Celebration's Baby

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  “It’s not a diamond engagement ring,” he said.

  “That’s okay.”

  She could be so stubborn sometimes. He was surprised that she wasn’t holding out for exactly what she wanted. It took a little fun out of his plan. He took the ring box from her, took it out of the box and studied it.

  “This is nice,” he said. “It has a lot of sentimental value. But the way I see it, there’s two problems. First one is it doesn’t fit you. It might slip off your finger. It would be a real shame for you to lose it since it means so much to you. The second problem is that it’s not an engagement ring. Any fiancée of mine would wear a diamond ring.”

  He pulled the small black box out of his jacket pocket and opened it. “I was thinking something like this might be more appropriate.”

  Bia gaped at him with large green eyes. “Aiden, what did you do?”

  “It looks pretty good, doesn’t it?” he asked.

  “Please tell me this isn’t a real diamond. Because I know you wouldn’t go out and buy a diamond ring for this.”

  “I would if I had extra cash lying around begging to be spent,” he said. “It’s as real as we want it to be. Like I said, my fiancée will wear a ring we can both be proud of.”

  “You would really do this for me?” she asked. “Swear off other women for a while and pretend to be engaged to me?”

  He smiled. “Apparently so.”

  Bia was finally silent, fresh out of conditions, even if she did look a little overwhelmed. Aiden got back down on one knee and took her hand in his.

  “Bia Anderson, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

  She stared at him for a moment. A vague light seemed to pass between them, and then the air in the room shifted.

  “Yes, Aiden, I will.”

  As he slid the ring on her finger, he silently vowed to hold her to that promise.

  * * *

  Sunday evening, Bia sat in her living room alone with a cup of herbal tea, prepared to watch the fateful edition of XYZ Celebrity News.

  Aiden had wanted to come over and watch it with her, but Bia had told him she had to do this alone. With all the other hoopla surrounding the XYZ reporter ambush, Aiden’s fake but all-too-real-feeling proposal and the discovery that Maya was her birth mother, she hadn’t even had time to properly mourn Hugh.

  It was the strangest feeling. She wasn’t in love with Hugh. In fact, she really hadn’t even liked the guy during his last few days on earth, after he’d shirked his responsibilities to her and the baby. But the facts remained that he was the father of her child and he was much too young to die. It felt odd—sad and odd—to contemplate that he was no longer in this world.

  As she lifted her cup to her lips, the light caught the diamond on her finger, making it wink and glint. After she took a sip, she returned the cup to its saucer and held up her hand.

  It hadn’t escaped her that just before Aiden had slipped the ring on her finger, he had changed the wording of his proposal and asked her to be his wife.

  It had felt real. The earnest look on his face and the intense way he’d looked her in the eyes had caused her breath to hitch and made her stomach do an odd somersault. If she didn’t watch it, she could let herself get caught up in the fantasy. Not only was Aiden a devastatingly handsome guy; he made her feel safe and cared for...and the side of her that had let its guard down had felt electric as he’d slipped the ring on her finger. She reminded herself that she had to make sure she kept both feet firmly planted in reality. She couldn’t forget herself.

  While Aiden was a great friend, falling for someone like him was a recipe for heartache. God knew—between Duane and Hugh—she’d had enough of that for a lifetime.

  She put her hand on her stomach. She was going to be a mother. That was a total game changer. Now she no longer had the luxury of taking stupid chances. Now every decision she made had to have her child at its heart. Since the mishap with Duane’s bachelor party, Aiden had taken great pains to prove himself a top-notch friend. No matter how handsome, sexy and downright tempting she found him, she couldn’t afford to take a chance that risky. Because there were fewer things riskier than trying to get Aiden to commit to a long-term relationship.

  The red and black of the XYZ Celebrity News logo caught her attention as it flashed across the screen. The show was starting. Her stomach knotted as she picked up the remote and unmuted the TV.

  Here we go.

