Cynth chuckled. "So you are getting bigger in the bust area and hungry all the time? Mmm."
"Mmm what?" Ruby said irritably as her phone beeped once again. At Marcus'?
"Argh," Ruby groaned. "Why won't Rory leave me alone?"
"Because you slept with him," Cynth said, "and he wants more. What's he doing these days since he so callously left the ministry on New Year's Day? Was your church in an uproar?"
Ruby grunted. "Why don't you come to church since you are so curious about us?"
"I plan to," Cynth said, nodding, "and I shall. It was a part of my New Year’s resolution. Is Rory's replacement single and fine?"
"No, not your type at all. He is an elderly pastor who loves the Lord. You can see it on him. He is just what Cedar Hill needs right now, I tell you. They didn't announce Rory's resignation. They just sent a replacement. It's just three weeks. I doubt anybody has missed him yet. Well, the observant few will see that Sue-Ann is coming to church alone. Why she is still coming to our church, I don't even know. Anyway, most persons didn't have a chance to get used to them, so no waves were created."
"Mmm," Cynth said. "How elderly is this pastor?"
Ruby chuckled. "Like your father's age elderly."
"Widowed?"
"No! For heaven's sake, Cynth, you are not that hard up for a guy!" Ruby's belly rumbled again.
She withdrew an energy bar from her desk drawer and bit into it.
"You must be preggo," Cynth said after Ruby devoured the bar in one go.
Ruby was in the process of putting the paper in the trashcan and her hands froze.
"What?"
"Your tits are bigger, you are eating like crazy… Pregnant," Cynth said. "I can't believe you hadn't figured this out before."
Ruby placed her hand over her belly in wonder. "Oh heavens. I haven't had morning sickness not even once. I feel fine, just hungry all the time."
"Different strokes for different folks," Cynth murmured.
Ruby got up excitedly. "I am going to visit the doctor downstairs. What's her name?"
"McGowan." Cynth grinned. "Congrats, Ruby. I know this is what you've always wanted.
"Don't jinx me, don't tell me congrats yet." She grabbed another energy bar out of the drawer before she headed out the door.
*****
"You are about three months pregnant," the doctor said to her after the checkup.
Ruby calculated in her head—three months. January, December, November… No. She gave her head a mental shake. No.
"Are you sure?" Ruby whispered. The joy that had her sailing in the clouds was now shot down like a lead balloon. If November was in there, she was in trouble.
"We are pretty accurate about these things," the doctor said to her soothingly.
When she left the office, she felt a mixture of emotions and felt like sagging under the weight of them.
She felt joy, then guilt, then a crazy mixed up feeling of uncertainty. Whose child was she carrying?
She stood outside the doctor's office and almost sagged to the ground. No way was this happening to her. God, please tell me that this is not happening to me. Ruby didn't know how long she stood outside the doctor's office, her mind whirring like an overworked motor. By the time she was finished she almost felt sick.
"What's wrong?" Alice was almost shouting in her face before Ruby realized that she was there.
"Huh?" She gazed at Alice. "What?"
"I was in the store," Alice said with a concerned look on her face, "and then I saw you out here just standing as still as a statue. Are you okay?"
Ruby winced. Alice was speaking a bit too loudly. The brochures that were in Ruby's hand slipped out of her nerveless fingers and Alice bent to pick them up. When she saw the pictures of the pregnant women, she hugged Ruby.
"Hey, congrats. I know this is something that you really want. I am so excited for you. Ian must be over the moon."
"I haven't told him yet," Ruby said. "I just found out. I am still a little dazed."
"Aww," Alice said with feeling. "I know he is going to be over the moon happy to be a father."
Ruby inhaled tremulously. This is Ian's baby. I am overreacting. A guilty conscience could do that to a person.
"Yes, he will," she said, her excitement returning.
Chapter Eighteen
Rory turned into Cedar Hill drive one last time. He was using his uncle's apartment on the hip strip. He needed a few more of his things from the house, though, and then he was well and truly moving out.
