The Husband Project

“Oh, really?” Kit murmured. “What kind of public relations person are you, anyway? We’re always doing something ludicrous. If you think I want to brag about creating a bunch of dancing ducks to promote the new water. park—”

“But you believe in the water park,” Alison reminded.

- “Doesn’t matter. Besides, you can’t expect either Susannah or me to do it You’re the only one of us who can, Ali.”

Alison sighed. “Because I’m the only one of us who’s still single.”

“Exactly.” Kit murmured.

“That is completely illogical, you know. It’s like saying I can’t make a good video welcoming newcomers to Chicago unless I’m a newcomer, and that’s just—” There was no warning this time, and the pain which racked her was by far the worst she’d ever experienced. Alison clutched at her abdomen. She’d have doubled up, but there wasn’t room in the narrow booth.

Susannah’s gaze met Kit’s. “An ambulance, do you think?”

“No!” Alison struggled to sit upright. Almost automatically she said, “It’ll pass.”

“Sure of that, are you?” Kit sounded skeptical.

“It always has before.”

“Oh, that’s reassuring! How long have you been feeling this way, Ali?”

“Weeks,” Susannah said darkly. “Remember, Kit? Clear back when you started having morning sickness, Alison was—”

If she hadn’t been feeling so wretched, Alison would have burst into laughter at the sudden suspicion in Susannah’s eyes. “I’m not pregnant,” she managed. “It’s just...cramps or something. A little worse than usual, but—”

“I’m relieved to hear it, Ali,” Kit said crisply. “Excuse me for missing the occasion, but just when did you get your medical degree?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “We’re going to check this out right now. If you’ll go get your car, Susannah...”

Susannah didn’t move. “Are you sure I shouldn’t call the paramedics?”

“I’m not sure of anything,” Kit said. “But we can’t ride with her in the ambulance, so we’ll need the car anyway.” She dug her cell phone from the depths of her handbag.

Susannah nodded and hurried toward the door.

“Oh, for heaven’s...” Another wave of pain swamped Alison’s voice.

Kit Hipped madly through her address book. “I knew I should have put this number on auto-dial.”

“I don’t want an ambulance, Kit.”

“I’m calling a friend.”

Alison, taken aback, could only stare at her. A friend?

“A friend who also happens to be my obstetrician.”

“I told you, I’m not—”

“—Pregnant, I know. Well, obviously there’s something wrong, and the way you’re clutching your tummy makes it a good bet that you’ll end up consulting somebody in that field. Besides, Logan’s the only doctor I can think of who’s likely to still be in his office after six on a Friday night...” She turned her attention to the telephone. “Hello, is Dr. Kavanaugh in? I see. Will you page him and ask him to call Kit Webster? It’s an emergency.”

- The worst of the wave had passed, and Alison could get her breath again. “I’m too busy for this. I’ve got a video to finish...” She was startled by the high, tight pitch of her voice and the panic which clutched her throat.

Kit put the phone down. “Exactly. And if you’d stop to think about it, Ali, you’d realize that I’m only doing this because I’m darned if I want to get stuck finishing your video.” The words were tart, but her smile was warm and reassuring.

Alison’s panic eased a little, but the lump in her throat suddenly felt as big as the Sears Tower. “Yeah, right,” she said. “Kitty, I don’t deserve you and Sue.”

“Can we get that in writing?” Susannah said breathlessly. “I’m parked on the sidewalk, Kit, so it might be a good idea if we don’t hang around here much longer.”

Kit’s phone rang and she turned away to answer it.

“I can walk,” Alison said.

Susannah looked doubtful, but when Alison pushed herself to her feet. Susannah quickly offered her arm. Their progress was slow, hampered not only by Alison’s discomfort but by Flanagan’s other patrons, crowding around to offer advice.

They were almost to the car when Kit caught up. “Now that’s luck,” she said briskly. “Logan’s at the nearest hospital, just finishing a delivery—so he’ll meet us in the emergency room.”

Alison sank into the back seat. There was no comfortable position; what she wanted to do was draw her knees up to her chest and howl. In a feeble effort to distract herself, she said, “Was his delivery a boy or a girl?”

“I didn’t stop to chat,” Kit said dryly. “For all I know it could have been a Federal Express package.”

In the emergency room, Susannah went off to deal with the paperwork, and Kit waited outside the small treatment room while two staff members swarmed over Alison to do a preliminary examination. It was only after they had left and quiet descended on the room that she really realized where she was, and what was likely to happen.

Time to face the truth, she told herself. You were an idiot in the first place to try to pretend nothing was wrong. Now you can’t pretend anymore. And if your nightmares turn out to be fact after all—

Alison’s heart seemed to be skipping every other beat as fear pumped adrenaline through her veins. She tried to keep her eyes so tightly closed that the tears couldn’t seep out, but it was impossible.

Kit took her hand. “Another one?” she said gently. “Squeeze as hard as you need to, Ali.”

Alison shook her head. “No. I’m just...so stupid. Thinking that if I pretended it didn’t hurt, it would stop.”

Kit said slowly, “And if you didn’t see a doctor then nothing could really be wrong? That’s a first-class case of denial, Ali, and I could just—” She took a deep breath. “No, this isn’t the time for a scolding.”

Susannah appeared in the doorway. “Why not? Sounds to me like she deserves one.” She brushed a lock of Alison’s perspiration-dampened dark hair back from her temple. “It’ll be all right now.”

It might never be all right again, Alison thought.

Susannah’s grin was mischievous. “I can promise that because I just caught a glimpse of your doctor, and let me tell you, Ali, you’re one lucky girl.”

A rustle from the doorway made both Susannah and Kit move away from the side of the examining table. Restlessly, Alison turned her head.

Lying flat on her back, looking almost directly into the bright overhead lights, was hardly the best way to get a good view. Even so, Alison had no trouble figuring out what Susannah had been talking about. Her visual perception might be skewed and a good part of her attention focused on her pain; nevertheless, she realized with her first glance that her new doctor was one of the best-looking men she’d ever seen.

He was tall and broad-shouldered; the washed-out green scrub suit which would have been baggy on another man fitted him as easily if it had been tailored. His hair was an unruly dark brown thatch, just a little longer than it ought to have been. His face was angular, with a strong jaw and a mouth which hinted that he liked to smile.

She looked up into his eyes. They were green—a deep, true green that Alison had never seen before—surrounded with indecently long and curly lashes.

He was surveying her every bit as closely, but for different reasons; Alison could almost see the calculator in his brain checking off symptoms even before he offered a hand, large and capable and tanned. “Ms. Novak? I’m Logan Kavanaugh,” he said. “Tell me when you started to feel this pain.”

He listened with his head tilted just a little to one side, jotting notes from time to time on the clipboard he carried, those brilliant green eyes seeming never to leave her even when Kit interrupted now and then with more details. Then he laid the board on a nearby cabinet and said, “And it hurts... right here, is that right?”