He placed a tender kiss on her cheek. “Of course. I knew that’s what you meant.” He shoved her hand away and continued to tickle his fingers across her bare skin.
The rest of the evening was lost to the growing and expanding love that existed between them, a love that Jean readily admitted to herself and embraced, but one that frightened Ry to the point where he tried to deny it. They watched television for a while and talked about things they’d always wanted to do, places they had wanted to see. It was the type of togetherness that was so comfortable it felt as if it would last a lifetime.
Then the specter of pregnancy loomed in Jean’s mind again. They had resolved one problem, but there was still a huge hurdle on the horizon, one that would not be as easy to overcome. She tried to dismiss the concerns, at least for the rest of the evening. She desperately wanted everything to be okay, for the future to hold the happiness she had always dreamed of, but had eluded her so far.
Ry spent the night at Jean’s condo. There was no use in pretending that it was an unexpected happening. He had packed an overnight bag, including a change of clothes. He retrieved it from the trunk of his car early Sunday morning.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he discovered Jean turning on the water in the shower. He dropped his bag on the bed, entered the bathroom and slipped his hands inside her robe as he pulled her into his embrace.
“Would you like some company?” He flashed a teasing grin. “I’d be happy to scrub your back and you could scrub mine.”
His words tickled across her cheek sending a little tremor of excitement across her skin as she spoke. “I’m afraid if we did that we’d never get anything else done. It’s a beautiful day. I thought we could spend it doing something spontaneous—”
“Is this spontaneous enough for you?” He captured her mouth with a loving kiss, one that spoke volumes about his feelings.
She allowed the kiss to continue for several seconds before breaking it off. A soft chuckle accompanied her words. “That’s not what I meant.”
Jean took a quick shower, then dressed and made breakfast while Ry showered, shaved and put on clean clothes. They enjoyed a quiet morning together. It felt so settled, so comfortable…so much the way she wanted things to be.
As noon approached Ry suddenly jumped to his feet, grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the sofa.
“Come on…we’re going to be spontaneous.”
A startled Jean looked questioningly at him, but he only grinned without divulging what he had in mind.
It turned out to be a fun and carefree afternoon. They were two people in love who, to all outward appearances, didn’t have a worry in the world. They spent a delightful couple of hours browsing through Pike’s Market, then they went to the aquarium. Ry had even insisted that they take the harbor cruise as if they were tourists exploring Seattle for the first time. Jean took a deep breath and slowly expelled it as the utter contentment settled over her. It had been a perfect day.
Ry stayed at Jean’s condo late into the evening. They sat in front of the fireplace silently watching the flames, each comfortable and content to just be in the other’s arms. He didn’t want to leave her. He didn’t want to go back to his hotel suite and the empty bed. He knew it wasn’t a matter of sex for the sake of physical release. It was so much more, so much deeper and real. It was a physical relationship that enhanced an all consuming emotional attachment. She was all important to him—the most important thing in his life. But would he ever be able to tell her? It was a question he didn’t have an answer for. A question he was afraid to answer.
Ry shifted his position, stirring Jean out of her lazy contentment. “I hate to do this, but I’m afraid I have to head back to my hotel room. It’s late and tomorrow is the start of the work week.” He kissed her tenderly on the forehead, then on the cheek. “It’s been a lovely weekend, at least the Saturday night and Sunday part of it. Thank you for spending it with me.”
“I really enjoyed our impromptu adventure today. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that spontaneous.”
He rose to his feet, then pulled her into his arms. “I hope we can spend a lot more days like this.” He lingered a few minutes longer, not wanting to leave her company. Finally he kissed her tenderly on the lips, picked up his overnight bag and reluctantly left.
Jean watched as he backed his car out of her driveway and drove down the street. Sunday had been such a glorious day. It had almost erased from her mind that terrible moment when she had opened the door to Marjorie—a moment that brought back the shame and guilt from her past, the unbearable moment when she found out she had been played for a fool and used by a man she trusted. Would Ry ever be able to understand how something like that could happen? How someone could be so totally manipulated by someone else’s selfish demands? Would it be part of her past that she would ever be able to share with him? She didn’t know.
But before that obstacle could be tackled there was a much more important and imminent situation to deal with. There was the fact that she was pregnant with Ry’s child and somehow he needed to be told. Would it mean the end of their relationship? A cold shudder confirmed a possibility she didn’t want to acknowledge.
Eight
Ry spent most of the work week with the shipping and receiving department, the stockroom and the purchasing department, as all three areas were tightly interrelated. Jean saw very little of him during the day. She tried to concentrate on her own work, but each passing day her thoughts were more and more consumed by what she knew was her pregnancy, even though she still held out a desperate hope that it wasn’t true.
But her nights were a different story. Each night she would be enveloped in the glow of love as she and Ry spent the evening together, sometimes with him staying all night and sometimes with him returning to his hotel suite early enough to be able to do some work before going to bed.
By Friday Jean was hardly able to keep her anxiety under control when she was around Ry. Fear had kept her from reconfirming her pregnancy with another round of home test kits. Intellectually she knew that putting off taking the home tests and going to the doctor would not change the outcome, but emotionally she made a desperate grasp for anything that would postpone the inevitable.
