Emma Darcy - Jack's Baby

He met her gaze with direct intensity, his expression a moving mixture of compassion and resolution. Tears pricked her eyes. He cared about her. The baby was a complication he didn’t want, but his feeling for her hadn’t changed. It made the necessity of rejecting him again all the more difficult and painful.

It would be so easy to reach out and take the comfort and warmth and pleasure of being with him again. He’d wrap her in his arms and stroke her back and kiss her hair, and she’d feel his body stir with desire for her and…She’d missed him so much. But if she gave in to the need aching through her now, Jack would be encouraged to stick around, and the inevitable consequences would be worse than her current sense of deprivation.

Better to remain independent.

“I don’t need your help, Jack,” she said flatly.

“That’s not how it looks to me, Nina.” He reached out and took her left hand, fondling it warmly, persuasively pressing a link between them as he added, “I think we should get married as soon as possible.”

“No!” She snatched her hand away, feeling as though he’d burned her. Her eyes blazed fierce conviction. “I won’t marry you, Jack.”

“Why not? It’s the most sensible, practical thing to do.”

“I will not subject my baby to a father who doesn’t want her.”

“If you’re worried about the kid, let me assure you—”

“Her name,” Nina interrupted furiously, “is Charlotte.”

“Charlotte?” He frowned. “It doesn’t go very well with Gulliver. Let’s toss a few other names around.”

“Charlotte Brady sounds fine to me.”

Jack studied the stubborn set of her face and made a political retreat. “Fine. If that’s the name you like, I’m happy to go along with it.” He brightened. “On second thoughts, Charlotte isn’t too bad. We can call her Charlie. Charlie Gulliver has a nice ring to it.”

“Charlotte is a girl, Jack,” Nina pointed out with seething emphasis. “She is my daughter and she will remain Charlotte Brady. I am not going to marry you.”

He sighed. Heavily. His eyes glittered with devious intent. “Okay. We’ll just live together then.”

“I have no intention of living with you, Jack. I have my own place. I have everything set up as I want it, and neither I nor my baby requires your support.”

“Brave words, Nina, but what if something goes wrong with your well-laid plans?”

“I’ll cope.”

“You’ll cope better with me at your side.”

“No, I won’t.”

“We’ll see about that,” he declared, letting her know he was not about to be put off, put down or put out.

Nina sighed. Heavily. Jack was going to make a battle of it, no matter what she said. A wave of weakness dragged through her. She wished Charlotte would start bawling her head off. That would soon shift Jack. If her cries set the other babies off, too, he’d be out the door as fast as his feet could carry him.

Sally returned, darting apprehensive looks at Jack and Nina as she put the cup of tea on the mobile tray. “Better now?” she asked hopefully.

Sally Bloomfield was the most assertive person Nina had ever met. She was a brilliant saleswoman, able to talk anybody into anything and make him feel delighted about it. Her appearance was always polished and professional, from her chic auburn hair to her beautifully shod feet. Her smile dazzled, and her bright hazel eyes mesmerised. Sally sailed through life with the blissful belief that no matter what happened, it would turn out for the best. Her optimism was good to be around, but right now Nina needed her professional expertise.

“Tell Jack I’m perfectly capable of doing without him, Sally,” she appealed.

“Right!” She sat herself at the end of the bed and addressed Jack gravely. “It’s like this. Nina and I are set up in business together.”

Jack looked surprised. “Nina is organising weddings, too?”

“No, no, that’s my specialty. I adore weddings. Nina is a great seamstress. She fixes any bridal hire gowns that need altering. Does extra beading and tucks and stuff. Some of our clients have chosen Nina’s own designs, and she makes them so beautifully, it adds a lot to our reputation of delivering the dream.”

Jack frowned. “She won’t have much time for that with the baby. They’re time-consuming little mo—” He caught his breath.

“Monsters,” Nina finished for him. “Go on. Say it, Jack. That’s how you think of them. Monsters!”

“I was going to say moppets,” he corrected her loftily.

“Huh!”

“Well, the thing is,” Sally said swiftly, “Nina doesn’t have to travel anywhere. Everything is very handy. The business is run from my home, and Nina has a completely self-contained granny flat at the back of the premises. She can bring the baby into the house with her when she has to do fittings. There’s really no problem. She’s got a solid income, good accommodation and nothing to worry about.”

“You see? I’m self-sufficient,” Nina declared triumphantly.

“Except for a man,” Sally muttered.

Nina glared at her.

Sally shrugged and flirted with her eyes at Jack. “Well, you must admit, Nina, he is superb lover material. Why not have him? You can always get rid of a husband if it doesn’t work out.”

“Excellent reasoning.” Jack leapt in eagerly. “If she’d just give me a chance—”

“I am not going to marry him,” Nina interrupted.

“There’s a lot of advantages to it, Nina,” Sally argued. “Where would I be without my husbands? I got a car out of the first, a house out of the second and the capital to set up the business from the third.”

Sally had it the wrong way round. Nina didn’t want a sales pitch directed at her, but Sally had the bit between the teeth and was in full spate.

“Husbands can be very handy. You have a built-in escort, sex on demand, someone to look after you if you get sloshed at a party, financial backing, the muscle to stand over tradesmen and make sure they do the job right, and in your case, a no-cost baby minder when you want a break from mothering.”

“That’s where it falls down,” Nina pounced. “Jack hates babies.”

“It’s different with my own kid,” he defended staunchly.

Nina swung on him. “What’s different about it? You think Charlotte won’t cry? That she won’t dirty her nappy and wake up in the middle of the night and take attention away from you?”

“I can adjust.”

“Ingrained attitudes do not disappear overnight, Jack Gulliver.”

A nurse came in and looked disapprovingly at the late visitors. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you people to leave. Hospital rules, you know.”

Sally hopped off the bed. “Sleep on it, Nina,” she advised, her eyebrows waggling suggestively. “It’s very easy to get a divorce these days.”

Jack rose reluctantly from his chair. “I’ll be back tomorrow, Nina,” he vowed, a challenge burning in his eyes. “I’m not going to be shut out again.”

Then he turned to look down at the baby in the bassinette, giving her a salute as he moved past. “Good night, kid. This is your dad talking, and don’t let your mum tell you any different.”

“Her name is Charlotte!” Nina shouted after him.

THE roses arrived just before the midmorning feeding time. One of the nurses carried in the huge arrangement, grinning from ear to ear. “Three dozen!” she crowed, eyeing Nina with speculative interest. Being given so many was clearly a notable achievement.

“For me?” Nina asked doubtfully.

“It’s your name on the envelope,” came the ready assurance.

They could only be from Jack. Which meant he really would be coming back today, bringing with him all the conflicts she had tried to keep out of the life she had planned for Charlotte and herself. With her heart aflutter with apprehension and her mind clogged with a host of desires she shied away from examining, Nina cleared the top of her bedside cabinet before she was aware of what she was doing.