He was happy that he and Sue-Ann had no major assets to split up. Their only concern was Jade, and Sue-Ann had already started using the emotional blackmail, as he had anticipated. He knew that Jade would be a bargaining chip in this divorce.
He deliberately came over in the late evening because he knew that Sue-Ann would be at work. When he let himself inside the house he saw that Sue-Ann had made some time to arrange the place neatly. It looked clean and neat and unlike the war zone that it had been when they just moved to Montego Bay.
He was surprised that Sue-Ann was sitting in the living room when he walked in. She was dressed in one of her thick blue robes. She had a box of tissues beside her and her eyes were swollen and her hair wild.
"Hi," he said unemotionally.
A sob escaped Sue-Ann's throat.
It didn't move Rory. He realized that he didn't feel a thing for her. He had lived with her for the past six years and he was staring at her blotchy swollen face as he would stare at a stranger's.
He headed for the room and the box where he had placed his last items of clothing.
Sue-Ann stood at the door when he spun around with the box in his hand.
"Please don't leave, Rory," she said chokingly. "I have changed. I am a better person."
"I don't want to know," Rory said coldly. He looked at the tears rolling down her cheeks and felt a repulsion close to hatred grip him. "You are responsible for derailing my life."
"And I am sorry!" Sue-Ann said hoarsely. "I am sorry, okay, but marriage is serious business. Why are you just walking out of our marriage like this?"
"Because," Rory said, satisfaction lacing his voice, "I want back Ruby. I love her. I never stopped. It is as simple as that."
"And you gave up your career and your current family and everything for her?" Sue-Ann asked incredulously. "Is she leaving her husband too?"
"Of course," Rory said, a determined lift to his chin. "Eventually, she'll see that we were meant to be together."
Sue-Ann stepped away from the doorway. "I can't reason with you when you are like this."
Rory snorted. "Fine. We need to talk about shared custody of Jade since it seems like we are both going to be living here in Montego Bay for the foreseeable future."
"I am not allowing you to play happy families with my daughter when you are with Ruby," Sue-Ann said bitterly.
"I love my child, Sue-Ann," Rory bit out. "Are you willing to keep her from her father to punish me?"
"Yes," Sue-Ann said spitefully. "If Ruby is in your life then I am sorry, I am not allowing you to see Jade."
Rory shook his head. "Okay. I was hoping we could come to an agreement outside of the courts."
Fresh tears rolled down Sue-Ann's face. "I am willing to do anything for you. I love you, and that doesn't mean anything?" She tried one last desperate plea.
"No," Rory growled. He stepped around her in the hallway. "I already consulted a lawyer. You'll hear from him soon. The sooner we get this sham over with, the better."
When he drove through the gates of the house he felt excited, like a big Sue-Ann-sized burden had been lifted off him. He shouldn't have married her in the first place. He saw that now. Well, he had seen it then, to be honest. He shouldn't even have entered the ministry in some sort of misguided attempt to fix his life and atone for his mistakes. He hadn't been called. He had been suffering and grief-stricken when he lost Ruby that year.
Now he had a real chance of getting her back a
nd he was going to seize it with both hands. Ruby was and always would be his first love.
*****
Ian spent all day Monday and into the night on the site. He was being as meticulous as he could be and the work was coming along nicely. During the day, he had intervened in some skirmishes between some new guys and his regular crew and he was feeling exhausted.
His head was barely on the pillow after he got in and had a shower before the low humming feeling of inadequacy, which he somehow kept at bay for the day, came rushing in. His mind couldn't settle. He was always a hair's breadth away from telling Ruby that they would not be able to have children together.
The secret was consuming him. It was really becoming increasingly difficult not to snap at her, especially when she mentioned children. He closed his eyes. He hadn't come to terms with his reproductive problem yet since hearing about it in October.
