Gratitude surged through him. Who had friends like this? He did. Maggie did.
Next to him, Maggie sighed and squeezed his arm so tightly he thought he might lose circulation. “Oh my God,” she said. “How did they do this?”
“I have no idea.”
No one noticed them for a moment. Zane and Kyle stood on the far end of the patio with drinks in their hands visiting with Micky and Rhona. Honor and Mary, a surprising duo, sat at a table together looking as if they discussed something terribly interesting.
“Did Mary decide to stay for a while?” Maggie asked.
“Indefinitely, from what I hear,” Jackson said.
“Interesting,” Maggie said. “It seems no one wants to leave here.”
“I think it’s more her dad she doesn’t want to leave,” Jackson said.
Sophie and Violet were over by the DJ talking animatedly, most likely figuring out how to save the world. Jackson’s dad and Janet sat with Kara and Lance at a table. Flora and Dax were over at the dessert table, perusing the petit fours Honor had brought from the city. Classy for Maggie, Honor had told him earlier.
Staff passed around glasses of champagne. Brody came from behind them and wrapped Maggie in a hug before taking her left hand to peer at her ring. He patted Jackson on the back. “Got it done, I see.”
“Yes sir,” Jackson said as everyone surrounded them.
Maggie held up her hand. “I said yes.”
The DJ had music playing, but Brody asked him to turn it down so they could toast the newly engaged couple.
Jackson’s dad clinked his glass with a fork. “I want to say—” He halted for a moment, before gathering himself. “This day’s been a long time coming. Jackson’s mother and I always knew it would come, but we couldn’t imagine all the twists and turns it would take to get here. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my son or how happy it makes me to have Maggie back where she belongs. With us. Congratulations.”
Brody clinked his glass next. “My turn, I guess. I’m not the best at giving speeches, as you can tell by my after-game interviews, but here goes. Maggie, from the day I met your future husband, he’s been the rock in our friend group, as steady and solid as they come. No one could be a better or more understanding friend. There’s no better man, period. But there was always a sadness in him. I wasn’t sure it would ever go away. Until now. Seeing him with you—how happy you make him and how alive he is with you—maybe alive is the wrong thing to bring up, but you know what I mean.”
Laughter erupted around the room.
Flushed, Brody continued. “The fact that you’ve come back and the way your love has blossomed as if no time had passed—well, it’s the best I could’ve ever hoped for the man I think of as a brother. Welcome to our family, Maggie.”
Zane raised his glass. “I’m next. Maggie, I’m sorry you missed our prom. Heck, I’m sorry we all missed it, but that’s life, right? Some days are diamonds and some days are stones.” He grinned. “I think that’s a country song, but what I’m trying to say is—there have been times that have sucked pretty bad and times so good it almost hurts. This is one of those times.” He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “So anyway. Congratulations. Yep, that’s all. Just congratulations.”
“All right, guys, save something for the actual wedding,” Kyle said. “It’s time to party like it’s 2005.”
“Thank you,” Maggie said. “For all of this.” She waved her hand around the room. “I’m overwhelmed and so touched by all of this and all of you. I don’t even know what to say.”
Jackson gave the cue to the DJ. He’d made sure to tell him which song they wanted for the first dance.
“May I have this dance?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He put his hand around her waist and took her other hand in his as the first notes of “Save the Last Dance for Me” filled the space. “I’ll try not to step on your toes,” he whispered.
“As long as you hold me tight, I promise not to notice.”
Two days later, while between patients, Jackson checked his phone. There was a message from Maggie that she’d be home late. Her meetings in San Francisco had run long and traffic was terrible getting out of the city. Nothing new there.
Around five-thirty, he and Kara were sharing the day’s events. They had just finished their discussion about their last two patients when he heard the receptionist talking to someone in the waiting room. Figuring it was an emergency of some kind, he left Kara in the office and went out to the waiting room, expecting a kid with a broken limb or a sore throat.
But it wasn’t a patient.
Sharon.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I have something to talk to you about. In private, please.”
“We can talk in my office.”
Kara was heading down the hallway as they walked back to his office. She caught his eye as she passed but didn’t say anything.
He closed the door behind them. “What’s going on?” For her to come here unannounced in the middle of the week was strange. She’d only come to visit a handful of times when they were together. Had he been wrong that she was going quietly? Was this her plea to get him back?
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
His stomach dropped. How could this be? She was on the pill. Or, so she said. “I thought you were on the pill?”
“As you know, there’s that one percent chance,” she said.
“How far along?”
“Ten weeks.”
