Celebration's Baby

“B?”

She didn’t sleep around. So he had a pretty good idea who the father was. Hugh Newman, the bastard. He wouldn’t wish the guy on anyone, much less someone he cared about.

“Are you sure?” The question sounded absurd to his own ears. But what else was he supposed to say? I’m sorry? Tough break? Princess, I tried to warn you that Hugh Newman was a horse’s ass with a pretty face, but did you listen? No, you didn’t.

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Three pregnancy tests don’t lie.” Her eyes welled up with tears.

Damn. Not the tears. Aiden fumbled for a minute. Then he reached across the table and took her hand. As the waterworks began to roll, she held on like he was her life preserver.

“God, I am so stupid, Aiden. How could I have gotten myself into this mess? How could I have let this happen?”

“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay.” He got up and went around to her side of the table and slid onto the built-in banquette, putting his arm around her. She cried on his shoulder for a solid five minutes.

When Bia had called him at nine-thirty that morning asking if he was free, if he could get away because she needed to talk to him about something important, he’d left the taping of Catering to Dallas, the reality television show that he produced, in the capable hands of the show’s director, Miles Mercer, and met Bia. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to meet him for coffee at the diner as he’d initially suggested. She wasn’t a drama queen, so when she’d asked—and Bia never asked, not something like this—he knew it was important, but he’d never imagined a bomb like this.

Damn.

“Does Hugh know?” he asked, handing her a paper napkin from the holder on the table.

Bia wiped her eyes.

“No. You’re the only person I’ve told. Well, you know and Maya LeBlanc guessed.”

“Who is Maya LeBlanc?”

“She owns the new chocolate shop that’s opening downtown. When I interviewed her yesterday, she took one look at me and asked me if I was pregnant.”

Aiden squinted at her. “How the hell did she guess something like that?”

“I wasn’t feeling well. I had a sinking spell and almost passed out. She must’ve put two and two together. Really, it wasn’t such a stretch. Kind of personal of her to ask, but she did. Of course, that was after we’d been talking about her being highly intuitive. Maybe she was trying to prove a point about her intuition. I don’t know.”

“Did she guess who the father is?”

Bia flinched. “Absolutely not.” She wrung her hands. “Well, sort of. But I didn’t confirm that she was right. Come to think of it, though, I didn’t even confirm that I was pregnant.”

“But she knew it was Hugh? What is this woman, psychic or something?”

Bia inclined her head to the side and pierced him with impatient eyes. “If you think about it, after all the press Hugh and I got, that isn’t such a stretch.”

“Is she the one who tipped off the press back in March?”

Bia blinked. “Maya? I can’t imagine that she would do something like that. I mean, what would she stand to gain?”

Aiden shrugged. “Someone tipped them off. We don’t know who. It sure seems like she’s fishing.”

“Well, if the press finds out that I’m pregnant, we’ll know who told them.”

Aiden nodded. “When are you going to tell Hugh?”

Bia took a deep breath, held it for a minute and then let it out audibly. She propped her elbow on the table and rested her forehead in her palms.

“You’re going to tell him, aren’t you?”

She didn’t look up.

“Bia, you have to tell him.”

“I don’t have to do anything, Aiden. I can’t even think right now. My head feels like it is about to explode.”

“I understand,” Aiden said. “But he’s the father. He deserves to know.”

She gave a little growl. “I didn’t ask you to come here to lecture me.”

That was his cue to back off. A woman he’d gone out with a couple of times had told him that sometimes women didn’t want men to solve their problems; they just wanted them to listen. Seemed kind of ridiculous when a perfectly good solution to the problem was right there in front of them.

“I get that, but come on, B. If I got a woman pregnant, I’d want to know. It’s as much his child as it is yours.”

She rolled her eyes, which looked emerald green through the tears.

“You and Hugh Newman are two completely different animals, Aiden. I didn’t tell you this, but—” She grimaced and shook her head as if she could take back the bait.

“You didn’t tell me what?”

She grabbed another napkin and blew her nose. “This is so embarrassing....” She closed her eyes for a moment, as if gathering her courage. “In the midst of the media frenzy, when the press was going crazy, making me out to be some sort of mystery girlfriend, Hugh’s people offered to pay me to keep quiet.”

Aiden shrugged. “That’s not so out of character for him.”

“No, you don’t get it. He didn’t call me. He had his people do it. Somehow, I don’t think he will be very happy to hear from me now.”

Aiden balled his fists. He’d worked with the guy years ago when he was in Hollywood. Aiden had been a production assistant on one of his movies in the early days. The guy was a jackass, out for no one but himself.

“Well, if you call him and he ignores you, you’ve done your duty. Once you let him know, it’s off your shoulders. But, B, if he wants to be part of the baby’s life, you have to let him. A kid can change a guy. Give him a chance. If he wants nothing to do with the baby, you’re free to walk away.”

He couldn’t believe he was defending Hugh Newman.

“God, you’re bossy,” she said through a fresh stream of tears.

“But you know I’m right.”

She nodded. Then squeezed her eyes shut as she put her head on his shoulder and sobbed again.

“Hey, it’s not that bad. I’m here for you. I know it’s a shock, but you’re strong. You can do this.”

Once again, he slid his arm around her shoulder and she nestled into him as if she belonged there. His heart twisted, but he ignored it and lowered his head so that it rested on hers. Her hair smelled like coconut and something floral that made him breathe in a little deeper.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until she pulled away. She reached for another napkin, wiped her eyes and blew her nose again. “You’re right. I have to call him. The sooner I do it, the sooner it’s over.”

But she just sat there and didn’t get up to get her phone.