by Nalini Singh
His mom sniffed again, her voice breaking a little as she said, "And I knew that girl loved my boy. So much."
Abe thought of the pearl necklace Sarah still cherished; he'd seen how carefully she stored it in its box, how she always kept it separate from her other jewelry. His mother hadn't given her the gift before the wedding but after--when she'd taken it off her own neck to put it around Sarah's.
Abe had never realized the significance of that until this instant, and it gave him hope his mother would accept what he was about to tell her. "I'm seeing Sarah again," he said, knowing there really was no way to build up to it.
Putting down her teacup with a rattle, his mom stared at him before taking a deep breath. "I can't say I'm surprised. What you and Sarah had, it was special." A frown, her next words not what he would've expected. "You hurt that girl, Abe. I love you, will always love you, but I saw her light dim day by day in the time she was with you."
Abe flinched. "I'm not that guy anymore." A self-protective asshole pushing away the best thing in his life out of fear that she'd die on him too, leave him in the most final way. "She's pregnant. The baby's mine. Ours."
Diane Bellamy had reached for her teacup again, was just picking it up when he spoke. The cup dropped to the gritty stone below their feet with a crash, shattered. Ignoring it, his mother asked, "How far?"
"Not far. But Sarah keeps doing that thing with her hand"--he demonstrated the protective action that caught him in the heart each and every fucking time--"so some paparazzo's going to catch it soon. I wanted you to know before that." And he'd wanted to tell her before he picked up Sarah for dinner, so that if her reaction was negative, he could shield Sarah from it.
Drawing herself up, his mother frowned at him. "I want to see her." It was a demand. "She never came to me after you two blew up because I kept my distance in an effort to give you both your privacy. I didn't want to be an interfering mother-in-law."
Grabbing his mostly untouched tea, she drank it down, then put the teacup back in its saucer. "This time around," she said, her tone brooking no argument, "I want her to know she can count on me. Even if it's my son she's angry at."
Getting up, Abe lifted his mom off her feet, squeezed her into a bear hug.
"Abraham," she said. "Put me down at once!"
Abe held her for a minute longer. "Thank you," he said afterward, his voice hoarse. "Sarah needs a mom on her side." And his mom was the best advocate anyone could ever have.
CHAPTER 28
SARAH WAS STILL SITTING around in sweatpants and a T-shirt even though Abe was supposed to pick her up in less than an hour. She'd woken early to take care of work matters so she'd have plenty of time to prepare, yet here she was. At least she'd showered and brushed her hair. She hadn't done anything else however, and now she was rapidly running out of time to dry and straighten it. But her guts were twisted into a panic.
Abe's mom was going to hate her for coming back into his life.
She swallowed, put a trembling hand to her forehead, dropped it a second later. "You can deal with this, Sarah."
Only she wasn't sure she could: it wasn't just about Abe and their baby, it was about how much Sarah respected Diane Bellamy. To be rejected by her...
Buzz.
Sarah jerked at the sound of the gate buzzer and, jumping to her feet, ran to the window that overlooked the front of the house. Abe's black SUV stood at the gate. Groaning, she found her keys and used the remote to open the gate for him before padding downstairs and opening the door to step out onto the stoop. Flossie zipped out in joyous, tail-wagging welcome.
"You're early!" she called out to him as he opened his door. "I'm not ready."
He threw her a gorgeous grin, gave Flossie a quick pat. "You look perfect." Then he ran around to open the passenger door.
Sarah froze.
This was not how she'd planned to meet Abe's mom for the first time since the divorce, with her hair barely brushed and wearing an old white tee over gray sweatpants that had a hole in one knee. She never wore them except when doing things like cleaning the garage or weeding.
The only reason she'd pulled them on today was so she wouldn't be naked while she stared at her wardrobe and tried not to throw up in panic. And now the woman she desperately wanted to impress was walking toward her. Diane Bellamy was as elegantly dressed as always, her black hair in a neat bob and her face made up with exquisite perfection, her flawless skin a sunkissed brown.
"My dear Sarah." The older woman drew her into an embrace scented with White Diamonds before Sarah could snap out of her frozen state. "It's so good to see you."