  Hugh’s accident was the lead story. The verbal sub-headline: “Was Hugh Newman out celebrating the news that he was going to be a father before his fatal crash?”

  Seeing his photo emblazoned with his birthdate and death date made it real. Her eyes filled with tears. As crazy as it sounded, somewhere deep in Bia’s subconscious she’d hoped that this would somehow turn out to be an urban legend that had gotten out of control. One huge publicity stunt. She had no idea why seeing it on this skanky tabloid show made it feel official to her and real—other than the fact that these skeevy reporters were the ones who had drilled to the heart of what was real when they’d reported her affair with Hugh the first time. Sure, they were easily diverted by Hugh’s camp and a total curtailing of contact between the two of them, but they’d gotten it right.

  The camera captured the grim-faced XYZ ringleader as he sat leaning back in his chair, with his legs propped up on his desk, managing to restrain himself from cracking jokes as he and his minions dished about the few details they’d managed to uncover about Hugh’s accident.

  Blahblahblahblah car crash. Blahblahblahblah returning from party. Blahblahblahblah waiting for toxicology reports. Blahblahblahblah alone in the car.

  Next, they broke to a shot of Kristin Capistrano sobbing hysterically. Bia’s heart went out to the woman. If love could be weighed in tears, Kristin had been in deep.

  Then, there it was—the somewhat blurry photo that had made the rounds two months before: Bia in that blue sundress. She made a mental note to donate it. If it wasn’t such a nice dress, she’d burn it. She and Hugh were sitting at a patio table at Bistro Saint-Germain in downtown Celebration. They did look rather cozy the way they were leaning into one another. Bia was smiling, and Hugh looked as if he was playing with a wisp of her hair. As an XYZ minion rehashed the history of Bia and Hugh, his fellow minions made snide comments about the nature of the tours she allegedly gave. Of course, they couldn’t remain somber and dignified for long. Someone had to go there, had to say it, “Well, at least we know she’s not an escort in the old-fashioned sense of the word. We’ve learned that Hugh Newman’s—” he cleared his throat “—tour guide is actually a pretty smart cookie. She is the editor of Celebration’s local newspaper. I don’t know when she finds time to offer private tours.”

  Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Did they have no respect? No dignity?

  And then the coup de grâce: Bia flinched as her own image appeared on the screen. She felt sick as she relived the way the XYZ minion harassed her, dogging her every move. And then there was Aiden. He swooped in, put one arm around her and stretched out the other, momentarily blocking the camera’s view with the palm of his. Then he stepped back and claimed she was his fiancée.

  Her stomach gave an unexpected little flutter at Aiden’s protectiveness.

  “Get that camera out of her face. Let’s set the record straight once and for all. There was never anything serious between Bia and Hugh Newman because she’s engaged to me.”

  “Engaged? To you? Since when?”

  The flutter intensified as she watched the kiss they’d shared replay in living color on the television set. She could feel the weight of his lips on hers—just a little chapped and extremely skilled...what with all the practice he’d had.

  It was like an out-of-body experience watching herself kissing this man who had become her best friend. A friend with whom she’d struggled th
rough a love-hate relationship to get to the point where they were now.

  Why is it feeling an awful lot like love now?

  She shook away the preposterous thought.

  This was Aiden. He certainly had never been Prince Charming. Prince Charming probably wasn’t such a darn good kisser.

  In the background now, they were saying something about how Hugh and Kristin had been scheduled to film a movie in Celebration, “a quaint, picturesque town that harkens back to simpler days.”

  Ahh, simpler days. The days before she’d met Hugh and started having inappropriate thoughts about her best friend.

  “However, with the recent turn of events, the future of the film is uncertain. For now, inside sources say the film is shelved. At least until they can figure out who will take over the role that Newman had been cast to play.”

  So many things were uncertain.

  Life itself was fragile and tentative. You could spend your whole life protecting your heart so that it never got trampled on again, so that someone like Duane or Hugh didn’t misuse it or hurt you. You could spend your entire life being careful and then die alone unbroken and unfulfilled.

