Still, Ellie tried to choose her words carefully. “Alex has been a good friend to me when I very much needed one.”
“So that’s all? Just friends?” Eyes that missed nothing narrowed, as if that was the wrong answer.
“It’s all he wants. But I have to admit that I’m going to miss him very much when I leave Blackwater Lake.”
“Funny you should say that. In my humble opinion something else is missing.” One eyebrow lifted questioningly.
Now Ellie was completely at a loss. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Then I’ll spell it out.” The glitter in her eyes was just shy of a glare. “You’ve been living in this house a little over a month.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that. But—”
Martha held up a hand. “I’m not prying, but I do notice things. I cook and it seems to me that you’re not eating very much. Do you feel all right?”
“Yes. Mostly. But sometimes the smell of food makes me feel sick and my appetite goes missing.”
There was a knowing gleam in the older woman’s eyes when she asked, “Are you missing anything else?”
“Mising anything?” Then the meaning sank in.
Missing, as in her period. Dear Lord, the woman was right. She hadn’t had... “Oh my God—”
“I see the light’s come on.”
“A baby?”
“That’s what pregnant means.”
If she hadn’t already been sitting, Ellie probably would have collapsed as the shock rushed in. She felt like the world’s biggest moron. But there had been so much on her plate since that night on Alex’s boat. He’d told her the condom broke, but seriously? It was only one time. What were the odds? Apparently a hundred percent.
Now it made sense. Her stomach was upset in the morning and she was unbelievably tired. Now that she thought about it, her breasts were sore. Seems as if she’d heard somewhere that was an indicator.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“So you had no idea?” There was skepticism in the housekeeper’s voice.
“I know it’s hard to believe. But, no. It didn’t cross my mind this could happen. It always happens to someone else.” She’d put it out of her mind because there was a job to be done. She broke her ankle. Then moved in with Alex. It was a lot to process. But she should have been more aware. “I’m an idiot.”
“The thing is,” Martha said, “it’s no skin off my nose if you are or aren’t. Pregnant, I mean, not an idiot. But his ex—Mrs. McKnight—lied to him. Letting him think he was the father to that baby of hers hurt him deep down where a man is most at risk. And he’s never gotten over it. You need to find out if you’re carrying his child and tell him. Before you leave town.”
Ellie nodded. “I would never keep something like that from him. I care about Alex.” Even if she didn’t, the honorable thing would be to let him know if he was going to be a father.
“I didn’t think you’d do any less. But I feel real protective of him and had to say something. I believe you know as well as I do that he’s a good man. He’ll figure it all out and do the right thing.”
Ellie’s stomach knotted when she realized this was the other shoe to fall. She needed to find out right away whether or not it was a ballet slipper or a combat boot that was going to smack her.
* * *
When Ellie had wished Alex would give her a reason to stay in Blackwater Lake, a baby was not what she’d had in mind. She looked at the drugstore bag on the passenger seat beside her. Inside it was a pregnancy test kit. Two actually—different brands, just to be thorough. She’d picked them up after work, which had been more stressful than usual, since she was trying to act as if her life wasn’t in crisis. Now she was on her way to her rented apartment to find out if crisis was the right word to describe the state of her life.
On some level she’d realized her period was late, but she’d figured that was a side effect of physical trauma and the pressure of a new job. The stress and excitement of living with Alex. As of yesterday she wasn’t living with him but somehow the stress was worse, and being pregnant wasn’t what she’d call exciting.
She turned off the main road by the Quonset hut-shaped mailboxes, then pulled into her parking space. Both Jill’s and Adam’s cars were there, and she wasn’t sure whether or not that made what she had to do worse. After grabbing her bag off the seat, she headed toward the front of the house. C.J. was in the front yard with a soccer ball.
“Hi, Ellie,” he called out. “Watch me dribble.”
“Okay.” She knew enough about the sport to get that he wasn’t talking about drool. Moving closer, she saw him carefully move the black-and-white ball with the side of his foot. It wasn’t pretty, but he was concentrating with everything he had. “Good job!”
“Really?” When she nodded, he grinned. “I been practicin’.”
“It shows.” She really liked this kid. He was a redhead like his mom and just a friendly, funny little boy.
“Thanks.” He simply beamed. “Do you have to go?”
She stepped on the walkway leading to the porch and the stairway up to her apartment. “Why?”
“Wanna see me do headers?”
If she was pregnant, spending a few minutes with this child wouldn’t change anything. And she really wasn’t in that big a hurry to face the catastrophe that was her life. “Header? Isn’t that where you bounce the ball off your head?”
“Sort of.”
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Nah.” He tossed the ball in the air a couple of times and tried to get under it, but misjudged. He was, after all, only seven.
“Good try, C.J.”
“I’m not so good at that.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.”
“I guess. Ya gotta sorta catch it with your head and kinda sorta use your body to get it down to your foot.”
She smiled. “It sounds like you’ve been listening to your coach.”
“My dad’s been helpin’ me.”
