The Baby Miracle

by Rayner, Holly

  And yet…

  As we reach the table, before she can take her seat, I look her up and down. I remember the shape of her body well after the night we spent together. My hands spent hours mapping her. And looking at her now, I realize that the physical form I knew then has changed. A small but defined bump has emerged, swelling her lower abdomen.

  She really is pregnant.

  But why would she say it’s mine? Is she after money? Is she trying to manipulate me into a relationship? There must be a motive to it, but the only way to figure it out is to have the unpleasant conversation and wait for her to make the ask.

  “So you’re pregnant,” I begin, feeling like I’m making an opening chess move.

  “Yes,” she says. “And it’s yours.”

  “Okay, well, I know it isn’t mine,” I tell her. “So we can skip that pretense.”

  “What are you talking about?” She’s wide-eyed.

  “I’m saying don’t lie to me about my being the father of this baby. I don’t know who the rightful father is, and I don’t know why you’re making up stories about it, but why don’t you just get to what you want from me and we’ll see if it’s something I’m willing to give or not.”

  She frowns. The threat of tears has vanished from her face. “Are you saying you think I’m making this up to extort you?”

  “I don’t know why you’re doing it. All I can think of is that you’re trying to get something from me. Money, or a story to advance your career, or…well, I don’t need to guess. I’ve got you here. You tell me what it is you’re after.”

  “What kind of person do you think I am?” she asks.

  “The kind of person who makes up lies to lure people halfway around the world?”

  “If I didn’t lie, you wouldn’t have come,” she shoots back. “I get it, you’re a recluse, and that’s your business—”

  “I’m not a recluse.”

  “But I’m carrying your child, Chase. You had a right to know. And I don’t want anything from you. I just wanted to do the right thing and tell you that you’re going to be a father.”

  “Okay,” I say. “I don’t know why you’re lying about this, but I know that you are, Kendall. I know that isn’t my baby. So just stop it.”

  “I’m not lying!” she cries.

  I lean across the table toward her, pressing my palms flat against its surface. “I’m infertile, Kendall,” I hiss. “I can’t father any children. So you might as well tell me the truth, because I know your baby isn’t mine and I have the word of my doctors to back it up. Just be honest. What are you really doing here?”

  Kendall’s staring at me. “You’re wrong,” she says weakly.

  “I’m not wrong. You don’t think I’d know? My ex and I visited three different specialists after my diagnosis. I yearned for this not to be true. But it’s true.”

  “Chase—”

  “And frankly, if you were any kind of journalist, you’d have uncovered enough about me in your research that this wouldn’t be coming as a surprise to you right now,” I snap. I know this information about me isn’t public, but I’m feeling vulnerable, and I really want to hurt her right now. And sure enough, she looks slapped.

  I shake my head and get to my feet. “Enough. I’m going back to my room.”

  “Chase Harker!” a voice cries.

  I turn. Now what?

  It takes me a moment to recognize the grinning man waving and making his way toward us. Then I place him. We originally met here on Tala. He was a member of the team that built the app I first invested in, all those years ago.

  Amir El-Hawatt. I remember him as lively and energetic, full of spontaneity. Sure enough, when he reaches us, he grabs a chair from a nearby table and joins us without waiting for an invitation.

  “Chase Harker, of all people! I never expected to see you here again!”

  I nod, grateful for the short distraction from everything Kendall is laying on me. She’s looking from me to Amir, clearly asking for an introduction, but I wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to begin with that. “This is a girl I hooked up with once who’s now claiming to be carrying my baby.” I’m not going to say that to a business associate.

  “So what brings you back to our beautiful island?” Amir asks me. “Business again?”

  “No, not this time. Just a stroll down memory lane,” I fib. “So how’s the app doing, Amir? Can I assume business is good?”

  “Like you don’t know!” He laughs a big, booming laugh.

  The truth is that I don’t know. I know Amir’s app was successful in its first year, but since then I’ve made more investments and stopped tracking the older ones as closely. If he’s laughing, though, I assume things are good.

  “I always knew you’d stumbled on a good idea with that one,” I tell him, which is true enough.

  “Well, we’d never have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for you,” he says, clapping me on the back. “I’d probably be living in a walk-up apartment in Muharraq right now instead of in a beachfront villa on Tala.”

  “I’m glad I could help save you from such a horrible fate,” I say chuckling.

  “And it looks as though you’ve been busy as well,” Amir says, his eyes cutting to Kendall. “Amir El-Hawatt,” he says, extending a hand to her. “Welcome to Tala.”

  “Thank you, Amir,” Kendall takes his hand. “Your home is lovely.”

  “As are you,” he says. He turns back to me. “Very well done, sir. A lovely wife, and a baby on the way!”

  Great. I suppose he must have noticed the bump.

  Kendall is watching me, waiting to see what I’m going to do. I want to deny it, of course, but I also don’t want to get into the whole argument again.

  “It was good to see you again, Amir,” I say. “And I’m glad to hear things are going well for you. I wish we could stay and catch up, but the two of us should really be going.” I shoot Kendall a look, meaning to convey that she’d better go along with this. “We mean to get back to the mainland this afternoon.”

