A Baby In The House

Krystal had a bad feeling in her gut and it had nothing to do with morning sickness. “He’s seeing Samantha again?”

“He must be. Why else would she be moving in here?”

Krystal gasped. “No! Oh please, tell me it isn’t true!” she begged.

“Isn’t she the one you said had so many ruffles on her dress at that party that she looked like she could set sail if a gust of wind came up?” Dena asked.

“Yes, and it’s too bad it didn’t,” Krystal retorted.

“Wow! You really don’t like her, do you?”

Krystal could see the curiosity in her eyes and knew she needed to give an explanation. She would have liked to have told Dena the real reason she hated to see Samantha Penrose move into the house, but the bride-to-be didn’t need to get drawn into the melodrama her life had become.

So instead she said, “Don’t pay any attention to me. I’m just in a witchy mood. This early stage of pregnancy is like having PMS 24/7.” She brushed the hair from her forehead and sighed.

“It’s all right, I understand,” Dena assured her.

“Will you please just forget I made a fuss, because I shouldn’t have said anything. That night of the hospital ball I hardly spoke to Samantha. For all I know she could be a very nice person.”

“I don’t think Leonie would have rented the apartment to her if she didn’t think she would fit in here. You know how she is about her tenants,” Dena pointed out.

Krystal nodded. “I’m just surprised she gave her Quinn’s old place. I didn’t think Leonie liked her because of what she did to Garret. You do know that she was the one who left him.”

Dena nodded. “If Leonie had any hard feelings toward her, they’re gone. She spoke very highly of Samantha when she mentioned her to me. Said she was lovely and that she thought we’d get along with her just fine.”

Krystal had to stifle the laughter that nearly spilled out of her. Fortunately Dena’s cell phone rang at that moment.

“I’m sorry, Krys, but I have to take this. It’s Quinn. You don’t mind, do you?”

Krystal shook her head, excused herself and went up to her room. As she climbed the stairs, her legs felt like undercooked pasta. The first thing she did when she got inside her apartment was to collapse on to her bed and stare at the ceiling, stunned by what Dena had told her.

Samantha Penrose would soon be living above her.

If it weren’t so tragic it would be funny, Krystal thought. She threw her shoe at the ceiling and groaned in frustration. This couldn’t be happening to her. Was fate so cruel or had her life suddenly become a black comedy?

She could only wonder what the lovely Samantha was going to say when she found out her new neighbor was pregnant with her boyfriend’s baby.

CHAPTER TWO

“WHAT DO YOU THINK? Wing collar or lay-down?” Quinn Sterling held two pleated shirts up for Garret’s inspection.

Before he could answer, Shane Donovan leaned close to them and said, “Whichever one doesn’t make you feel like you have a rope around your neck.” He made a choking gesture with his hands.

“He does have a rope around his neck,” Dave Duggan was quick to add with a cocky grin.

Shane’s and Dave’s kidding brought back memories of their teenage years when the four of them had been the best of friends and someone was always making a wisecrack. Garret pointed to the shirt on his right. “Go with the wing collar and don’t pay any attention to these guys. Marriage is going to be a good thing for you and Dena.”

“So speaks my brother, the bachelor,” Shane drawled sarcastically.

“Hey—his turn will come. Some woman will get her hooks into him sooner or later,” Dave warned.

Quinn put one of the hangers back on the rack of starched white shirts. “My money’s on later.”

“I’d say sooner, judging by the way women eye him once he puts on that white coat,” Dave teased.

“Quinn has you on this one, Dave. Come the first of the year, Garret’s going to be overseas practicing medicine,” Shane said.

“That doesn’t mean he can’t get married,” Dave pointed out.

Garret would have preferred not to have his bachelor status be the topic of discussion, but he knew you couldn’t put a group of men in a wedding wear shop and not have the usual banter involving women and marriage. Since the only other single guys in the wedding party were hockey players and everyone apparently expected them to be bachelors, Garret was the prime target for their quips.

“Just for the record, as happy as I know married life can make a man, I think I’ll stay single for a while…like five or ten more years,” he added with a huge grin.

“I hope you told that to Samantha Penrose,” Dave remarked.

That had Quinn asking, “Who’s Samantha Penrose and how come I haven’t met her?”

“She’s just a colleague,” Garret answered.

Dave elbowed Shane. “Did you hear that? Just a colleague? Is that any way to talk about your old girlfriend who’s hot for you?”

Quinn shot Garret an inquisitive look. “All right, out with it. What did I miss?”

“Nothing important,” Garret answered. “Samantha and I dated while we were in medical school. Then she left to do her internship, but recently she moved back to take a position at a hospital here.”

“She’s not the doctor who’s taking over my apartment at 14 Valentine Place, is she?” Quinn asked.

It was the first Garret had heard of it. He turned to his brother. “Has Mom rented the third floor to Samantha?”

“Yes and I can tell by the look on your face she didn’t ask you about it before she did,” Shane answered.

No, she hadn’t, and it annoyed him. He wondered what his mother was up to. First she’d finagled him into going to the hospital ball so that he would see Samantha again, now she was moving her into the boardinghouse. It wasn’t like his mother to meddle in his personal life, so just what was going on?

Dave slowly shook his head and whistled through his teeth. “It’s not a good sign, Garret…your old girlfriend moving into a house where there’s a matchmaker.”

“She’s not a matchmaker,” Garret corrected him. “She’s a romance coach.”

Dave shrugged. “Same difference. She hooked Quinn up with Dena, didn’t she? And Dylan with Maddie. Has she had any tenants move out who weren’t getting married? I mean, they move into that place single and the next thing you know…” He clapped his hands. “Bang. There’s a wedding in the works.”

Shane shoved his hands to his hips. “I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. All of her previous tenants are married.”

When Dave began to hum a funeral dirge, Garret stopped him with a raised palm. “You can cut the music. If I ever get married, it will be to someone of my choice, not my mother’s. And I say if because I’m telling you guys, my plans at this time don’t include marriage.”

It was the truth. Right now all he wanted to think about was his career. To finally have the freedom to choose what he wanted to do with his medical training was exhilarating. It made all the struggles he’d been through the past ten years worthwhile.

“Come on, buddy. Are you going to say you don’t have any time for women in those plans?” Dave asked him on a note of disbelief.

“Women yes, marriage no,” Garret said with a sly grin.