The words, the tone, they got through the ice. Trembling, she slid her own arms hesitantly around the petite form of Abe's mom; she couldn't speak, entirely too choked up. Abe's eyes met hers over his mom's shoulder, and in them was an intensity of emotion that stripped her raw.
Pulling back from the embrace when Diane Bellamy released her with a kiss on her cheek, Sarah made a gesture to welcome the other woman inside. She was bewildered by the warmth of Diane's greeting, only found her words after swallowing hard twice. "I'm so sorry. I'm not dressed for g--"
Her former mother-in-law took her hand with a deep smile, squeezed. "I know what it's like when guests barge in unexpectedly. Let's go in so you can dress. Abe can take your adorable dog for a walk."
"I guess I have my orders," Abe said with a wry smile before whistling for Flossie. "Time for a walk, Floss."
Sarah's pet, ecstatic about an outing, ran off to get her leash, then joined Abe. That quickly, Sarah was alone with Mrs. Bellamy. "You like tea," she said, remembering her manners. "Come in, let me make you a cup."
She managed to do that without dropping anything or making a mess, and once Diane Bellamy had her cup in hand, the older woman urged her to head on up to dress. "I hate feeling unprepared myself," she confided. "Abe's father could never understand why I had to put on makeup to go to the corner store, but it just made me feel more confident."
Climbing the stairs beside the other woman, Sarah felt a fragile hope. "Especially with people taking photos," she said softly. "At least if I'm dressed nicely they have to work much harder to take ones that are unflattering."
"I worry about you and Abe living in the spotlight," Diane said with a frown. "You do what you need to do to handle it." The tenured law professor took a seat on the small vanity stool Sarah had in her room, then nodded at the wide-open wardrobe. "You always look stunning in color."
Taking the hint and happy to have some direction on a day when she felt as if the ground had fallen out from under her feet, Sarah pulled out several dresses in bold colors. "This one's my favorite," she said, holding up a dress that was pure sunset. Not orange or red or yellow but a stunning color that was a blend of all three.
Despite the vivid shade, the dress itself was light and summery with a high neckline. The dress hugged her body to the hips before opening out just slightly into a bias cut skirt. "I don't really look good in A-line dresses that have a flowy skirt, but this gives me that feeling while suiting my body."
Stop babbling, Sarah, ordered the small part of her brain that wasn't completely thrown by having her ex-mother-in-law sitting in her bedroom.
"It's a wonderful choice." A twinkle in her eye, Diane added, "And my dear, if I had a figure like yours, I wouldn't care about full-skirted dresses. I'd be buying up as many slinky, body-hugging things as I could!"
Sarah was surprised into a snorting laugh.
Horrified, she clapped her hand over her mouth, but instead of frowning at the unladylike sound, Diane threw back her head and laughed until Sarah was cracking up again.
Ducking into her large attached bathroom after she'd finally caught her breath, the right bra for the dress in hand, she left the door partially open so she could talk to Diane while she dressed. The distance made it easier to say, "Abe told you?" She had to know if her former mother-in-law had all the facts.
"About the baby?" Pure joy in those
words. "I'm so happy for you both. And for myself. I'm already planning how I'll spoil my first grandbaby."
Knees a bit shaky, Sarah leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She wanted to say so many things, admit her fears, but the words wouldn't come. So she finished putting on the dress before walking out into the bedroom.
"You're lovely." Getting up with that sweet comment, Diane put her cup on a bedside table, then took a seat on the bed so Sarah could sit at the vanity to do her makeup.
Sarah's hands threatened to shake as she picked up her compact.
"Losing a child is difficult."
The quiet words had Sarah forgetting all about the makeup. Dropping the compact, she turned to face the other woman's eyes, eyes that held an old, deep sadness. "Yes." It came out raw, torn out of her.
Abe's mother just held out her arms.
Sarah went into them in a jerk of emotion, let herself be held in a soft maternal embrace by a woman who understood the loss of her baby as even Abe couldn't. She and Diane didn't speak, just held each other.