  She glanced down at her left hand. The diamond winked at her. Maybe it was time to explore the possibilities and live a little.

  Chapter Seven

  “Congratulations, Bia,” said Nicole. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were engaged. We had to find out on national television? You’re so unromantic.”

  Nicole smiled, but underneath those perfect white teeth Bia was sure there were fangs ready to come out and bite her.

  “You know me,” Bia said as she made herself a cup of decaffeinated tea in the newspaper office’s break room. “I’m generally a private person. If it makes you feel any better, Aiden and I hadn’t really planned on announcing our engagement on national television. It was just one of those things.”

  “But are you...?” Nicole patted her belly.

  “Am I what?”

  Thank you, XYZ. The questions of the day had been about the engagement and the pregnancy. The ultra-brazen had even gone as far as to ask who the father was—Hugh or Aiden.

  Bia had leveled the ones who had had the audacity to ask with a stare that had made them wish they’d kept their mouths shut.

  “I mean, there’s private and then there’s private,” Nicole said. “No one even knew you and Aiden were dating. Or that you were—”

  Bia pierced her with a look that stopped her midsentence. Then she took a quart of half-and-half out of the refrigerator and stirred some into her tea. “As I said, Nicole, I’m a very private person. I don’t like to discuss my personal life at work. And speaking of. Both of us need to get back to it.”

  She turned and walked to her desk. All the while, she could feel Nicole’s gaze burning holes into her back. Bia had to admit, the woman’s tenacity was one of the things that made her a good reporter. She seemed to have a sharp bull detector and she wouldn’t let an issue drop when she had a hunch she was right. Ha. Maybe Nicole should get a job with XYZ.

  As Bia sat down at her desk, she felt bad for thinking that about her employee. When the scrutiny wasn’t turned on her, Bia admired Nicole’s tenacity. But when she wouldn’t take no for an answer (which was usually when she didn’t get what she wanted) or the tables were turned, Bia wanted to ship the woman off to parts unknown.

  Well, Nicole could ask all the questions she wanted. Bia wasn’t required to answer.

  She clicked on the email icon on her computer and checked the damage that had accrued in the time that it took her to get her tea.

  Twenty-six new emails. Before she even opened them, she could tell that five of them were from other news outlets requesting interviews.

  Thanks to XYZ announcing to the world where she worked, she’d been inundated by the curious and the newshounds alike.

  For heaven’s sake. What part of engaged to another man did they not understand? She highlighted each of the emails and clicked the spam button. “There. That’s better.”

  She was screening all her calls today, as well. She’d set the phone to automatically and silently deposit all calls into her voice mailbox. Otherwise, how was she supposed to get any work done? That’s why the sound of her desk phone ringing startled her out of her concentration.

  It was Candice, the receptionist. “Hi, Bia, I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Montgomery just arrived and he is on his way back to see you.”

  Drew Montgomery. Her boss. Wonderful...though she should have seen a visit from him coming from a mile away. Strange that he hadn’t tried to call her first.

  “Thank you, Candice.”

  Bia stood and met Drew at her office door.

  “Hi, Drew, good to see you. Come in, please.” She put on her most professional smile, determined to prove that nothing had changed in the newsroom. Despite how she had found herself in the news lately, everything was under control at the Dallas Journal of Business and Development.

  Drew stepped into her office and took a seat in one of the chairs across from her desk. She shut the door. Once she’d reclaimed her seat, Drew said, “So, I understand congratulations are in order.”

  Reflexively, Bia’s thumb went to the back of her engagement ring. She glanced down at the diamond. It was still a bit startling every time she saw it on her finger.

  “Thank you,” she said, deciding to let Drew take the lead in the conversation.

  “I see your XYZ buddy was back,” he said. “Do you need any help with that?”

  Bia squinted at him, unsure what he meant. “I’m pretty confident the most recent ambush was the last, given the sad turn of events with Hugh Newman.”

