The Family They Chose

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  It was a much-needed distraction when the invitation for the State dinner honoring the president of Tunisia and his wife arrived in the mail.

  Jamison had been so busy with work, and they’d both been so tired most evenings, that they hadn’t gone out as a couple in a while.

  It was fun shopping for her dress and planning for their big night out. It was especially exciting when she discovered that she’d gained a dress size.

  At this point she wasn’t really showing as much as she was starting to fill out. Her breasts were fuller—which Jamison loved—and she was starting to lose the definition in her waist.

  Since the new silver-beaded gown she bought for the dinner was only one size larger than what she normally wore, she’d easily be able to take it in after she was back to her pre-pregnancy weight.

  With all the shopping and preparation of getting ready for the important dinner, Olivia wasn’t surprised that she was exhausted the day of the event.

  After she got back from having her hair done, she lay down and rested for a couple of hours, but even that didn’t help refresh her.

  When it was time to get ready, she was actually feeling a little bit nauseated, but she thought it was just because she was hungry. As she was getting ready, she ate some toast and drank a cup of herbal tea.

  That seemed to take the edge off of it, and she was glad, because the event tonight was so important to Jamison.

  Influential people would be there. Those whose support it would be necessary to secure if he was to gain the nomination for the 2016 presidential race.

  That seemed like lifetimes away. In fact, by then, their baby would be seven years old and would probably have a sibling—just the thought of that gave Olivia a boost of energy.

  But as far as the presidential race was concerned, the clock was ticking. Jamison needed to utilize every opportunity that came his way and, as the future first lady, Olivia needed to be by his side.

  Especially tonight.

  So she donned her silver gown and white gloves. She helped Jamison fix his bow tie, and together they set out to win over the decision makers.

  When they arrived at the White House’s north portico, the place was alive with honor guards from all branches of the military in full dress uniform. A few minutes later, Jamison and Olivia looked on as the President and First Lady formally greeted the president of Tunisia and his wife.

  They were among a scant handful invited to join the pre-dinner cocktail party. As they joined the dignitaries, they paused at the top of the grand staircase to give the media an opportunity to shoot photos before disappearing upstairs for cocktails.

  That’s when Olivia first started to feel the cramping. At first she wasn’t sure. She brushed it off as exhaustion and promised herself that she’d sleep all day tomorrow if her body needed it.

  Jamison was in top form tonight and she couldn’t hold him back. Especially when the President himself introduced Jamison as “a man to watch.”

  As they spoke, Olivia greeted the Tunisian first lady and exchanged pleasantries. But she was relieved when the woman was whisked off to meet the next person, because Olivia had to sit down. The cramping was getting worse.

  No. This can’t be happening. Not tonight. Not any night.

  She managed to hold herself together until the entourage descended the grand staircase and paused in the entrance hall to listen to the Marine Corps Band play “Hail to the Chief” and the Tunisian anthem.

  Finally, after the other formal festivities, they walked down the Cross Hall to the state dining room, full of tables lavishly set with gold-edged official china that sat atop gold-and-white tablecloths vying for space with riots of white-flowered centerpieces and glowing candelabras.

  Olivia knew she was in trouble and had to leave the dining room before the President took the lectern to deliver his speech. She excused herself to the ladies’ room.

  She leaned in to Jamison and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

  Jamison asked, “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” She smiled through a cramp. “I just need to use the ladies’ room before the President starts his address.”

  Jamison and the other men at the table stood as she rose from her seat. She felt a bit light-headed as she traversed the room to the door, where a staff member opened it for her and discreetly directed her to the lavatory.

  As soon as she was inside, she felt a sticky dampness between her legs and thought she might fall apart. But she couldn’t. She had to stay calm. She had to think logically. She took her BlackBerry from her purse and dialed her doctor’s number.

  Unfortunately, it went directly to the answering service, where she left an urgent message. She knew she had to get off her feet. With the help of staff she found in Cross Hall, she was able to find her driver, who immediately took her home.

  She called Jamison from the limo, but as she expected, the call went to voice mail because he’d silenced his phone.

  She purposely steadied her voice and left him a message. “Jamison, it’s me. I don’t want you to worry, but I wasn’t feeling well and I went home to lie down. Please don’t worry or rush. I’ll be fine.”

  When Olivia didn’t return after fifteen minutes, Jamison excused himself and went to look for her. Out in the hall he paused to check his phone and saw the message.

  The moment he heard her voice, he knew she wasn’t fine and felt an urgency to be with her. By the time he was ready to go, the driver had returned and confirmed that he had just dropped Mrs. Mallory off at their Georgetown residence.

  It momentarily staved off Jamison’s worries when the driver told him that she’d appeared tired and was quiet, but nothing alarming had happened on the ride home.

  Everything changed when Jamison entered the apartment and found Olivia collapsed on the bathroom floor.

  Not only did she lose the baby, but she’d injured herself when she fainted and hit her head on the tile floor.