Before he left Jarvis Furniture for the day, Ry stopped by her office for a quick conversation.
He closed the door and perched on the edge of her desk, taking her hand in his as if he were unable to resist the temptation to touch her. “I have a lot of work to do, so if you don’t mind I think I’ll go directly to my hotel room and lock myself in tonight.”
She hesitated a moment before asking the question, well aware of the way he had refused to discuss the work project with her. “Are there problems?”
“No…it’s just that I haven’t spent much of my evening time doing the work the assignment requires.” A sheepish grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’ve been far too busy enjoying much more pleasurable pursuits with a delightful companion and now I have to pay for allowing the distraction.”
A quick flush spread across her cheeks. “Oh? I didn’t realize I was such a distraction.”
He placed a quick kiss on her lips. “Well, you are. However, I want you to be ready tomorrow morning with an overnight bag packed because I have planned a spontaneous weekend for us out of town.”
She returned a teasing smile. “How can it be spontaneous if you’ve planned it?”
He winked at her as he squeezed her hand. “It’s spontaneous for you, not for me. I’ve enjoyed planning it and I hope you enjoy doing it. I’ll see you at five o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Five o’clock?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Why so early?”
“Because it will take us a while to get where we’re going.” He brushed a quick kiss across her lips and flashed a teasing grin. “And that’s all the information you’re going to get out of me.”
A few minutes later Ry left her office. She was disappointed that she would not
be seeing him that night, but there was also a sensation of relief attached to it. It would give her an evening to try to get her head together and figure out what she needed to do.
She stopped at the drugstore on her way home from work. That evening she took three more pregnancy tests. The last of her desperate hopes were dashed by the results. A sinking sensation settled inside her like a hard lump. All three tests said the same thing, confirming the earlier tests she had taken. She was pregnant. The instructions on the box claimed a ninety-nine percent accuracy, the same as the other tests.
Her mind raced for some sort of reassurance that everything would be all right in spite of the test results. After all, there was still that one percent chance that all six of the tests were flawed. She heaved a deep sigh of resignation. In her heart she knew she was reaching for a glimmer that didn’t exist. She had to stop lying to herself, stop trying to convince herself that it wasn’t so. She had to face up to the reality. A cold shiver darted across the surface of her skin, sending a chill up her spine.
And she had to find the right words to tell Ry.
Her thoughts turned to what Ry had arranged for the weekend, a special weekend out of town. He intended it to be a time of pleasure and togetherness for just the two of them, not a confrontation or an airing of awkward problems. She made her decision. She would not tell him right away. She would not put a damper on their weekend.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was still grasping at straws, using any excuse to postpone the inevitable. She tried to dismiss the thought as being ridiculous, but she wasn’t able to. A chilling fear washed through her, leaving only uncertainty and bewilderment in its wake.
Ry had two more weeks on his contracted assignment at Jarvis Custom Furniture. He had not mentioned any plans beyond that. Would he be staying in town or immediately returning home to get on with his life? She had to tell him before then. She had to let him know before it was time for him to leave Seattle. She had two weeks yet. She tried to gather her determination and put a positive face on things. During that time she would find the right words to tell him.
She allowed her mind to drift to how much easier it would be if only she knew what his true feelings were toward her. Did he love her or was this only a short-term fling, as Marjorie had stated? If he loved her, why hadn’t he said so? Could he possibly love her as much as she loved him?
A sob caught in her throat as the mist of tears clouded her eyes. What should be the happiest time of her life—a man she loved and a baby on the way to complete the family she had always wanted—was becoming a quagmire of fears and doubts and she didn’t know what to do about it. She took a steadying breath. She couldn’t allow her inner turmoil to spoil the weekend Ry had planned. Somehow by tomorrow morning she needed to get her emotions corralled and present a happy and contented persona for the weekend.
She forced an upbeat attitude as she took care of some household chores, then fixed herself some dinner. She turned her attention to packing an overnight bag to take with her in the morning. Even though she tried to keep positive thoughts, her mind kept returning to the results of the pregnancy tests.
As she prepared for bed a single tear slowly etched its way down her cheek, then another and another. She wiped them away as she climbed under the covers, then reached over and turned out the lamp on the nightstand. She forced her mind to pleasant thoughts before falling asleep. She didn’t want dreams filled with turmoil. But despite her attempts, her dreams weren’t all happy ones. There was the always present specter of confronting Ry about her pregnancy.
She woke at four o’clock, an hour before Ry’s scheduled arrival. She took her time in the shower, dressed and checked her overnight bag to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Then promptly at five o’clock Ry rang the doorbell.
He pulled her into his arms, kissed her, then grabbed her bag and escorted her out to his car. Jean looked up at the dark night sky as she settled in the passenger side. “It looks like the middle of the night rather than five o’clock in the morning. Aren’t you going to tell me where we’re going?”
Ry grinned at Jean as he slid in behind the steering wheel. “Nope…you’ll find out soon enough.”
