Aimee Carson - That Wild Night - Waking Up Pregnant / The Best Mistake of Her Life

And Darcy stood staring at the closed door he’d walked out of, next to a woman she didn’t know, in a house she didn’t belong in.

Gail rested a hand at her elbow, offering a sympathetic look. “Are you all right with Jeffery gone?”

“I’ll be fine. Honestly.” It was so difficult to know what to say, circumstances being what they were. But meeting Gail’s eyes she got the sense Jeff’s mother was someone who appreciated the truth. “We hardly know each other.”

Gail looked toward the door. “Give it time. You’ll get to know each other, and figure out how exactly you fit into each other’s lives.”

The way the older woman said it, Darcy wondered if she was holding out hope for a more traditional outcome for their relationship.

“Until then, you can take my totally unbiased opinion as gospel. Jeffrey is a wonderful man, who is going to make as wonderful a father as his was to him. And in case you haven’t figured it out already, he’ll do just about anything to make sure his child has a stable, happy home. You’ll have everything you need. He’ll see to it. And so will I. So…” She leaned in with a conspiratorial wink that was so very Jeff, Darcy almost did a double take. “Would it help even the playing field a bit if I started telling you stories about all the times Jeffery lost his lunch as a boy?”

* * *

“In what universe are we living that you, a guy who makes me look like a pauper, would move your pregnant non-girlfriend into your parents’ spare room? You could buy the building next door to your office tomorrow. With cash. What the hell, man?”

Jeff gripped the wheel with fingers long gone white at the knuckles. “Give me a break, Connor. She’s staying in your old room, so it’s not like we’re talking about some hole down in the basement with a moldy futon. She’s got the entire west wing of the house to herself. She doesn’t even have to use the same door.”

“Glad to hear you aren’t trying to smuggle her in and out through the basement window, but seriously, your mom? ”

Connor chuckled from across the miles, his voice going muffled as he invariably filled in his new wife, Megan, on the details. Then he said, “Megan wants to know if your mom is making her pizza puffs on demand.”

“Ha-ha. Megan’s a laugh a minute.”

“Man, I know it. She’s great.” Then quieter, as though there were a hand almost covering the phone, Connor said, “Come here, sweetheart… Great, see you in a few hours, gorgeous.”

When Connor’s attention was returned to the call, Jeff let out a tight breath. “It was the first thing I thought of. She wasn’t going to budge on the job thing. So I found her a job.”

“Working for your mom? And Darcy’s okay with it?”

“Not really. But for now, she’s agreed. So it’s a start.”

“So what happens once she realizes Gail doesn’t actually need any help with anything, from anyone—that if she wanted, she could probably add your job and mine to her mix of charitable foundations without breaking a sweat.”

Jeff stared out the windshield, toward a sea of congested taillights. “I’m hoping Mom can keep her highly efficient tendencies under wraps for at least a couple of months. Long enough to give Darcy a chance to get some rest and me a chance to come up with my next game plan.”

DARCY WOKE TO the unfamiliar and yet totally identifiable sound of lawn mowers from beyond her window. The sun shone in through the shades she’d neglected to close the night before, casting the room in a warm, golden glow she might have lingered in if not for her standing appointment with morning sickness.

Once taken care of, she showered, and then slipped into a pair of yoga pants and a thin, long sleeve T-shirt before heading downstairs. Gail had been gone when she woke up yesterday and only stopped in for a few minutes around late afternoon before disappearing through most of the evening, which had given Darcy the bulk of the day to familiarize herself with the house. She’d met the two housekeepers, Nancy and Viv, who had been incredibly warm and welcoming, right up to the minute she’d asked if she might help them out with anything. At which point those warm smiles had turned stern and she’d been pointed toward the couch and handed a glass of juice. Apparently, Jeff had spoken with them.

The break had been nice, but so much free time left her at loose ends, and she was looking forward to sitting down with Gail and finding out what her temporary position would entail and how quickly she could get her hands into something. Anything.

Stepping into the kitchen she found Gail standing at the farmhouse-style table a china cup in one hand, a tablet in the other. Stacks of folders spread out in front of her.

She looked up at Darcy’s entrance and smiled her son’s genuine smile. “Wonderful, you’re up! Sleep okay?”

“I did, thank you. How about yourself?”

Gail nodded, quickly, then flapped her hand at the air as if to brush aside the morning pleasantries. “I’d like us to be friends, Darcy. Real friends.”

“That would be nice,” she answered.

“It would. So in the interest of friendship, I suggest we make a pact to be honest with each other. Truthful. Up-front. So we always know where we stand.”

Nervous tension began to creep through her, because honesty had pretty much been the plan from the start. But maybe Gail wasn’t as okay with having her here as she’d sounded when Jeff was around. “All right.”

“Great! So I’ll start. Now honestly, do you want to dive right into your made-up, fake job this morning or—” she clutched her hands in front of her, like she was making a plea “—go shopping for baby clothes. ”

* * *

Six hours later, Darcy was on the phone with the caterer, confirming Tuesday’s menu modification when Gail walked into the small office Darcy had made of her sitting room. Setting three binders on the edge of the small desk, she dropped into the chair on the opposite side. When Darcy wrapped up the call, Gail scanned the desk.

“For a fake job, we’ve actually scrounged up quite a bit to keep you busy.”

Darcy let out a short laugh. There’d been a candid discussion between them earlier about the motivation behind this manufactured position. Gail had asked Darcy to put a pin in her frustration toward Jeff and consider the opportunity before her. If Darcy was serious about continuing to work—and she was—this was an opportunity to expand her skill set and open up avenues in the employment market that wouldn’t have otherwise been available.

It was an offer Darcy realized she would be crazy not to take. And within the hour she’d been on the job with Gail only huffing the smallest amount over the decision not to go baby clothes shopping.

Darcy reached for the top binder, only to have her fingers swatted away.

“ Part-time, fake job. You agreed to take it easy for a few weeks, so this one will have to wait. For now, Jeff’s got a friend of his—a doctor—stopping over in about an hour to check on you. Which leaves you some time for a phone call if you were planning to make one.”

* * *

Jeff stared down at the phone in his hand, not sure what shocked him most. That his mother—his supposed number one fan and most staunch supporter—had completely, unequivocally thrown him under the bus in favor of his pregnant non-girlfriend. Or that Darcy had thanked him for what he’d done.

Definitely the latter.

And she’d sounded genuine. Excited even. Enough so the piece of her mind she’d given him about scheduling a doctor’s appointment without consulting her first hardly stung at all. And in truth, he’d meant to call her about it, but then had ended up speaking to his mother and passing the message along, which had probably sounded more like a dictate, than the on condition she didn’t object, he’d assumed would be implied.