He sank into his chair behind the desk, too stunned to speak.
“I brought the pregnancy test to prove it.” She pulled a wand out of her bag and set it on the desk. “Two pink lines. I took several of them because I couldn’t believe it.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before now?”
“You mean, when you proposed? Before your long-lost love suddenly appeared and you dropped me?”
He flinched. “Sharon, this is…I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, it changes things. You can’t just dismiss a baby like you did me.”
Just when he thought happiness might finally be his. He had his Maggie back, and now this? What should he do? He couldn’t be with Sharon simply because she was pregnant, especially since he loved someone else. But how could this work? The child would be raised by Sharon in L.A. and Jackson would see him or her on holidays and scattered weekends? This was not the kind of father he wanted to be. Not at all. What he wanted was to be the father of Maggie’s children.
“I’m stunned,” Jackson said. “But we’ll work something out. It’s a baby.”
“We should go forward with our plans to marry,” she said. “This baby’s a sign that we’re supposed to be together.”
“I can’t be with you when I love someone else. I’m sorry, but Maggie and I are getting married.”
“Married? Are you insane?” The last word came out as a screech.
He flinched at the pain in her voice. “It’ll be all right. I’ll take care of you and the baby. We’ll just have to have an unconventional arrangement.”
“Which you hate.” She started to cry and grabbed tissues from his desk. “I thought you wanted a family. That’s all you ever talked about.”
“I do.”
“Just not with me.”
“I care about you. I admire you. But when Maggie came back in my life, I knew that what I felt for her was what it’s supposed to be like between two people.”
“You can’t dismiss me. I’m going to have your baby.”
“People have shared custody.” The contents of his lunch swirled inside his stomach. He took in a deep breath. What was he going to tell Maggie? How could he be the father he wanted to be if he and the child didn’t even live in the same place?
“I don’t want that. I want to get married. I want the life you promised me,” she said.
“I’m sorry, but everything’s changed.” The guilt wanted to suffocate him,
knock him out. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“That would be impossible.”
“I’ll share every aspect of parenthood with you. Money, whatever you need, I’ll be here. But I can’t be your husband.”
After he finally convinced Sharon to leave, he sat in his office staring at the wall. He couldn’t figure out what to do, what to think. He wanted to talk to Maggie, but first he needed to get advice from the most solid guy he knew. Brody Mullen.
Brody picked up on the first ring. Jackson couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth. “Can I come out to see you? I need to talk to you.”
“Yep. Kara already told me Sharon was there. Come over now. I’m here.”
Ten minutes later, Brody led him into the kitchen of his enormous home. Kara had gone to Zumba after work, so it was just the two of them. Jackson looked out at the view of the blue ocean that sparkled under the sun.
“Sharon’s ten weeks pregnant.”
“No. No, this can’t be right. She’s lying,” Brody said. “A woman like that doesn’t get pregnant unless she wants to.”
“Maybe she wanted to.”
“To trap you into marrying her, you mean?”
“She knew how much I wanted kids.” He covered his face with his hands. “This is going to ruin everything with Maggie. I want to marry her and have children and grow old together, beside you and Kara. I don’t want a baby with Sharon. It complicates everything.”
“Listen, buddy, I know you like everything in neat packages, but life’s not that way. Is this the ideal situation? No. But you can make it work. And, Maggie will understand.”
“I don’t know. She already feels like she’s messed everything up by coming back. This might push her away from me. I can’t lose her again.”
Brody paced in front of the window. “You need to find out if she’s really pregnant. I don’t trust Sharon.”
“She had a wand with two pink stripes,” Jackson said.
“She could’ve gotten it from someone else. A pregnant friend?”
Jackson thought for a moment. She had a group of girlfriends she was close with. He went through them one by one. Was anyone pregnant? It was possible. Two got married last summer. One of them could be. His heart thumped with new hope. “Maybe she’s lying. It’s possible.”
“Get her on the phone and tell her you want her to take a test at the clinic and Kara will give it to her. Tell her to meet us there in an hour and a half.”
“And if she won’t?”
“We’ll threaten her with a court order.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maggie
* * *
MAGGIE ARRIVED HOME a little after seven, exhausted but exhilarated. Today had been a series of meetings with her new manager as well as the agent Micky recommended for her. Although Micky had been by her side the entire time, the contracts and numbers and discussion of marketing strategies had left her feeling like a wrung-out dishrag.
Thankful she didn’t have to perform that evening, she looked forward to a quiet dinner with Jackson. She tried unsuccessfully to get him on the phone, so she settled for a text telling him that she was home at Zane’s and to come over when he was done doing whatever he was doing.
