Raye Morgan - Baby on Board - Secret Baby, Surprise Parents / Her Baby Wish / Keeping Her Baby's Secret

Grace sighed. There really was no point in explaining the finer points of surrogacy. She supposed most people would think that. She’d thought it herself until Josh had put her straight. She glanced at her watch. It had been more than an hour since they’d gone their separate ways.

What on earth could be taking so long?

Nothing good, she was sure. But there was nothing she could do about it now and she crossed to the sofa, settled herself in the corner against the arm and offered Posie the bottle. She sucked for a moment, then pulled away.

‘What’s up, sweetpea? I thought you were hungry.’ She offered her the bottle again and this time she seemed to settle.

‘Do these need posting?’ Toby said, distracting her.

‘Sorry?’

‘These packages,’ he said, nodding towards the pile of padded envelopes on her desk as he spooned coffee in the filter. ‘I’m going that way at lunch time. I’ll drop them in at the post office if you like.’

‘Oh, right. Yes. That would be a huge help,’ she said, seizing on his offer. ‘If you’re sure.’

‘I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it.’

‘You’re a brick. Pass me my bag and I’ll give you some money.’ Then, ‘They all need to be sent “signed for”,’ she apologised as she handed over the notes.

‘No problem,’ he said, tucking the money into his back pocket before sitting beside her. ‘It’ll mean all the more time to chat up that dark-haired girl behind the counter.’

‘Sarah?’ She smiled. ‘Good choice. She’s absolutely lovely. So how long has that been going on?’

He shrugged. ‘I’ve been taking my post to her about twice a week since she started there.’

‘And that would be what—five, six months?’

‘I thought I’d take it slowly.’

‘Er… No. That’s not slow, Toby. That’s pathetic. Why don’t you just ask her out?’

‘Because, if she said no, sheer embarrassment would mean I’d have to go all the way into town to the main post office whenever I wanted a stamp.’

Grace clucked like a chicken and he laughed. ‘I know, it’s pathetic. But the main post office is a mile away.’ Then, as Posie spat out the bottle again and began to grizzle, he said, ‘What’s the matter with her?’

‘It’s my fault. I usually wear something of Phoebe’s when I feed her,’ Grace replied. ‘For the scent,’ she explained. ‘But I didn’t think to bring anything with me.’ She slipped a couple of buttons on her shirt. ‘Maybe this will help. Phoebe used to hold her next to her skin.’

‘As if she were breastfeeding?’

‘What do you know about it?’ she asked, laughing.

‘I’ve got sisters,’ he said. ‘And sisters-in-law. Half a dozen of them. I’ve lost count of the number of nieces and nephews I have.’

‘Right. Well, if I need any advice I’ll know where to come,’ she said, pushing aside her shirt a little and holding the baby close so that her cheek was against her skin. Drawn by the warmth, Posie immediately turned towards her and, after a moment or two, took the rubber teat of the feeder.

‘That’s so beautiful,’ he said.

‘Oh, Toby…’

And when, without warning, her eyes stung with tears that she could do nothing about, he put his arm around her, pulling her against his shoulder so that her tears soaked into his sleeve.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘This is stupid.’ She didn’t even know what she was crying about. Phoebe and Michael. Posie. Josh…

Maybe all of them.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘Go ahead. Let it out. It’ll do you good.’

He still had his arm around her when the door opened and Josh walked in, coming to an abrupt halt at the sight of the three of them.

For a moment no one said anything, then Toby murmured, just loud enough for him to hear, ‘I’m sorry, Grace, I thought I’d locked the door.’

The shock on Josh’s face at finding her with Toby’s arm around her was very nearly as ridiculous as her own sense of guilt.

She had nothing to feel guilty about.

Toby was a friend—he’d been there when Josh had been communing with his guilt up a mountain.

But Josh was clearly reading something a lot more significant into the situation. And why wouldn’t he, when she’d gone to such lengths to convince him that she was involved with the man?

But enough was enough and she pulled free of his arm, rubbing her palm across her wet cheek. ‘Haven’t you got an urgent date with the post office, Toby?’ she reminded him before he completely forgot himself.

‘You’re going to throw me out before I have a cup of that fabulous coffee I’ve made for you?’ he said, apparently determined to give Josh a reprise of his ‘lovelorn swain’ act.

‘Abby will be here when you get back with the receipts,’ she said, cutting him off before he could get going. ‘Buy her a cake and I’m sure she’ll take the hint. My treat.’ Then, ‘Buy two,’ she said meaningfully.

‘Two?’

‘A red velvet cupcake is supposed to be irresistible,’ she said.

‘Got it,’ he murmured, finally getting to his feet. Then, as he made a move, she put her hand on his arm, detaining him. ‘Thanks for the shoulder.’

‘Any time,’ he said, covering her hand with his own, kissing her cheek, going for an Oscar. ‘Anything.’ Then, touching his finger to Posie’s cheek. ‘Bye, baby. Be good for Grace.’

Then, gathering the packages from her desk, he headed for the door, where Josh was blocking his way.

‘Makepeace,’ Josh said, his acknowledgement curt to the point of rudeness.

‘Kingsley,’ he responded mildly. ‘I was sorry to hear about your brother. I liked him a lot.’ The mildness was deceptive. If he’d actually said, ‘Unlike you…’ he couldn’t have made himself plainer. ‘We missed you at his funeral.’

Josh said nothing, merely stepped aside to let him out, then closed the door after him and slipped the catch.

‘I’M EXPECTING someone,’ Grace protested.

‘Whoever it is will knock,’ Josh replied, crossing to the coffee pot. He turned over a couple of cups, opened the fridge. ‘There’s no milk. Shall I call back your gallant and ask him to bring you a carton?’

Gallant.

It was marginally better than ‘lovelorn swain’, she supposed. But only marginally.

‘Don’t bother for me,’ she said, and he poured two cups of black coffee and placed them on the low table set in front of the sofa.

‘You were a lot longer than I expected,’ she said, glancing up at him as Posie spit out the teat, with a finality that suggested that any further attempt to persuade her to take any more would be a waste of time. ‘What took you so long?’

‘There was a lot to go through, but clearly I needn’t have worried that you’d be lonely.’

Feeling trapped on the sofa, Grace got up, lifted the baby to her shoulder and, gently rubbing her back, began to pace.

‘I didn’t realise you and Toby Makepeace were still a hot item.’

Hot?

Hardly…

‘When Toby saw the light, he came over to see if there was anything he could do, Josh. It’s what friends do.’

‘Yes, I got the “any time, anything” message. Including the shoulder to cry on,’ he said, as she turned and came face to face with him. ‘You’ll forgive my surprise. I had assumed you were, momentarily, unattached.’

He invested ‘momentarily’ with more than its usual weight, bringing a flush to her wet cheeks, drawing quite unnecessary attention to them.

Josh produced a clean handkerchief and, taking her chin in his hand, he gently blotted first her eyes, then her cheeks, before unbuttoning one of the pockets on her thin silk shirt and tucking it against her breast.