  The attending physician seemed to take pleasure in telling her that she was lucky that she hadn’t ended up with a cerebral hematoma, which could have cost her her life.

  But Olivia didn’t seem to care. All she wanted to do was sleep, because when she was awake all she did was cry over the child they’d lost.

  Jamison felt utterly helpless—nothing he tried seemed to help his wife.

  Finally, he excused himself to call her family. He had to let them know that Olivia was in the hospital…and that she’d miscarried.

  Strangely enough, the only person he was able to reach was Derek.

  “Derek, it’s Jamison. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  After he’d relayed the news to his brother-in-law, and established that she was, indeed, going to be all right, he was taken aback when Derek lit into him.

  “Are you finally going to ease up on pressuring her to give you a child?”

  Tired from having spent a sleepless night at Olivia’s bedside, Jamison flinched at Derek’s tone.

  “Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

  “This is your fault, man. You and your overbearing mother. Olivia only underwent those treatments to please you and your demanding family. If anything happens to her, your ass is history.”

  His harsh words bounced off Jamison’s ears like crashing cymbals. He’d never pressured Olivia. In fact, he’d been the reluctant one. But he certainly wasn’t going to stand there and argue with Derek when Olivia was lying in a hospital bed.

  Still, he couldn’t let it go without putting in his two cents. “I don’t know where you get off saying that. Olivia wanted a child just as badly as I did, but I’m certainly not obligated to explain anything to you. I just called to let you know that your sister is in the hospital and to ask if you could pass along the message since I’ve already tried the others and couldn’t reach them.”

  “She confided in me. Told me what a jackass you’ve been. That your marriage was on the rocks. That’s where I get off saying these things. You have
no idea the lengths my sister has gone to to please you. You’ve got to stop pushing her to get pregnant or you’re going to kill her.”

  With that, Derek hung up the phone, leaving Jamison’s head spinning as he tried to figure out exactly what had just happened.

  Olivia had confided in Derek?

  He and Derek had never seen eye-to-eye. There was something about the guy that always seemed a little off—unlike Paul, who was the best brother-in-law a guy could ask for.

  He couldn’t believe that Olivia would open up to Derek of all people. But obviously she had.

  You have no idea the lengths my sister has gone to to please you.

  Was he talking about the trial separation? The fertility treatments?

  Jamison had hated what she’d gone through. The only reason he’d supported it again this time was because she so desperately wanted a baby.

  But it was becoming clear that wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t stand by while she continued to put her body through such turmoil. Because it was obvious that she wasn’t strong enough and each miscarriage seemed to be more severe.

  He didn’t like Derek very much, but he did agree with him on one point: enough was enough.

  Two days later, the doctor released Olivia, who was restricted to limited activity. She tried to convince Jamison that she was fine. Still, he insisted on taking the rest of the week off and staying home with her.

  There really wasn’t anything for him to do other than pick up takeout food and take out the trash, but Olivia couldn’t convince him to return to work.

  “I’m sure I’m up to throwing away a cardboard carton, Jamison,” she said. But he wouldn’t hear of it. It seemed as if he simply wanted to be near her. Sometimes she’d look up from the book she was reading or glance over at him while they were watching TV and catch him staring at her.

  “What’s the matter?” she’d ask.

  He’d shake his head and blink as if he were clearing cobwebs from his mind.

  Of course, the only thing on Olivia’s mind was talking to Chance Demetrios about how long she needed to wait before they could try another in vitro procedure.

  The following Sunday, as they sat enjoying bagels and the Sunday paper, she said, “I’m flying back to Boston on Tuesday. I have an appointment with Dr. Demetrios. We’re going to discuss when I can start the process again.”

  Jamison put the paper down and looked at her as if she was crazy. “Olivia. Please. You can’t go through this again.”

  “Yes, I can.”

  “Well, I can’t,” he insisted. “Look, I talked to Derek while you were in the hospital.”

  Derek? Olivia’s body went numb with shock. “And what did he say?”

  Jamison simply looked at her for a minute and, though she didn’t think it possible, the longer he stared, the more frightened she got.

  “He told me…” Jamison stopped mid-sentence and shook his head.

  Oh, my God.

  “He told you what?” she demanded.

  He shook his head again. “Let’s just not do this again, okay?”

  “Jamison, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how you’d take it.”

  Her husband’s face clouded with confusion. “Tell me what?”

  Uh-oh. Maybe she’d spoken too soon.

  He knew that look. She was keeping something from him. Probably the same thing that Derek was hinting at when he told Jamison he had no idea of the lengths my sister has gone to to please you.

  “What did Derek tell you?” she insisted.

  He knew it wasn’t fair, but his instincts were telling him that perhaps his wife hadn’t been putting all her cards on the table. So he opted for an old bluff he’d employed when he used to practice law.

  “He told me everything.”

  First, Olivia’s face turned white. Then it crumpled. As much as he hated to see his wife in mental pain, especially after what she’d been through physically, he needed to know the whole story.

