Once Upon a Pregnancy

by Judy Duarte

“Thanks, Simone. I know that I wasn’t always there for you when you grew up, and I’m sorry. With Cynthia’s friendship and Dr. Daniels’s help, I’m hoping that things will…get better.”

  “I’d like that.” Simone glanced at Mike, saw him watching her closely. Still, she wasn’t sure if he knew how much this meant to her.

  For as long as she could remember, she’d hoped and prayed her mom would be normal, that they’d have what other mothers and daughters had. And she’d all but given up.

  “I know I’ve never said it,” her mother added, “but I do love you. And I want you to know that I blame myself for the bulk of the problems we’ve had. But I’m going to try and work on becoming a…better person, if not a better mother.”

  All she had any right to ask of her mother was that she at least try to get help. And, apparently, she was.

  “I’m glad to hear it, Mom. And I have a few things that I probably ought to work on, too. I’ve pulled away a lot in the past, so it didn’t help us find any common ground.”

  Silence stretched across the line, which Simone realized was par for the course for the two of them. But she hoped that, with time, the awkwardness would eventually lessen.

  “While I have you on the line,” Simone said, hoping her news would be helpful and not hinder her mother’s progress, “there’s something I want to tell you. I’ve fallen in love with a wonderful man. His name is Mike O’Rourke, and we plan to be married.”

  “That’s…a nice surprise. I’m…happy for you. When is the wedding?”

  “It’s all in the planning stages now.” Simone glanced at Mike and held on to the love glowing in his eyes. “I’ll let you know when we decide on a date.”

  “Is he good to you?” her mother asked.

  “Unbelievably so.” Simone placed a hand on Mike’s cheek and basked in all she’d found in his arms. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

  “You deserve the best, Simone.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Simone chose to believe her mother was being sincere. “And, by the way, there’s even more good news. We’re also going to have a baby.”

  “A baby?”

  “Yes, Mom. You’re going to be a grandmother by the time next Christmas comes around.”

  “Imagine that. Time has a way of changing things.”

  Yes, it did.

  They told each other goodbye and promised to chat again later, a promise that rang true.

  Simone wasn’t sure what the future would bring, but she was hopeful that, with counseling, her mom would work through the issues she should have taken care of right after the rape happened.

  She knew she could never really change what had happened between them in the early years, but maybe her mother would be a better grandmother.

  Mike kicked off his shoes, then stretched out upon the bed. He rolled to his side and patted the place beside him.

  Words weren’t needed. Simone was eager to curl up next to him. As much as she looked forward to making love again, the doctor had said to take it easy. And she didn’t want to take any chances by overdoing it today.

  So instead, she relished the feel of Mike’s arms around her, the hint of his musky, male scent, the comfort that the gentle rise and fall of his chest provided.

  “Do you know what?” Mike asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “I recognize how hard you’ve worked to become the nurse that you are. So I don’t expect you to be a stay-at-home mom unless you want to. I’m willing to either take care of the baby myself or juggle my schedule any way that will allow you to continue working.”

  She ran her fingertips along his cheek, felt the faint bristle of his beard. “You’re a sweetheart, Mike O’Rourke. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings.” Then she cupped his jaw and pressed a kiss on his lips, allowing her hand to linger on his face. “Right now, I can’t imagine wanting to give up my job completely, so I appreciate your willingness to work out a day-care solution.”

  “I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind helping out some, too. She loves babies.”

  That thought held a lot of appeal.

  “You know,” Simone said, “I like your mom. And your dad is great, too. I hope, when they get to know me better, that they’ll feel the same way about me.”

  “They’ll love you.” He took her hand from his cheek and kissed her palm. “And so will the rest of my family. As big and boisterous as the O’Rourkes can sometimes be, they’ve always welcomed each new in-law and baby with open arms. So you’ll be one of them, too.”

  A family of her own. Imagine that.

  “I love you,” Simone said, enjoying the sound of her words and realizing they came easier each time she said them.

  “I love you, too.”

  They lay like that for a while, caught up in the intimacy they shared. An intimacy Simone no longer found the least bit scary. Not with Mike.

  “Thanks for seeing something inside my cool exterior,” she said. “And for being persistent about making me see it, too.”

  “I didn’t have to look that deep. I’ve got an eye for inner warmth and beauty.”

  Simone smiled, her heart swelling to the bursting point.

  Mike had set his sights on her, just as he had that old Victorian on Maple Drive that he’d purchased. He’d sensed what a little tender loving care could do and was determined to renovate the run-down house into a happy home.

  There was no doubt that he would succeed.

  After all, that’s exactly what he’d done with Simone’s heart.

  * * * * *

  THE WILDER FAMILY continues next month!

  Spring fever hits Walnut River! When social

  worker Isobel Suarez reluctantly teams up with

  investigator Neil Kane to root out a mole in the

  hospital, late nights and close quarters lead

  to shared kisses…but will true love bloom?

  Find out in Her Mr Right?

  by Karen Rose Smith,

  on sale May 2009 wherever

  Mills & Boon® books are sold.