  Amir laughs. “Oh, my friend, how soon you forget.”

  “Forget?”

  “It’s not just wealth that makes our island private,” Amir says. “The ferry doesn’t run every day. Don’t you remember?”

  Oh, no.

  Now that he says it, I do remember. The last time I was here, I spent three days on Tala, even though the business deal I was here to discuss was closed on the first evening. It wasn’t a problem for me back then, because I had just left my modeling job and hadn’t really started anything else yet. A few days relaxing on the beach was perfect for me. Now, though, things are different, and not least because Kendall and her bizarre claims are on the island with me.

  “When is the next ferry out?” I ask.

  “Two days from now.”

  “Two days from now?” The horror in Kendall’s voice matches what I’m feeling.

  Immediately I wrack my brains, trying to think of some other way to get off the island, but I come up empty. There isn’t an airstrip on Tala, so I can’t hire a plane to come and get me. I suppose a privately owned boat might be able to make the journey, but I wouldn’t know where to begin organizing something like that. It’s the kind of thing Wylie would ordinarily take care of for me.

  Then I look at Kendall. For the first time, I feel a stirring of sympathy for her. She doesn’t even have the options I have. I’m sure that chartering a private yacht is outside the budget of a journalist—she’s probably stretching things even to be able to stay at this resort. Finding out she can’t leave for a few days might pose a significantly greater problem to her than it does to me. I’ve been inconvenienced, sure, but can she even afford to stay here?

  I shake myself. What am I doing, feeling sorry for Kendall? This is all her fault. She’s the one who brought us here. She’s the one who’s done nothing but lie. And now I’m worried because she might not be able to afford a fancy room at a luxury hotel? If that was an issue, she shouldn’
t have gotten us into this mess.

  Amir is looking from one of us to the other, and I belatedly realize that neither of us has done an effective job of concealing our dismay at the news that we’re stuck here. I can see the confusion on his face. It’s understandable. Why would I be upset to be stuck on a beautiful island with my pregnant wife for an extra couple of days? On paper, it sounds ideal.

  “Is there a problem?” he asks. “I’m sure the hotel will allow you to extend your reservation.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” I say, wondering if decency requires me to pay for Kendall’s room as well as my own. It’s not a problem for me financially, of course, but I’m not feeling in the mood to do her any favors. That said, I don’t want her out on the street or anything. Maybe if I cover her room, I can get her to agree to leave me alone.

  But first I need to get rid of Amir. Not that I’m unhappy to see him again, but my head is spinning and Amir is a talker. As long as he’s around, I won’t have a chance to process my thoughts.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” I say, getting to my feet again, “I think I’ll go discuss arrangements with the receptionist.” I look at Kendall. “Come on.”

  “Wait,” Amir says. “I just had a great idea.”

  Warily, I take my seat again. Historically, Amir’s great ideas have not erred on the side of common sense. The last time I was in Tala, he led us all on a bar crawl that ended with the world’s worst hangover.

  “My yacht is docked in the harbor,” Amir says. “I’m planning on spending tomorrow afternoon on the water. Why don’t the two of you join me? It would be a great opportunity to catch up, and I know you have some time to kill. And I’d love to get to know your wife better, of course.” He inclines his head toward Kendall.

  What can I say? He’s right, we do have time to kill. As much as I hate the idea of keeping up this pretense with her for a whole afternoon, I can’t see any way out of it that won’t be humiliating.

  “All right,” I agree. “We’d love to.”

  Kendall stares at me.

  “Perfect!” Amir claps his hands together. “Let’s meet here at noon, then, shall we?” He waves a hand. “Go and get your reservation. I’ll see you then.”

  “I look forward to it,” I say weakly.

  Once he’s gone, Kendall turns to me. “Why did you let him believe that I’m your wife?”

  “Oh, so now you’re opposed to lying?”

  “I told you, I haven’t been…”

  “Never mind.” I don’t want to argue with her anymore right now. I can’t stand it. “Amir is a colleague. I didn’t want to humiliate myself in front of him.”

  “Okay, so why didn’t you just say I wasn’t your wife? There’s nothing humiliating in that.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking well on my feet,” I snap. “I’ve actually got a lot on my mind at the moment, believe it or not.”

  She’s quiet for a moment. “You don’t need to be so mean to me,” she says quietly. “I know you don’t believe what I’m telling you, Chase. I get that. But I swear, it’s the truth. I have no reason to lie about something like this.”

  “And I’m telling you it scientifically can’t be true, so I know that you are lying.”

  She presses her fingertips to her temples. “You’re awfully stubborn.”

  “Logical, not stubborn.”

  “You know, I was prepared for you to react badly. I knew this might not be welcome news. But I never thought you’d take it like this.”

  She’s way off, of course. A part of me wants to tell her how wrong she is. If that actually was my baby, it would be very welcome news. I’d love to be a father. Not only to know that I had the ability to father a child, but also to actually participate in raising one. But that’s a dream I let go of a long time ago.

  She might as well be telling me that she arrived here on the back of a unicorn. Some things are real, and some things just aren’t.

