The Pregnancy Plan

“But you went to Jordan for advice,” Lacey snapped. “You left me out!”

“I went to Jordan because I needed to talk to someone about what I was going to do. I didn’t go to him for advice. I went to him for support. I knew what I had to do, it wasn’t as if I had any other option. I needed to hear him say it was okay.”

“But there could have been another option.” Her breasts rose and fell under her silk shirt, as she took in a deep breath, let it out again. “Surrogacy.”

“It’s out of the question.” The harshness in his tone surprised even himself. “I won’t consider it.”

“That’s what Jordan said.”

“Then Jordan got it right.”

Her eyes burned with challenge. “If you really wanted this baby to be born, you’d surely consider every possible avenue—”

“Not that one, because—”

“I know your reasons. Jordan told me. Having a baby is a family affair, and outsiders shouldn’t be involved.”

Silence shimmered between them, and he suddenly realized he was standing there in nothing but a towel—not that it seemed to faze her. Of course, she was probably used to seeing men half-naked. Or totally naked. In the world she inhabited nudity was probably run-of the-mill.

She walked away from him and crossed to the window.

The silence between them continued, but he sensed a buildup of tension in her that made him wary.

“What is it?” he asked. “What are you thinking?”

In a voice that was no longer challenging but quiet, she said, “I was just thinking how happy Alice was here. How happy she was, with you and with Jack. And…how very much she wanted this baby.”

What could he say to that? Nothing…even if his throat hadn’t tightened with emotion, because what she said was true.

Without turning, she went on, “After our mother died—and you probably know this—I was sent to live with an aunt—a rigid and unloving person—and I was miserable. But after a few weeks, Alice came for me. She’d dropped out of university in order to come back home and bring me up. I owe her, Dermid. And I was never able to repay her.”

Now she turned, and he saw that her face was very pale.

“You told Jordan,” she said, “that you could never consider surrogacy because having babies was a family matter. I’m family, Dermid.”

He looked at her blankly, and then his eyes narrowed. “What the devil are you trying to say?”

“This will be my last—my last and only chance, to do something to repay my sister for what she did for me. Let me be the gestational carrier for your baby, Dermid. For you…and for Alice.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“YOU’RE out of your mind!”

Was she? Parked in the ferry lineup half an hour later, Lacey could still hardly believe she’d made the offer. And recalling the incredulous expression on Dermid’s face, she knew he’d felt exactly the same. But then he’d started to laugh, harshly, and that had let her know, more than anything else could, just how unworthy he thought her to bear Alice’s baby.

Without another word, she’d spun on her heel and walked out. Back to her car. Back to the ferry terminal.

Now, as she waited for the next ferry, she gripped the steering wheel, stared blindly into space, and let her anger come to a full boil. So she wasn’t Alice, would never be as wonderful as Alice had been, but she wasn’t chopped liver either. Her brother-in-law’s response to her offer had been cruel. If he really had wanted this baby as much as he purported to, he’d have jumped at her offer. She was family. She was healthy. And most important of all, she was willing.