LATER, AFTER SARAH HAD WASHED OFF HER FACE and hidden the ravages of tears with makeup, she glanced at her hair and sighed. If she tried to fully dry and straighten it now, they'd miss their dinner reservation. So she got out the curly-hair goop she kept on hand for emergencies and worked it into her wildly kinky hair so that at least it wouldn't go fuzzy.
That done, she picked up her treasured pearl necklace from the special velvet-lined box where she always kept it... and saw Diane dab away another tear of her own.
It made her smile, hope a bright flame in her heart now.
Necklace on, she found her shoes, her purse. "Thank you," she said as the two of them prepared to go downstairs, Abe and Flossie having returned ten minutes earlier.
Diane turned to tuck Sarah's hair behind her ear, cup her cheek, her next words intense with emotion. "I'm here for you, Sarah. Anytime you want to talk about the baby, ask my advice, anything at all. Even if it's Abe you're angry with, don't feel you can't come to me and talk." Dark shadows in her eyes. "And call me Mom, okay? I so terribly miss having a daughter."
Sarah nodded jerkily, swallowed back the surge of emotion inside her, and--after a quick hug--they both headed down the stairs. The big man who waited at the foot of those stairs looked at Sarah in a way that tangled her up until she could hardly breathe.
Flushing, she stopped so that they were eye-to-eye. "What?"
He ran his fingers through her curls. "You." A quiet murmur, his touch a possessive promise. "I'm not letting you go ever again."
Sarah sucked in a breath, the flame of hope white-hot.
PART FOUR
CHAPTER 29
SAFELY PAST THE TWELVE-WEEK mark in her pregnancy with no signs of complications, not even any morning sickness, the baby still safe inside her, Sarah couldn't imagine being happier. Her and Abe's relationship made her heart hurt in the best way, Diane had become a cherished maternal figure in her life, she had a beautiful circle of friends, and her business was growing in exactly the way she wanted.
She felt like she was walking on air.
Then Abe asked her if they could tell his bandmates about the baby. Because, somewhat shockingly, she and Abe had managed to fly under the radar with the media--at least on that point. Handlebar-mustachioed Basil had gotten a payday with his reunion story, but sadly for him, it hadn't been a big one because of a political sex scandal that had broken the same day.
That scandal had very quickly buried the news of Abe and Sarah's reunion, and they'd done nothing to reignite that interest. Sarah had known they couldn't keep the news of the pregnancy quiet forever, but she still wasn't ready for Abe's request--though, of course, he was right: it was time.
Especially since she'd already told Lola--the other woman knew Sarah well enough to have picked up the delicate changes in her face and body. A week earlier, she'd asked point-blank if Sarah was "cooking up a tiny human-shaped bun in a certain oven." It had made Sarah laugh, admit to it.
"Yes," she said to Abe now. "I want Molly, Kit, and Thea to know too."
A day after that conversation, however, she fidgeted in the passenger seat of Abe's SUV.
Abe closed his hand over her thigh, bared because she wore shorts paired with a floaty top. "Hey, you good?"
"No," she admitted, folding her arms and slumping into the seat. "I should've let you announce the pregnancy without me."
"Sarah." Abe ran his thumb over her skin. "It'll be easy--we can tell everyone at once at this 'pool-warming' of Noah and Kit's."
Sarah nodded. "I know." The other couple was excited about their new pool, had invited everyone over for an inaugural swim. "Are you sure they won't mind me being there?"
"Sweetheart, quite aside from the fact you're friends with the women, the guys all know we're together, even if we haven't done a couple thing with them yet--they've just been giving us space by not prying."
Abe ran his knuckles over her cheek. "Only reason you didn't get a separate invite is because they expect us to turn up together. I think they figure we must be ready to admit our relationship by now." A grin. "I mean, they only have so much patience--except for Thea the whole lot of them have been pretending not to have seen that photograph of our kiss for months."
That made sense. Of course it made sense. Especially since Kit had chatted to Sarah about the pool just the other day, her words holding an expectation that Sarah would be there this weekend to see it. "I'm crazy," she announced.
"You're just nervous." Pulling the SUV to a stop on the side of the quiet Pacific Palisades road, Abe turned to face her, closing his hand over her nape. "So am I." He grinned. "Shit, I'm going to be a dad."
