The Pregnancy Plan

By now they were approaching the house, and she saw Arthur emerge from the back door.

A confirmed bachelor and shy around women, the man had worked with Jordan for many years, and was now a permanent fixture at the ranch.

“Look,” Lacey said, hoping to divert Jack from his forlorn musings. “There’s Arthur!”

Jack bounced up in his seat, waving.

Arthur loped toward the car, and gave Lacey a respectful salute. “Hi, there, Ms. Maxwell.”

Jack snapped open his seat belt. “Where’s Dad?”

“Inside, throwin’ a few things in a bag. He’s going to Toronto, flyin’ out from Vancouver this evenin’.”

“I thought,” Lacey said, “he was going on Friday?”

“Too impatient, he was, too restless, to wait.”

“Arthur!” Jack opened his car door and hopped out. “Did Molly May have her cria yet?”

“Yup, yesterday, like clockwork. Cute as a button, too…your dad called her Molly Maybe.”

Jack said, “I can’t wait to see her—come on, Aunt Lacey. You gotta see this!”

Heavy rain must have fallen here earlier; the track was still muddy in places. But even if it had been dry, Lacey wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to traipse off looking at animals. That had been Alice’s life. It certainly wasn’t her idea of a good time.

“No, thanks,” she said. “I’ll pass.”

“Okay. But thanks for taking me over!” Jack ran around to her side of the car, and put up his arms for a hug.

She leaned over and gave him a warm one. “I enjoyed the trip,” she said. “It’s always fun to have an outing with such a cool young dude!”

Jack beamed with pleasure. Then turning to the ranch hand, he said, “Let’s go, Arthur!”

Arthur put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’d better nip inside first and let your dad know you’re back.”

“Aunt Lacey will. Right, Aunt Lacey?”

She’d intended to leave without seeing Dermid. It still rankled that he hadn’t included her in the private talk he’d had with Jordan. But Jack was hopping around impatiently, eyes eager as he waited for her response.

How could she refuse? “Yes, I’ll tell him.”

“Just go in,” Arthur said. “The doorbell needs fixin’, and he’s upstairs, won’t hear you if you knock.”

While he and Jack headed off, she got out of the car and walked toward the house, stepping carefully so’s not to muddy her cream leather pumps.

To her right was the terraced bank that Alice had transformed into a picturesque garden. While she’d been alive, it had been a joy to behold at this time of year; now weeds flourished, crowding out the once-vibrant perennials that Alice had so lovingly planted and tended.

But it wasn’t only the garden that had a desolate air; the house itself looked sad. Paint was peeling off the green front door and the brass fittings cried out for a polish. Where once the windows would have been open to the fresh spring day, with crisply laundered curtains billowing in the breeze, now they were shut…closing out the world.

Lacey opened the door and walked into the entryway. Stepping over mud-caked boots, noting the grit on the formerly gleaming slate floor, she felt her spirits sink.

And they sank further as she looked around the front hall. This would break Alice’s heart, she thought with a spurt of anger, if she could see it. The hall table was thick with dust, as were the pictures on the walls, and the carpet leading up the stairs was fuzzed with lint.

Tears stung her eyes. How could he! How could Dermid McTaggart have let Alice’s cherished home fall into such a state of abandonment!

Dermid stepped out of the shower in his en suite bathroom, and whisking a towel from the floor, he ran it over his hair. Then tucking it around his waist, he swiped a hand over the steamed-up mirror, brushed his hair, and then threw the brush, along with his shaving gear, into the toilet bag he was going to take to Toronto with him.

Tomorrow, he was going to the clinic.

Tomorrow, he was going to do something that would make his heart ache for the rest of his life.

And after he’d signed the necessary papers, he reflected as he brushed his teeth, he’d no doubt feel like going to the nearest pub to drown his sorrows; but he wouldn’t, because of Jack—

Someone hammered on his bedroom door.

Arthur? What did he want? And when had he ever knocked!

He turned off the tap and heard the knocking again. This time, it was even more demanding. And it was followed immediately by the sound of a voice he recognized, one that had him almost choking…then spitting out his toothpaste as if he’d discovered it contained arsenic.

Lacey Maxwell.

What the devil was she doing here!

Dropping his toothbrush on the countertop, he strode to the bathroom door and came to an abrupt halt.

There she was, in his bedroom, dressed in an indigo shirt and a cream miniskirt and cream shoes, with her black hair falling like a sheet of jet to her breasts.

And she was spitting mad.

“Didn’t you hear me knock?” Her green eyes had a furious sparkle. “Are you deaf?”

He swallowed and the toothpaste made his throat feel raw. “What—” his tone was incredulous “—are you doing here?”

“How could you!” She glared at him. “How could you let this place go to rack and ruin. Alice would turn in her grave if—”

“I asked,” he said grimly, “what you are doing here.”

She sliced a hand through the air, the gesture angry and dismissive. “I brought Jack back. He was homesick. Though how he could be homesick for such a pigstye is utterly beyond me! How can you possibly justify what you’ve let happen here? It’s an absolute disgrace—”

“Now that you’ve brought Jack back,” he said coldly. “You’re free to leave.”

“Uh-uh! I still have some things I want to say to you.”

“I’m really not interested in what you have to say. And please don’t come in here, from your polished plastic world, and tell me how I should live. You’re not even on the same planet. Now why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, Ms. Maxwell. I think there’s a lot more to it than a dustball or two!”

“You’re right.” She set her hands on her hips, and gave him a look that would have annihilated a lesser man. “I want you to know that Felicity happened to overhear you and Jordan talking the other day, and she told me about your conversation because she felt that as Alice’s sister, I had the right to know what you were planning to do—”

“I’m sure Felicity acted with the best of intentions, but she was wrong. The decision was mine alone to make, and—”