Ellie knew he meant Adam Stone. She remembered the wedding and how proudly this child had said Adam was going to be his dad for real now and apparently he wasn’t just talking the talk. He was walking the walk, too. The man had embraced this child as his own, and she thought that was awesome. At the same time she couldn’t help wondering about Alex as a father.
At the wedding he’d told her about the woman who’d betrayed him and the son he’d thought was his. How he would always miss the boy. How would he feel if she was pregnant with his child? Betrayed yet again? Or happy to actually be a father?
“So you like Adam?” she asked.
C.J. stood in front of her, the ball under his arm. “I love him. But—”
“What?” There was a funny look on his face. “Is something wrong?”
He shrugged. “My mom and dad asked me if I want a baby brother or sister.”
Apparently they were planning to start on those three siblings for this little boy. “How do you feel about that?”
“I guess it would be cool. But Mommy said a baby takes a lot of time. And I’d have to share.”
So, they were talking about adding to the family and subtly planting the seed with their son. “But you’d have someone to play with. And your mom and dad will always love you. Y’all are the first and had the most time with your mom all by yourself.”
He thought about that for a while, then grinned. “I’ll be the biggest.”
“Your brother or sister will look up to you.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I guess it will be pretty okay.”
“I have three big brothers. They live in Texas and take good care of me.” The Hart brothers might give her a hard time, but while they were around she’d never be alone.
“How’s your broken leg?” C.J. asked. “Mommy said you couldn’t climb up the stairs, so you had to move.”
“That’s right.” As it turned out, the crisis happened before the move. A pregnancy would turn her life upside down,
but living with Alex even for a short time could do a number on her heart.
“Is it all better?”
“It’s fine. No more crutches.”
“So you can play with me?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I’ll just kick the ball to you. Not hard. And you can do it back to me.”
The truth was, she’d rather stand here and hang out with this funny little guy than go upstairs and face the music. “Okay. For a few minutes.”
“Cool.”
Ellie set her purse and bag on the bottom porch step, then turned. “Okay. I’m ready.”
He stood several feet away and nudged the ball toward her. “Here it comes.”
She kicked it back with her uninjured foot. “You’ve got a strong leg.”
“That’s what my dad says.”
It was surprisingly relaxing listening to him chatter away while moving the ball back and forth. She could have kept it up longer, but she couldn’t forget a rhyme her mother always repeated.
Procrastination is a crime. It only leads to sorrow. I can stop it anytime. I think I will tomorrow.
She kicked the ball back to C.J. “This has been fun, kiddo. But I really have to go.”
Behind her, the front door opened and she heard Jill say, “C.J., you shouldn’t be bothering Ellie.”
“I wasn’t, Mom. She wanted to play.”
Ellie turned and smiled. “It’s true.”
The young woman looked doubtful as she walked out to the top step. “That’s nice of you, but shouldn’t you be off your feet? After all, you just got rid of the crutches.”
“That would probably be wise.” She glanced at the boy. “I gotta go in.”
“O-okay.” The disappointment in his voice was oddly heartwarming. Then his face brightened. “I’ll show you my biggest, strongest kick.”
“Make it a good one,” Ellie encouraged.
He dropped the ball and backed away, then ran toward it and kicked as hard as he could. It passed Ellie and hit her things sitting on the bottom step. The bag fell sideways and one of the pregnancy test boxes fell out.
“Oh, no— I hope there’s nothing breakable.” Jill hurried down the steps and picked up the bag.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry. I—” Ellie moved at the same time and saw the other woman’s eyes widen. There’s no way she didn’t see the pregnancy test.
“Sorry, Ellie. I guess I’m stronger than I thought.” C.J. ran over and picked up the ball. He looked at what was in his mother’s hands. “Hey, Mom, that looks just like the box you got.”
Jill put it back in and handed the bag over. “I’m really not sure what to say.”
“I guess congratulations are in order for you and Adam.” Ellie wished the earth would open and swallow her whole. “And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything about this.”
“Got it.” The other woman nodded. “Are you happy about it?”
“’Bout what?” C.J. glanced first at his mother then at Ellie.
“That I’m off my crutches,” Ellie answered, thinking fast.
“Mom, she already told me she’s glad about that,” the boy said.
“If you need anything— Or even to talk,” Jill offered.
“Thanks. Now I really have to go upstairs. See you, C.J.”
“Bye.” He ran up the steps and into the house.
“Seriously, Ellie, if I can help, don’t hesitate.”
“I’ll let you know,” she said, trying to smile. “Bye.”
She walked past the other woman and up the stairs, grateful to be alone. All of a sudden procrastination lost its appeal. It wasn’t that she believed Jill would get on the phone tree and spread this around, but stuff didn’t tend to stay secret in a small town like this. If she was actually pregnant, she needed to be the one to tell Alex.
Marching straight to the bathroom, she read the directions on the box several times to make sure of what to do. Morning would be the best time, but she couldn’t wait that long. So she did what the instructions said.