  Mills & Boon® Cherish

  brings you a sneak preview of Christine Rimmer’s

  In Bed with the Boss, which is available in May 2009.

  Little did hotel-chain CFO Tom Holloway realise

  that his new executive assistant spelled trouble.

  But even though single mum Shelly Winston was

  planted by Holloway’s worst enemy to take him

  down, Shelly was no fool – she had a mind of her

  own and an eye for her handsome boss!

  Don’t miss this exciting new story coming next

  month from Mills & Boon® Cherish!

  In Bed with the Boss

  by

  Christine Rimmer

  Two years ago…

  It was the moment.

  And Tom Holloway knew it.

  Across the black granite boardroom table, Helen Taka-Hanson waited, her beautiful face composed, showing him nothing. Behind her, beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the afternoon sun reflected off the tall buildings of North Michigan Avenue. Tom kept his gaze level, on Helen. But he knew what was out there: The Second City. The Magnificent Mile.

  Chicago. Tom wanted it. Needed it, really. A fresh start in a new town. He would be chief financial officer of TAKA-Hanson’s new hospitality division.

  Which meant hotels. Contemporary luxury hotels on a grand scale. It was the biggest venture he’d tackled so far and it sounded good. Better than good.

  And the job was his. Helen had already made the offer.

  What he said next could blow it for him—more than likely would blow it for him. Which was why he’d left the crucial information off his résumé. His disgrace had happened so long ago, it was easily glossed over now.

  But Tom had learned the hard way that concealment didn’t work in the long term. The high-stakes world of finance was too damn small. In the end, his past always found him.

  Better to s
how his stuff first, let them know he had the chops, get all the way to the job offer. And then take a deep breath and lay the bad news right out there.

  The offer just might stand in spite of his past. If it didn’t, if he lost the job, well, chances were he would have lost it anyway in the end, when the ugly facts surfaced.

  Oh, yeah. A delicate moment, this. The moment of truth.

  Helen said, “Well, Tom. You’ve heard our offer. Is there anything else we need to go over?”

  Tom sat back in the chair, ordered his body to relax and told himself—for the hundredth time—that it had to be done.

  “As a matter of fact, Helen. There is something else…”

  She arched a brow at him and waited for him to go on.

  He said, “I was fired once. It was a long time ago, my first job out of Princeton.”

  “Fired.” Helen spoke the word flatly. “That’s not on your résumé, is it?”

  “No. And it gets worse.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I was young and way too hungry, working on Wall Street, determined to make it big and do it fast. None of which is any justification for my actions. I was discharged for insider trading. And then I was arrested for it. And convicted. I did six months.”

  A silence. A pretty long one. Tom could feel yet another great job slipping away from him.

  At last, Helen asked the big question. “Were you guilty?”

  “Yes. I was.”

  He might have softened the harsh fact a little. He could have explained what a naive idiot he’d been then. He could have told her all about his mentor at the time, who’d convinced him to pass certain “tips” to big clients. He could have said that the guy got away clean by setting Tom up to take the fall for him. That the same former mentor had been a curse on his life since then. Because of that one man, Tom had lost out on a number of opportunities—and not just in terms of his career. It would have been the truth.

  However, his former boss wasn’t the one up for CFO, TAKA-Hanson, hospitality division. Tom was. His prospective employer needed to know that he’d once broken the law—and then gone to jail for it. The why and the wherefore?

  Not the question.

  Tom sat unflinching, waiting for the ax to fall.

  Instead, Helen smiled.

  It was a slow smile, and absolutely genuine—a warm smile, the kind of smile that would make any red-blooded man sit up and take notice. From what Tom had heard, this genius of the business world, now in her late forties, had saved Hanson Media from collapse several years back, after her first husband, George Hanson, died suddenly. The story went that before she was forced to step in and save the family business, she’d been a trophy wife.

  Smart and savvy and strictly professional as she’d been since he met her, Tom had been having trouble seeing her as mere arm candy for a tycoon. But now he’d been granted that amazing smile, he wasn’t having trouble anymore.

  That face, that smile…

  George Hanson had been one lucky man. And so was her current husband, TAKA-Hanson’s chairman of the board, Morito Taka.

  “I prize honesty,” Helen said. “I prize it highly. So I think it’s time I repaid your truth with one of my own. I’ve done my homework on you, Tom. I’ve known all along about how you lost that trading job, and the price you paid for what you did. I’ve been interested to see if you’d tell me about it. And now that you have, I’m more certain than ever on this. Other than that one admittedly serious black mark against you—for which you’ve paid your dues—your record is spotless. I know you’ll make a fine addition to my team. I’ve got no reservations. You’re the man for this job.”

  Tom’s heart slammed against his breastbone. Had he heard right? Had it worked out, after all? The CEO knew the truth.

  And she’d hired him anyway.

  He held out his hand. Helen took it. They shook.

  When he spoke, his voice was firm and level. “I intend to make sure you never regret this decision.”

  “I believe you,” said Helen. “That’s another reason you’re our new CFO.”

  ISBN: 9781408910559

  ONCE UPON A PREGNANCY

  © Judy Duarte 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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