A Baby In The House

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Your mother offered to show me how to use the laundry facilities. You don’t mind waiting a few minutes longer, do you?”

She didn’t wait for his response but headed out of the kitchen.

Leonie followed her out and suddenly he found himself alone with Krystal for the first time since the party. She didn’t look at him but continued cutting out the paper dolls. Before today it would have been unusual for there to be quietness between them. But then it would have been unusual for anyone who was in Krystal’s company. She could talk enough for two people and often did.

Only she wasn’t talking now. She wasn’t even looking at him. And he knew why. They’d had a one-nighter and nothing would ever be the same between them again.

“I’m glad we have a few minutes alone,” he finally said, breaking the awkward silence. “I wanted to talk to you about Samantha living here.”

“If you’re worried I’m going to slip up and let the cat out of the bag that I wasn’t a real date that night of the ball, you can relax. I’m not going to say anything,” she told him, her concentration on the trimming of a brawny chest. She must have made a mistake because she crinkled the paper and tossed it aside.

“It was a real date, Krystal…or have you forgotten?” He deliberately made his tone seductive, wanting to get a response from her and he did. Her cheeks turned a light pink. “Besides, the cat’s already out of the bag,” he added.

That brought her head up with a jerk. “You told her the truth?”

“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t have?”

“Yes! What happened between us was private,” she said, her eyes sparkling with emotion. “I didn’t think you’d tell anyone.”

“I meant I told her the truth about why you went with me to the ball. She doesn’t know what happened after we left and I don’t plan to tell her. Or anyone else for that matter.”

She looked relieved. “Then she thinks we’re just friends.”

“We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, sure.”

He wasn’t so sure she wasn’t simply agreeing with him because she didn’t want to get into a discussion about what had happened between them. “Is it going to be awkward for you having her living upstairs?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“You have no idea what I’m thinking.”

She looked directly into his eyes and said, “Then why don’t you tell me?”

He couldn’t because, if he did and his mother and Samantha were to walk back into the room, they’d hear that he’d made love to her. Because that’s what was running through his mind right now—the memory of that night they’d spent together. How incredibly good sex had been with her. How he hadn’t been able to forget that it had happened—or that the only reason it had happened had been because she was trying to ease the pain of Roy Stanton’s betrayal.

But he couldn’t tell her any of those things so he said, “You know Mom likes to think that everyone who lives here is one big happy family.”

She set down her scissors and stared at him. “So that’s it. You’re not worried about things being awkward for me. You want to make sure I’m nice to her.”

“That’s not what I meant at all,” he denied firmly.

“Isn’t it?” She jumped up from the table. “I’ve got to go. I have things to do.”

“Krystal, wait,” he called out to her as she hurried out of the room.

She kept walking, saying, “You don’t need to worry, Garret. I’m not going to be mean to your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said, but she was already gone.

KRYSTAL AWOKE TO the feeling of something not being quite right in her world. It didn’t take her long to remember exactly what it was. Before even lifting her head from the pillow, she reached for the soda crackers on her nightstand. After several bites, she gingerly rolled out of bed, relieved that the home remedy for nausea worked for her.

As she did every morning, she showered then examined her naked body in the mirror, looking to see if it had changed enough that other people would notice she was pregnant. So far it hadn’t. Except for the slight thickening of her waist, which wasn’t any different from the bloating that usually accompanied her PMS, she looked the same as she had ten weeks ago. She wondered how much longer that would be true.

She hoped to keep her pregnancy secret until after Dena and Quinn were married. Weddings were supposed to be happy occasions and with so many Donovans involved in this one, the news that she was expecting Garret’s baby could make things uncomfortable for people she cared about, including Dena. She wasn’t going to take that risk. A pregnancy lasted forty weeks. Whether she told Garret now or in four weeks wouldn’t change that. Postponing the news would, however, make Dena’s wedding a more joyful celebration.

Which was why, after dressing in a pink polka-dot chiffon skirt and a white tailored blouse, she went straight to her car instead of stopping for breakfast in the kitchen. She felt confident that she could keep her secret from Leonie, but Samantha was a doctor, trained to diagnose such things as pregnancy. She didn’t want to be around her any more than was necessary.

On her way to the mall, she stopped at a convenience store for a bottle of orange juice and a container of blueberry yogurt, which she ate in her car. Next she tackled the shops with her usual zest for shopping.

When she’d purchased everything on her list, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was past noon. Her stomach growled in hunger, reminding her that, although she was plagued by morning sickness, there was nothing wrong with her appetite during the middle of the day.

She drove home expecting she’d have the kitchen to herself. Only as she pulled into the alley, she saw not only Samantha’s car but Garret’s, as well.

“Is it going to be awkward for you to have her living upstairs?” Garret’s question echoed in her mind.

She couldn’t believe he’d even ask such a thing. Of course it was awkward. She’d slept with the woman’s boyfriend. The only thing that made her even more uncomfortable was seeing him, which was why she didn’t want to go inside when she knew he and Samantha could very well be having lunch together in Leonie’s kitchen.

For the first time since she’d moved to 14 Valentine Place, the boardinghouse did not feel like home. And after everything that had happened the past few weeks, if there was one thing she needed, it was the comfort of home.

As she sat staring at the big old Victorian house, she realized this wasn’t the only place she called home. Lately she hadn’t been back to Fergus Falls, but ever since she’d moved to St. Paul she’d gone back to her hometown when she needed to be with people who loved her unconditionally.

Today she felt that need. Carly already knew about her pregnancy, but she’d been avoiding telling her mother about the baby for fear of what she’d say. Maybe the time had come for her to trust in that unconditional love and ease the burden of her secret a little.

So instead of parking her car next to Garret’s and going inside for lunch, she drove right on through the alley and out on to the city street. Within a few minutes she was on the interstate and heading west. She made one stop on the way—to pick up a chocolate milk shake at the drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant.

When she reached the city limits of Fergus Falls, it was the middle of the afternoon. As always when she returned to her hometown, she felt a rush of nostalgia. Nothing had changed since the last time she’d been back, except lawns that had been green were now brown from the extended hot spell.

The mobile-home park where her mother lived was on the north end of town. It, too, looked the same. A row of long metal boxes parked close together. Her mother was outside her pink-and-gray box home sunning herself on the small patio next to it. A woman Krystal recognized as her neighbor, Edie Fellstrom, was in the reclining lawn chair next to hers. Both wore two-piece swimsuits that were tinier than any Krystal had ever owned. White cotton balls covered their eyes.

They looked oblivious to everything going on around them. Country Western music played loud enough to drown out the sound of her tires crunching on the gravel. It wasn’t until Krystal slammed her car door that her mother removed the cotton balls and lifted her head.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

Krystal was used to her mother’s sense of humor and didn’t take offense to the greeting.

“Hi, Mom.”

“What’s wrong?” she demanded to know.

“You make it sound as if I never come to visit you unless something is wrong.”

Her mother swung her legs to one side of the reclining lawn chair and sat up. “Why aren’t you at work?” she asked suspiciously.

“When I work Saturdays I get a weekday off. This week it’s Tuesday.” She watched her mother spritz arms already a deep bronze with cold water. “You should watch how much you sit in the sun, Mom. Too much isn’t good for you. It can cause cancer.”