It didn’t take long for the result and when she saw, the moment was surreal.
“Oh, my God—”
The cell phone rang just as she was starting to freak out. It was Linc and she automatically answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, El. How are you?”
“Fine.” That was such a lie, but she needed to pull herself together and process this information before breaking the news to her family. And it wasn’t going to happen in a phone call. Harts didn’t take the easy way out.
“So, are you on schedule?”
Not really, no, she wanted to say. But he was talking about her ankle. “The cast came off.”
Since the day Linc had called while Alex was driving her around the lake, Ellie had managed to sidestep the questions about the man she worked with who’d driven her to the hospital and took care of her afterward. It had never been necessary to clue him in about her change in living arrangements, because he didn’t know her rented apartment was a problem that Alex had fixed.
“How does it feel?”
“What?”
“To have the cast off.” There was a note of impatience in his tone, as if he knew she was distracted.
“Fine.” She needed to get off the phone. “I have to go—”
“Why?” There was an intensity in her brother’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Not buying it, Ellie.”
This was when how well he knew her was inconvenient. “Can’t help that.”
“There’s something up with you.”
“I have to go, Linc—”
“If you hang up on me again, I swear I’m coming down there.”
“Up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Montana is north of Texas. Therefore it’s up from Texas if one is looking at a map.”
He took a long breath. “Tell me.”
“You’re imagining things. I’m completely fine.” Physically fine, mentally she was a mess.
“And there it is again. That four-letter word meant to be reassuring but the more you say it, the less I believe.”
“How suspicious can you get.” It wasn’t a question because she really didn’t want to know. But Linc had a habit of telling her, anyway.
“Of course I’m suspicious.” That confirmed the hunch that he planned to tell her. “You deliberately led me to believe it was a woman from work who was helping you when you first broke your ankle. Then the truth came out and you dodged my questions. Yeah, I noticed. And that tends to make a brother suspicious.”
“Don’t yell at me.” She was starting to crack.
“I’m not.” He sighed. “I’m concerned. You’re my baby sister and I love you.
“I love you, too—”
When tears filled her eyes it was a bad time to get that yelling would have been better than his tender concern. Yelling would have given her an excuse for righteous indignation and she could have gotten mad. She looked at the positive pregnancy stick again and started to sniffle.
“Are you crying?”
“No—” But emotion choked off the rest of her words.
“Ellie Hart, tell me what the hell is going on with you?”
It was the worry in his voice that finally undid her. “I’m pregnant.” For several long moments there was silence on the phone but she knew it wouldn’t last. And it didn’t.
“Ellie— Damn it. You just can’t stay away from on-the-job complications, can you?”
“This is not a good time to tease me about my mistake.”
“I’m not teasing. This is me being dead serious.” And then the phone went dead.
In a world where it seemed as if everything was going wrong, something finally went right. At least she was in the bathroom when her stomach decided to turn on her.
Chapter Twelve
Ellie had been alone in the construction trailer the following day, and around quitting time
she was about to go nuts waiting for Alex. Since seeing the positive pregnancy stick, she’d been trying to figure out a good way to break it to him. Something along the lines of “Good news. I’m pregnant.” Or, “Remember that one time on the boat? Now I’ve got a baby on board.” Or, “What do you think about becoming a father?”
She’d finally come to the conclusion there was no good way to tell him about this. Straight out was the best way. Like pulling off a Band-Aid—the quicker, the better. Then she’d follow that up with It’s a weird situation and needs to be figured out. Now that she thought about it, also weird was that Linc hadn’t called her back. But she couldn’t worry about him right now.
“I can’t sit in here, either.” She stood and walked out from behind her desk toward the door. “I’m going crazy.”
Outside she went down the three steps to the asphalt, past where her rental car was parked, and headed for the clinic addition. From here it looked really good, the exterior seamlessly attached to the old Victorian house donated by the founding family of Blackwater Lake to be used for medical purposes. She’d taken great care when designing the elevation to make sure the graceful lines and architectural style of the original structure were incorporated into the new section so it wouldn’t look like an afterthought, just tacked on.
She walked inside where a crew was installing cupboards in exam rooms and baseboards throughout. There was a faint smell of sawdust, not as strong as during the framing phase, but still pleasant. There was something so clean, fresh and promising about wood being cut and formed in the beginning stages of a new venture.
Sinks, countertops, paint and flooring were on the schedule to be installed. It was all but finished and, professionally speaking, everything had gone smoothly. Personally, not so much.
“Hey, Ellie.”
Standing where the new section connected with the old in the reception area, she turned at the sound of the deep voice. It was a lot like Alex’s but not. Ben McKnight stood there in the empty waiting room just a few feet from the sliding-glass window where the receptionist sat and greeted patients. He’d just come down the stairs from his office on the second floor.
Harlequin Special Edition July 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: Marooned with the MaverickHer McKnight in Shining ArmorCelebration's Bride Page 32