  “Yeah, that was pretty shocking,” Drew said. “And sad.”

  Bia nodded.

  “I don’t foresee any reasons for XYZ to need to interview me in the future. Now that Aiden and I are engaged, I’m no longer newsworthy.”

  “Yeah, about that,” said Drew. “I’ve known for a long time that the guy is crazy about you, but I had no idea the two of you were serious.”

  His comment made Bia’s heart race, and then she wanted to squirm. It wasn’t like that between her and Aiden. That’s why their relationship worked. That’s why they were so good together. That’s why they were such good—

  She couldn’t bring herself to say the word friends anymore, and that just about gave her a panic attack.

  Now that her dad was gone, Aiden was all that she had. If she lost him because of this... Behind the desk her hand found her belly, and she thought of Maya.

  Actually, she wasn’t alone anymore. At least she didn’t have to be.

  A baby and her own birth mother, who seemed to be on such an even keel, so patient and kind. Even if she had been a surprise in Bia’s life, Maya had the personal endorsement of her boss’s wife. And Caroline’s friends.

  So much had changed, and it seemed as if more changes were happening on a daily basis. Maybe she needed to take a step back and give Maya a chance.

  “Anything else you’d like to share?” Drew asked.

  Bia knew that he was hinting about the pregnancy. He was a decent guy and wouldn’t come right out and ask until she was ready to bring it up.

  She glanced out the window that overlooked the newsroom. Everyone seemed to be busy—on the phone or pounding away at their computers. She might as well confide in Drew. He’d know about the baby sooner or later.

  “Well, actually, yes, there is. I’m going to have a baby in about seven months.”

  “Congratulations to you and Aiden,” he said.

  She didn’t correct him. She glanced at the ring that Aiden had put on her finger. Aiden was the one who had the most to lose—taking himself off the dating market, pretending to be the father of another man’s child
and being willing to make everyone think that he wanted to marry her. She needed to be grateful enough to graciously accept this ultimate gift of friendship he was offering her.

  “Thank you, Drew. I promise nothing will change here. I plan to work up to my due date and then take minimal time off. So, I can assure you there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Drew nodded. “I was never worried. I can step in and help pick up the slack while you’re out, and I know Nicole is eager to prove herself around here.”

  I’m sure she is. “She’s a real go-getter, isn’t she? But we have a long time between now and my due date. So let’s not worry about that now.”

  “The real reason I’m here is because Caroline wanted me to invite Aiden and you to dinner next week. Are you free?”

  “Thank you. I’m sure we can make time. Let me talk to Aiden. I’ll let you know.”

  Bia felt the weight of somebody’s gaze on her. She glanced out the window into the newsroom, and saw Nicole, unsmiling and watching Drew and her. Bia held Nicole’s gaze until the woman looked away.

  Yeah, she’s a real go-getter. For some reason, Bia didn’t trust her. Usually, she admired ambitious women. However, Nicole elevated ambition to aggressive. It was a shame she had to be that way. Bia knew she needed to honor her gut feeling and watch her back.

  Chapter Eight

  Today was the day. Opening day for Maya’s Chocolates.

  Maya’s stomach was all aflutter. She’d put a lot of time, effort and money into this venture. She hoped today would go smoothly.

  Aw, who was she kidding? She didn’t simply want it to go smoothly; she wanted it to be a smashing success. She had hired three full-time sales clerks. She’d spent the past two days training them and felt good about the team she’d created.

  She glanced around the shop. Everything was in place. The chocolate had been delivered yesterday, and she had spent the entire day up to her elbows in cocoa making several batches of handmade confections for the special day. Being in the kitchen was also good therapy to keep her mind off the fact that she hadn’t heard from Bia since she’d broken the news that she was her birth mother. Maya was determined to give Bia her space until she had the opportunity to come to terms with the news. She knew it was a lot to handle on top of everything else she had gone through recently. Maya simply wished that Bia could see that now of all times it would be good to have a family member—a mother—to help her through.