Sarah released a breath she hadn't been aware of holding. All she had to remember was that they were in this together, a unit. She wasn't alone. "Should we plan how to tell them?"
"We'll figure it out as we go." Moving without warning, he kissed her with a scorching heat that made her moan in the back of her throat as her legs pressed together. Abe put his free hand on her thigh in response, sliding it high enough that she had to nudge him off before things went past the point of no return. "You are not making me naked on a public road, Abe Bellamy."
A wicked smile, then one more kiss that melted her bones before Abe settled back into the driver's seat. They didn't speak again until he stopped at the gate to Noah and Kit's large property, but he kept his hand on her thigh anytime he didn't need it to drive. It felt great. Wonderful. The stubbornly romantic girl in her loved it.
"Kit gave me a remote for the gate," Abe told her. "It's in the glove compartment."
Locating it, Sarah pushed the button to open the gate. She made sure to close it behind them afterward, conscious Kit had once had a dangerous stalker. Even though that stalker was now locked up in a psychiatric facility, Kit was a well-known actress and Noah a rock star. Fans who wouldn't normally intrude might forget themselves if given such a wide-open opportunity.
"What in the name of all that is holy is that?"
Glancing forward at Abe's exclamation, Sarah felt her eyes widen. A hot pink Ferrari sat next to the crouching red beast of Fox's Lamborghini. When Abe came around to open her door--she'd kind of gotten used to that, liked him to do it--she let him help her out, then went over to examine the car while he let Flossie out from the back.
Her pet barked excitedly at this new place before running over to lean her warm body against Sarah's leg while she peered inside the astonishing car that was causing Abe to mutter epithets under his breath.
"I think I see diamantes," she told him, nose pressed to the glass of the window. "And wow, there might be pink fur on the foot pedals."
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
Rising to her full height, she turned toward Abe. Giggles threatened. "You look like you're about to cry."
"I am. Who the hell would do that to a beauty of a machine?" Shuddering, he threw an arm around her shoulders, drawing her snug against his muscled heat. "Come o
n, I can't look anymore. Look at Flossie--she can't believe it either."
She laughed softly as he led her toward the sounds of splashing and conversation, was still smiling when he opened the gate to the pool area and said, "Who the hell brought the pink horror?"
They walked into laughter and play and friendship.
Flossie was in heaven, racing around the pool and barking hello at everyone.
In the chaos, Sarah heard several shouted, "Hellos" including "Hey, Sarah!" and suddenly she felt silly for being nervous. These were all their friends.
"Your pool is amazing," she said to Kit when Noah and Kit surfaced after a dive.
Pushing her hair off her face as she treaded water by the side of the pool, Kit met Sarah's eyes with the sparkling amber of her own. "Did you see the waterfalls?" She was positively bubbling. "Noah got those for me."
"I had to basically steal a builder," Schoolboy Choir's guitarist said from beside Kit, the golden skin of his shoulders beaded with water. "He was working for Beau Flavell at the time--I spun Beau a line about true love and winning my girl and he fell for the romantic bullshit." Though Noah's words were offhand, the way he looked at Kit was anything but.
It was clear the bad boy of rock and roll was permanently off the market.
"Ignore him, Sarah," Kit said. "He secretly wanted the waterfalls too." Laughing when Noah threatened to push her under the water, she said, "Come join us. The water's glorious."
Sarah hesitated. She wasn't really showing yet, but...
Sliding his arms around her from behind, Abe said, "Listen up! We have an announcement!"
Everyone waded closer. As if sensing this was important, Flossie padded back to stand beside Sarah. Her heart began to pound with all those eyes on her, her breath coming faster... until Thea's voice cut through the air. "Is this like a reality-show pause? Dum, dum, dra-ma."
Laughter filled the air, their friends yelling at them to hurry it up.
"I'm pregnant," Sarah blurted out before Abe could say anything.
Surprise on more than one face, but it wasn't the bad kind of surprise. It was the suspiciously gleeful kind. Whistles and congratulations filled the air the next second, the two of them bombarded with handshakes and wet hugs that had her beaming as Abe's grin threatened to crack his face.