Their Baby Surprise

Tuesday 26th April, 10:30 p.m.

How’s Tokyo? C

In Las Vegas now.

Mixing with lots of pretty showgirls? C

I’m on a construction site.

I told my mum and dad. They’re thrilled about the baby. Shocked but happy about the wedding. C

Good.

Wednesday 27th April, 9:14 p.m.

Won your fortune in Las Vegas yet? C

Moved on to New York last night.

Lucky you. Love New York. C

How are you?

I’m okay. Morning sickness still here. C

You didn’t tell me.

It’s not important—most women suffer when pregnant. C

Take time off work. You should have told me.

You didn’t tell me that you had been married before. C

You’re annoyed?

I’d have preferred not to have found out when we were in the register office. C

It was a long time ago. Have you seen a doctor about your sickness?

Yes. She assured me it’s completely normal. C

You have to take care of yourself and the baby.

We haven’t spoken about telling people at work yet. C

I have a plan that I’ll discuss with you when I’m back in London on Saturday. Come to my house for dinner.

There’s a new restaurant in Soho I’ve been wanting to try. Let’s meet there. I’ll book and send you the details. We also need to talk about a pre-nuptial agreement. I don’t want anything from you. C

We’ll have more privacy to talk in my house.

Somebody at the door. Have to go. C

* * *

Charlotte grimaced at the gingernut biscuit crumbs that had landed on her desk. And in her keyboard! Just—yuck.

Now she remembered why she had quickly given up eating at her desk as a young intern.

She twisted the keyboard upside down and shook vigorously. A woman in an online pregnancy forum swore that ginger biscuits kept her nausea at bay.

Charlotte wasn’t convinced but at least the biscuits might give her a temporary sugar high to beat the tiredness that sat heavy in her bones.

She wasn’t sleeping well.

In a matter of days she had gone from avoiding calls and texts from Lucien to being addicted to checking her phone to see if he had left a message.

In the first few days when he had gone, she had been unable to handle talking to him. Too overwhelmed with how her life had changed. And shocked to know that he had been married before. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it left her feeling more vulnerable. It brought home how little she knew him.

She had needed space and time away from him. Away from how she seemed to lose her ability to think logically when in his presence, even if that was an electronic one. So she hadn’t answered his calls and kept her texts brief, immersing herself instead in finalising the new mentoring programme she was introducing into the department for their new interns.

But when he had stopped texting over the weekend, she realised how much she missed hearing from him, missed knowing that he was thinking about her, even if it was only because she was carrying his child.

But last night when he had suggested that they meet at his house on Saturday to talk it had hit home just how difficult it would be to live under the same roof as him, especially in a house full of memories and reminders of their night together.