered out loud. “Am I helping you by keeping you hidden here, or am I destroying any chance you might have to get well? I wish I had a little guidance here,” she admitted. “There’s nothing on the internet to cover this situation. Can’t type in ‘What to do with an unknown, unconscious man encountered on the beach’ and have Ask.com come up with an answer.”

She had hoped that he might be up by now and able to eat, at least a little. He needed to build up his strength after all that blood he lost. When she’d picked up the two orders, she’d wanted to give him first choice of breakfast.

But since it appeared he was going to be out for a while, she decided to eat one and leave the other covered plate for him.

Choosing the eggs and ham, she brought the plate to his bed and sat in the chair she’d pulled over earlier. She took a bite absently and her taste buds almost sprang to life. She’d forgotten that it was impossible to eat anything that Cris prepared absently. It was a gift, she decided.