He turned on the bed. He was afraid to tell Ruby. To tell her would be the end of their relationship. Deep down he knew that they would not survive that kind of news. Maybe if it were another woman, they could work something out, but not Ruby.
He turned on the television that was in the sparsely furnished room. He felt alone and depressed and slightly damaged, as if something was broken in him. He mindlessly skipped through the channels until he came upon a religious channel, where a pleasant-faced man said, "God will work out your problems if you just take it to him in prayer."
Ian switched to another one; a lady was sweetly singing, "I know you will hear me when I call..." He switched off the television.
What exactly should he ask God for? Peace of mind? He surely needed that at this time; he also wanted the Lord to work on his marriage because only a miracle would solve his problem.
He closed his eyes where he was and took his petition to the Lord.
Chapter Nineteen
Ruby had known about her pregnancy for two whole days, but she couldn't share it with Ian over the phone. She wanted to see him face to face, and when he said he was coming home Wednesday evening, she found herself feeling jittery. Somehow, she hadn't envisioned being uncomfortable about telling Ian that she was pregnant but the shadow of a doubt hanging over the baby's paternity had her on tenterhooks.
She paced the apartment nervously that evening. Should she blurt it out? Ian, guess what? I am pregnant! No, that sounded too cold and guilty.
Honey, guess what? We are going to have a baby! accompanied with a squeal. That should work, or she could gauge his mood and see how responsive he was when he got in. Over the two days, Ian had sounded as if he had a million and one things on his mind when she spoke to him.
She should prepare something first: do a candle light dinner, slip into her baby blue negligee and create a romantic scene. Surely that would get him out of his doldrums.
Ruby started preparing dinner in earnest. She almost sliced her fingers with the knife in her anxiety to get everything done in time.
Her phone rang when she was stirring the chicken broth for their appetizer. It was Rory.
She groaned out loud. "Rory I have no time for this conversation." Her voice was clipped.
"I live on the building beside yours," Rory said. "Apartment 10, seventh floor."
"Why?" Ruby groaned. She turned her back to her broth and paced agitatedly.
"Because I am no longer with Sue-Ann. My uncle owns an apartment here."
"Listen, Rory," Ruby said sternly. "I am not going to leave my husband. I am going to have his baby and I am happy. I know we had a past and then there was that unfortunate thing in November, but you can't keep calling me like this, or texting me."
"You are pregnant?" Rory asked, a shocked tone to his voice.
"Yes," Ruby said excitedly. "I am finally knocked up."
"I don't care," Rory replied without a ripple in his voice. "We can be a blended family. All that matters is that we, you and I, can be together again."
"Argh!" Ruby hissed. "You are impossible." Her soup boiled over at the same time and she almost dropped the phone in it.
"I have to go." She hung up on Rory before he could say anything else.
Then she heard the key in the door and she slumped beside the counter, defeated. So much for a romantic dinner.
"Honey, I am home," Ian said, walking into the kitchen. He grinned at her. "You are a sight for sore eyes."
Ruby grimaced. "I was going to be all sexy and prepare a romantic dinner." She moved into his arms.
Ian chuckled, hugging her to him and kissing the top of her head. "What's the occasion? It's not Valentine's yet, is it?"
"No silly," Ruby said. "That's next month. I wanted to give you some good news. Splendid news! Wondrous news!"
Ian looked at her with anticipation. "That sounds interesting. So tell me the news; you look excited enough to burst."
Ruby smiled. "I am pregnant!"
Ian went still. The smile he had on his face slipped by degrees. His gaze zeroed onto her belly and then her slightly bigger bust. "Are you sure?"
"Wow, talk about being happy," Ruby said, wagging her finger at him. "Of course I am sure! I checked it out with the doctor on Monday. I was just waiting for you to come home to give you the news. I was going to plan this whole romantic dinner and thing but..."
"I have to sit down," Ian mumbled. He staggered to the living room and sat in the settee. "I can't believe it."
"I know, it was big news for me too," Ruby gushed.
