The Baby Surprise / The Father for Her Son: The Baby Surprise

On the fourth day after Zach’s arrival in town, he called in the morning to tell her that he had some errands to run but would stop by after lunch to spend some time with Emma then. But when Paige opened the door after she’d settled the little girl down for her nap, she found Megan on the porch instead.

“This is a surprise,” she said, stepping away from the door so her cousin could enter.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Megan said, waddling in. “I was up a few times in the night with a backache and Gage was threatening to cancel a meeting today to stay home with me, but I told him I would spend the afternoon with you so he didn’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Paige assured her. “In fact, I’m grateful for the company.” And for the buffer that her cousin’s presence would provide when Zach showed up later.

“Is that coffee I smell?” Megan was already moving toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, but I thought you gave it up for your pregnancy.”

“I did, aside from half a cup in the morning,” her cousin agreed. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t drink in the luscious scent.”

Paige smiled. “I can make you a cup of tea.”

“That would be great.” Megan eased herself onto one of the stools at the breakfast counter while Paige filled the kettle and set it on the stove to boil. “Where’s Em?”

“Sleeping.”

“Which means I’m intruding on the only quiet time you have during the day.”

“Sometimes it’s too quiet,” Paige said.

“Has Zach been here already today?”

She shook her head. “He said he wanted to come this afternoon, to go with Emma and I on our daily trek to the park.”

“I know you’re not thrilled with him hanging around,” Megan said, “but you have to applaud his effort. The man is definitely trying.”

“I know he is,” Paige admitted. “And Emma is starting to warm up to him. Yesterday she threw a block at his head.”

Megan’s brows lifted. “That’s warming up?”

“Before that, she completely ignored him.”

“Then I guess that’s warming up,” her cousin agreed.

“But enough about Zach,” Paige said, wanting to talk about anything but the man who seemed to occupy far too many of her thoughts already. “Tell me about this backache that had you up in the night.”

Megan shrugged. “I’ve had twinges for a few days. Which probably isn’t surprising, considering that I’m hauling around an extra twenty-four pounds and I’m three days past my due date.”

Paige smiled as she turned off the kettle and poured water into a mug. Her cousin’s obvious disgruntlement confirmed that she’d expected her baby to pop out precisely on schedule and was none too pleased with the delay. She set a box of lemon cookies in front of the expectant mother along with the tea.

“Didn’t I just say that I’ve put on twenty-four pounds?” Megan demanded, but she was already opening the box.

“You did,” Paige agreed. “But I happen to know that those are the baby’s favorites.”

“Which probably explains twenty-two of those pounds,” her cousin mumbled around a mouthful of cookie.

They chatted and ate cookies while Megan drank her tea and looked longingly at Paige’s cup of coffee. But before her tea was finished, Megan slid off the stool.

“Are you okay?” Paige asked.

Megan shrugged. “I can’t sit for too long, or stand for too long, or do anything without feeling restless and … oh.”

Paige was immediately on her feet and beside her cousin. “Meg—what’s wrong?”

The other woman’s face was pale, her eyes wide. Paige wasn’t sure how it was possible, but her cousin somehow looked both excited … and terrified.

“I think … my water … just broke.”

“Ohmygod.”

Megan just nodded.

Paige’s brain scrambled. She’d been through this before, when Olivia had gone into labor with Emma, but at the moment she couldn’t remember what to say or do. “Okay. Um. What are we supposed to do now?”

“I don’t know about you,” Megan said, sounding fairly calm, “but I’m going to call Gage.”

“Oh. Right. Good idea.” Paige turned to reach for the phone on the counter but stopped when Megan grabbed her arm, hard. “Contraction?”

Her cousin nodded.

“Are you breathing?”

Megan nodded again.

And then, as if Paige wasn’t already frazzled enough, the doorbell rang.

She handed the phone to Megan before she went to answer the door.

“Oh, Zach. I’m sorry, but this really isn’t a good time.”

“But I called this morning and you said—”

“This morning my cousin wasn’t standing in my kitchen in the beginning stages of labor,” she told him. “But now I have to get Emma up from her nap so we can take Megan to the hospital—”

“Or I could stay with her,” Zach offered.

“With Megan?”

He smiled, and even in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, her heart gave a giddy leap. “With Emma.”

“Oh, of course.” But she hesitated.

He was offering an obvious and easy solution. But her brain was still scrambling, and while her hormones were urging her to take whatever this man was offering, she wasn’t quite ready to trust him alone with the little girl who had been entrusted to her care—even if he was Emma’s father.

“Paige!”