  “How could he do that to me?” Olivia’s voice was a shock-induced hoarse whisper.

  Every muscle in Jamison’s body tensed. “Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me your version of the story?”

  And she did. Telling him again about the appointment with Chance Demetrios where she learned that she was not able to have any more children and then about how she’d cried on Derek’s shoulder and he’d come up with the plan to switch the eggs.

  Jamison’s blood started to simmer, and with each detail of how she’d deceived him, how she’d taken matters into her own hands and purposely left him out of the decision-making process about his child, his blood began to boil until it finally reached the point where he knew he had to get away from her to process all the lies and deception. Because sitting here, looking at her sad eyes and beautiful face, he was tempted to overlook the fact that she’d lied to him about something so serious.

  And in a big way.

  Lies and deception. Not exactly the same brand that wrecked his parents’ marriage, but stripped down to the bones, a lie was a lie was a lie.

  He’d had to trick her into telling him the truth. He didn’t know if he could live with a woman he couldn’t trust.

  He certainly couldn’t live a life marred by lies and deception.

  He stood.

  “Where are you going?” Her voice was panicked.

  “I need to go out for a while. I need time to think, time to process things. I need to figure out how you could lie to me about something so important.”

  She reached out to him.

  “Jamison, please don’t go. We need to talk this out.”

  He shook his head and let himself out the front door.

  Chapter Fourteen

  They decided it would be best if Olivia moved back to Boston while Jamison finished the congressional session. Olivia didn’t like it, but he said he needed time to sort things out and she wanted to give him room.

  She let him know that she loved him and would be waiting for him…forever, if that’s how long it took.

  Back in Boston, as she put her things away, she realized that they were back to square one. No, this time it felt like square minus one, and she didn’t know if the damage could be fixed.

  It was Derek’s fault.

  She wasn’t blaming him for offering her the donor egg or for encouraging her to deceive her husband. She took full responsibility for that. She should’ve told Jamison.

  That way, Derek wouldn’t have had anything to use against her. How could he have done it? How could he have gone straight to Jamison and spilled the beans without first giving her the chance to clean up her own mess and tell her husband herself?

  First the blackmail innuendos, now this.

  As far as she was concerned, her relationship with her brother was over.

  But first she intended to give him a piece of her mind.

  Olivia drove to the institute and went immediately to Derek’s office. She pushed open the closed door and found him talking on the phone.

  “Get off the phone, Derek,” she said, like a woman possessed. Suddenly, she knew how Danny Kelso must feel when he threw back his head and wailed at the top of his lungs. That’s what she wanted to do now.

  But since she still possessed a modicum of self-control, she refrained.

  She did, however, raise her voice a few decibels when Derek ignored her and kept talking.

  “I said get off the phone, Derek. I need to talk to you now!”

  This time she got his attention. He ended the conversation.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you see I was on a business call?”

  “Yes, I could see that. I just decided to come in here and start messing up your life like you’ve messed up mine. Oh, but there’s one problem—you don’t have a life. Is that why you derive such pleasure in messing with other people’s?”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Olivia. What are you talking about?”

  She wanted to t
ake her hand and swipe it across his desk, knock everything on it to the floor. She wanted to grab him by the shirtsleeves and shake him until his teeth rattled.

  “You know what I’m talking about. You know what you told Jamison.”

  Either he was a good actor or he truly was puzzled. “I talked to Jamison, but I didn’t really tell him anything. Except that I thought he needed to call off the dogs when it came to pressuring you into pumping out babies.”

  “You told him about the donor egg.”

  “No I did not.”

  “But he knew.”

  “Well, he didn’t hear it from me.”

  Derek shrugged, to indicate case dismissed. Brother off the hook.

  “There’s nobody else he could’ve heard it from, if not you. What I don’t understand is why you would set up your own sister for extortion, Derek. That’s about as low as it gets.”

  His eyes shuttered.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  A different look from the adamant way he’d denied telling Jamison passed over his face. A completely different demeanor. Suddenly Olivia wanted to backpedal, because she was sure she’d missed something.

  “You know what I’m talking about. The Valentine’s Day dinner party at my house when Jamison and I told the family I was pregnant. You followed me into the kitchen and said that we needed to talk. What did you want to talk about, Derek? A payment plan so that you’d keep my secret?”

  It turned her stomach, but she could tell that’s what he’d been setting her up for. That he hadn’t contacted her…well, maybe he’d still felt a murmur of a heart or a conscience or a soul and he’d chickened out.

  “I just don’t understand why you’d feel compelled to tell my husband what you did while I was lying in a hospital bed not even twenty-four hours after my miscarriage? What was in it for you? Could you just not stand to see somebody happy?”

  He glanced down at his hands, fisted them, and then flexed them before he answered.

  “I didn’t intend to blackmail you. What I wanted to talk to you about was the blood type of the donor. After the fact, I realized that your blood types didn’t match and that could’ve caused a snag in your seamless plan.”