"All this time," Ian said in wonder, "I could have saved myself the heartache and the pain. Obviously the doctor's test was wrong."
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked slowly.
"I did a sperm test back in October," Ian said, laughing in relief, "Victor suggested it, so I went and did it. The doctor said that I had irregular shaped sperm and low sperm count and..."
Ruby gasped. "What?"
"Yeah, I know. Isn't it crazy?" Ian said pulling her to him. "I can't believe it; this is a miracle, isn't it?"
Ruby hugged back Ian stiffly. "Yes it is." She could barely get her vocal chords to work.
"Are you sure about what the doctor said?" she asked him fearfully. Her fingers were shaking. She felt a little jolt in her body, like she had pushed her hand onto a live wire and was being electrocuted.
"I was dreading to tell you," Ian said, tenderly caressing her cheek. "I know how much you wanted a baby and I knew that my infertility issue would have been a problem for us. I was in a quandary because I know that you want children of your own and I felt so inadequate to provide them to you."
Ian kissed her tenderly. "I love you, woman, and I love our new baby already."
He got up. "I can't wait to tell the guys and my parents. Today is really a fabulous day, isn't it! This is officially the best Wednesday ever. How far along are you?" Ian asked while he fished out his phone.
"Three months." Ruby cleared her throat. "Excuse me a sec, hon, I feel lightheaded."
Ian looked concerned. "What can I do to help?"
"Nothing," Ruby said quickly. "Just give me a minute. I think I am going to the bathroom. It was probably too hot in the kitchen."
"I am not going to band practice tonight," Ian said as she walked away. "I might not even stay overnight for the next few days. I definitely have to be around for you at this time."
Ruby turned back and looked at him. "No, you can go to band practice," she insisted. "You haven't been there for three weeks now. I know you made an extra special effort to come by today to hang out with your friends."
"But..."
"No buts," Ruby said sternly. "I will be here when you get back."
"Okay," Ian said reluctantly. "If you are sure."
*****
Sue-Ann hated the single life. She had forgotten what it was like to live alone. She wished that Jade was living with her instead of finishing the year with her grandparents. She worried her teeth between her lips; she had to make one last-ditch attempt to win back her husband.
Appealing to him had no
t helped, obviously. She even briefly considered appealing to Ruby but quickly disabused herself of that idea. Ruby would probably laugh at her, and she probably deserved it. She had really treated Ruby horribly in the past.
She drove toward Carbell, near downtown. Her car was not changing gears smoothly and she was worried about it. She had only discovered the problem yesterday. She would have asked Rory to check it out for her, if he hadn't suddenly decided to leave their marriage. Well, not suddenly. Ever since he got home from that overnight stay at Cascade Cove, he had completely switched off.
He was cold before but after that trip he had gotten icy. She had her suspicions as to why but she didn't want to be accused of having a dirty, immoral mind again.
The traffic was horrendous on a Wednesday evening. It seemed as if everybody and their cousin had decided to be on the road at this time of the day.
She reached Carbell's garage and turned into the immaculate front entrance. She got a parking space and rapidly walked toward the office. Even though they closed late, she didn't want to take the chance that her car would not be looked at today.
She was about to push the door open when she saw Ian Scott walking through it. He had a broad smile on his face and he was on his phone talking. He did not see her.
He stood at the door before an impressive rock garden at the front. He sounded happy.
Sue-Ann drifted closer to him. He was really a fine looking guy. He was tall, powerful, had curly black closely-cropped hair, and his eyes were a light brown amber. She could see why Ruby found him appealing.
He radiated masculinity. He was dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans that fitted him perfectly. For a brief moment she wondered if pursuing Ian would cause Rory to be overcome with jealousy and return to her or if it would drive Ruby crazy.
How did Ruby attract these two fabulous men to herself so easily? They obviously loved her. She had to fight dirty to get Rory and now he was leaving her without a backward glance. Even the threat of him being denied visitation rights to his daughter had not swayed him.
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