“But I don’t know if I packed the appropriate clothes.”
“Don’t worry. If there’s anything you need while we’re gone, I’ll buy it for you.”
Ry headed the car north out of Seattle. By six-thirty they had arrived at the town of Anacortes. He drove to the Washington State Ferry terminal, paid for a car, driver and passenger and pulled his car into the designated boarding lane. He turned in the seat until he faced her.
“So…any questions you’d like to ask about our destination?”
“Well, since you paid for passage to Orcas Island I’ll assume that’s where we’re going. Right?”
He grinned, then leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her lips. “You win first prize.” His expression turned serious, his voice became soft and his manner loving. He cupped her chin in his hand. “I’ve made reservations at a unique little bed and breakfast, no telephone and no interruptions. A romantic weekend for just the two of us.”
His touch sent little tremors of delight rushing through her body and his words chased them with waves of excitement. She returned his smile. “It sounds delightful.”
“But for right now—” he glanced at his watch “—we have about an hour before the next ferry to Orcas Island. Let’s go into the terminal and get some hot coffee. We’ll be able to get something to eat after we board the ferry.”
They walked hand in hand to the terminal building. It was the start of what Jean knew would be a marvelous weekend with the most wonderful and sexy man in the world. He had chosen a romantic getaway and planned the entire weekend just for the two of them. Maybe…just maybe, if the time and circumstances were right, she would be able to tell him about the pregnancy before they returned to the reality of daily life.
It turned out to be a glorious two days filled with carefree romance and the joy of shared intimate moments. They took long walks during the day, browsed through shops filled with the work of local artisans, enjoyed the beautiful scenery and made love with a heated passion as if no one else in the world even existed.
Their weekend came to a close Sunday night as they reluctantly boarded the ferry to return to Anacortes. It had been an idyllic getaway, a time she had chosen to not spoil by introducing the subject of pregnancy. She convinced herself that it was a topic better left to another time and place, perhaps a quiet moment set aside specifically for that purpose rather than trying to incorporate it with another activity. The reality of how wrong that notion was tried to override her conscious decision, but she refused to allow it. She would handle it, but at another time, rather than now. The nervous anxiety churning inside her only confirmed how absurd she knew that decision was.
Neither of them said much on the drive from Anacortes back to Seattle. Each basked in the warm glow of the love that surrounded them. It was after eleven o’clock Sunday night when Ry pulled into the driveway of Jean’s condo. He carried her overnight bag as they walked to the front door. As soon as they were inside, he dropped the bag to the floor and pulled her into his embrace.
“Thank you for the enchanting weekend, Ry. It was marvelous.”
His words tickled across her cheek. “Thank you for sharing it with me. My only regret is that it was so short.”
He lowered his head and placed a tender and loving kiss on her lips—a kiss that was as much emotion as passion, a kiss that told how much he cared about her. A kiss that said what he had not been able to convey in words. It was a truth he could no longer deny. He was totally in love with Jean Summerfield. He had finally admitted it to himself, but didn’t know what to say or how to say it to her. His work assignment would be over in two weeks. By that time he had to have made a decision. Stay or go…ask her to go with him…try to maintain a long distance relationship.
He didn’t know what to d
o, but he did know that it would probably give him more than one restless night before he worked up the courage to do what he knew in his heart had to be done. He had to make a commitment to her, but what kind of commitment? A commitment to a relationship? Possibly even marriage?
The notion of marriage shocked him. It was the last thing he would have consciously considered, yet the thought was there as crystal clear as the other thoughts running through his mind. But what to do about it? He didn’t know and time was running out. He couldn’t allow the way Marjorie had manipulated him into marriage by claiming to be pregnant to affect his relationship with Jean. He knew Jean was so honest and real, that she would never be guilty of the same type of subterfuge that was common to Marjorie’s everyday life.
“I’d better head back to the hotel and get some sleep. For most of the upcoming week I’ll be spending my time in the manufacturing plant with the various operations there, so I probably won’t see much of you during the day. I’ll be covering all the office functions during the final week.”
They talked for a few more minutes, then Ry placed a gentle kiss on her lips before he left. He seemed to be bouncing on a cloud of euphoria as he walked to his car, his head filled with happy and contented thoughts. How lucky he had been to have found Sally Jean again. She was so honest, so sincere…just as she had been in high school. He had business associates, employees and even a few friends whom he trusted, but it had been a long time since he felt an emotional trust with anyone on an intimate level. Jean had turned out to be that person. She was truly genuine, someone he knew he could trust with anything…including the vulnerability he had kept so carefully hidden away for the past ten years.
Once again Jean watched him drive away. She closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to drift over the weekend they had just spent together.
She had come very close to telling him about being pregnant, but the time never seemed absolutely right. She had been looking for the perfect moment even though she knew no such thing as an ideal time existed to disclose the type of news she had. She felt relief that she hadn’t been subjected to the confrontation, yet at the same time an uneasiness about not having told him. She couldn’t put it off much longer. She knew she had to tell him before the upcoming week was over. But how?
Their Child? Page 50