  For now, though, there’s a more pressing matter to discuss.

  “The yacht tomorrow,” I say.

  “What about it?”

  “You’ll join me there?”

  She raises her eyebrows. “Really? You want to spend the day with me? Even though you think I’m lying to get your money, or whatever it was you said about me?”

  “I don’t want to,” I say. “But I want to save face with Amir.”

  “And you want to use me to do it,” she says.

  “I mean, it’s your fault we’re stuck here,” I point out. “You’re the one who brought me out to Tala. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be at home right now. I never would have run across Amir again.”

  “I think you should just explain to him that he got the wrong impression and that you’re actually not married,” she says, folding her arms.

  “I didn’t ask you for advice,” I tell her. “I asked you to come out on the yacht with me tomorrow. Will you do it or not?”

  She sighs. “Fine. I’ll pretend for you.”

  “Don’t act like this is what I wanted,” I say. “You started this, with your story about your baby being mine.”

  “Chase, for God’s sake—”

  “So we’ll play along with whatever game this is,” I say, interrupting her. “I’ll play your game for one day. I hope you get whatever it is you want in that time. Because when Amir’s yacht docks and we return to land, the game is over. I’ll be boarding the first ferry back to Muharraq and going straight to the airport. Whatever this is, it’s over as soon as the day on the yacht is.”

  I get to my feet and head for the elevator to return to my room. This time, nobody tries to call me back.

  Chapter 15

  Kendall

  Amir’s yacht is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s three stories high, and each story boasts a wide seating area with plush chairs and couches. The top level of the boat is covered over with glass paneling, providing a place to wait out any rainy weather, but that’s not going to be a problem today. It’s already clear that the sun is meaning to cooperate with us.

  The three of us are hanging out on the lowest level of the yacht, which protrudes farthest, out from under the covered area so we can enjoy the sunlight. Amir is lounging on a chaise with a cocktail in his hand. Chase and I, meanwhile, are perched side by side on a sofa, struggling to keep up the pretense that we are husband and wife.

  “Help yourselves to anything at the bar,” Amir says.

  “I can’t drink,” I say stiffly. “I’m pregnant.”

  I don’t mean to sound rude to Amir—it was kind of him to welcome me onto his yacht—but I’m so frustrated with how all my interactions with Chase have gone so far that it’s honestly hard to relax.

  “We have soda, too,” Amir says. “And a variety of juices.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  “Chase?” Amir asks.

  “Not thirsty just now.” Chase sounds as uncomfortable as I feel.

  Amir laughs. “I see. I bet you agreed not to drink while your wife is pregnant, didn’t you?”

  “You caught me,” Chase says, smiling stiffly.

  I wonder if he’s upset because now he’s been backed into a corner where he can’t have a drink. Or maybe he was using my condition as an excuse not to drink. It’s hard to say.

  “Well, help yourselves to anything you’d like,” Amir says. “I’m going to take a swim. Would either of you care to join?”

  “Maybe in a bit,” Chase says.

  Amir strips down to his shorts, which I now realize are swim trunks, and dives into the clear pool at the very back of the yacht. Chase and I watch him do a few laps in silence. Then Chase turns to me.

  “You can join him if you want to.”

  “I don’t have a swimsuit,” I say. “I didn’t exactly come to Tala for a vacation.”

  He nods slowly. “Neither did I.” After a pause, he speaks again. “Amir wouldn’t mind you going in in your clothes, if you’d like to. Or just your underthings.”

 
; “I don’t want to swim,” I say. “I want to talk to you.”

  He sighs.

  “We have to settle this, Chase,” I say. “I am pregnant.”

  “I believe you’re pregnant.”

  “Well, the baby is yours. And if you don’t want to be involved in its life, I can respect that choice. But you had a right to know about it. That’s the only reason I came here. I’m not asking you for anything.”

  He shakes his head. “I’m infertile, Kendall.”

  “Well, no, apparently you’re not.”

  A loud grinding sound cuts us off. I’m not sure what it is, and for a moment I’m worried the yacht has struck something, but when Amir pulls himself up out of the water, he’s still grinning.

  “Here we are,” he announces.

  “Where?” Chase asks.

  “We’ve dropped anchor. This is where the yacht will stay for the next few hours.”

  “I see.”

  Amir pulls on his shirt. It clings to his wet skin. “I’m going to take the launch out and explore that island over there,” he says, pointing.

  I can see it off in the distance, a tiny little dime of land amid the blue.

  “The water’s too shallow there for the yacht to approach, but the launch will be able to pull right up on the sand. Come on out with me.”

  I really don’t want to do it, but I can’t think of a way to say that I’d rather stay behind on the yacht that doesn’t sound sulky. Amir has no idea that I’m dealing with the father of my child accusing me of being a liar. If I refuse his hospitality, I’ll just seem ungrateful.

  “That sounds fun,” I say, trying to sound like I mean it.

  We climb down the side of the yacht and into the small boat that’s tethered to it. Chase and I take our seats and Amir unties the knots, releasing us into the water. Then he takes his place at the stern of the launch so he can operate the motor, powering us toward the little island.