She’d just changed into soft jeans and a t-shirt when the doorbell rang. She ran down the back stairs, expecting Jackson. He must have forgotten his key.
A tall, blond woman stood on the steps. “Maggie?”
“Yes. Can I help you?”
“I’m Sharon Fox.”
Maggie gripped the door. Sharon. This was Sharon. Why was she here? “Jackson’s not here.”
“I know. I came to talk to you.”
Ice gushed through Maggie’s veins. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The woman had hatred in her eyes. She wants to hurt me.
Sharon shook her head. “You’re so freckled. And, red hair. You’re not at all what I expected.”
“You’re not at all what I expected either,” Maggie said. It was true. She’d imagined a scholarly type with glasses and inquisitive eyes, not a walking Barbie doll. A woman that Maggie might like if the circumstances were different. But this woman was the opposite of what she would have imagined for Jackson. She looked fake—primped and polished to perfection and had eyes that shot daggers. She wore tight, cropped white jeans and a tank top. Red toes peeked out of high-heeled sandals. This was not the type of woman Jackson had ever liked. Natural is best, he’d always said. But this? No, not this woman. This was the woman Jackson had almost married? She couldn’t understand how he’d fallen for her. Jackson liked authenticity.
And, the way she talked. It was as if she went to broadcasting school in England but didn’t quite get the knack of a flawless British accent.
“I don’t get it,” Sharon said.
“Did you come to get a good look at me, or is there a message I can give Jackson?”
“Fine. I’ll tell you here. I’m pregnant. Jackson’s the father.”
Oh, God, no. Not with this woman. Maggie’s legs trembled. Why now, when they were so close to having the life they wanted? Together, without someone like this in their lives. Hadn’t they gone through enough with her father’s deviousness?
“I thought I should tell you myself, in case Jackson decides to keep it from you. He told me he wants nothing to do with me or the baby.”
Sharon’s eyes had looked to the right just now. She was lying. Maggie had taken enough acting classes with untalented people to know bad acting. Plus, Jackson would never say or do anything of the sort. He would never turn his back on a baby, no matter the circumstances.
If she lied about this, what else would she lie about? Being pregnant? Maggie had spent her entire adult life learning about motivation. In acting, you must always figure out what the character wants to play them well. What did Sharon want? To mess up things between them, so that Jackson would go back to her. It wouldn’t work. Their bond was too strong now. They could weather this, just as they had every other obstacle that had come their way. It was too late now for anyone to mess them up ever again. They’d made their commitment to each other and nothing could pull them under. Not today. Not this. Nothing.
“I have two things to say to you, and then I want you out of my sight. Jackson would never say such a thing. Above everything, he’s a man of integrity. He will do the right thing for his child, regardless of who the mother is. Secondly, I think you better get some solid proof that you’re pregnant because I’m having a hard time believing that the woman who didn’t want to leave her career to move here let herself get pregnant.”
“Birth control can fail.”
“Rarely, when used right. So, no. This just doesn’t ring true. The thing is, I feel sorry for you. I really do. It’s awful to lose someone you love. I know. The pain is awful and there’s nothing you can do about it but suffer. I feel terrible that my return has caused you pain. But this is so desperate. Think about it, Sharon. What good can come from stirring up trouble like this? I know you think it will break us up, but we’ve been through hell and back and nothing, I mean, nothing will be able to pull us apart ever again.”
“I’m not lying.” Sharon crossed her arms over her chest as if to express authority. But her voice had wavered, and she’d once again looked up and to the right. Sharon better stick to medical research. She was a terrible liar.
“How long will you keep this up? Eventually, he’ll know there’s no baby.” Maggie snapped her fingers. “I know. You’ll have a miscarriage. That’s the plan, isn’t it? Break us up and have Jackson run back to you, and then, all of the sudden, sadly, you’re not pregnant anymore. But he’s realized by then that he belongs with you. Honestly, it’s like the plot of a bad television movie. You’re better than this.”
“Shut up. Just stop talking. Just stop.”
“But I’m right, aren’t I?” Maggie crossed her arms to hide the fact that her gut felt like it was being twisted like a wet dishrag. She must rem
ain sure and confident, strike at this woman until she admitted the truth. “You made up the whole thing.”
Without warning, Sharon crumbled and began to sob. “It’s not fair. I had everything, and then you just came and took it.”
“I know it’s not fair,” Maggie said. “But you don’t want a man living a lie. It’s better that you learned the truth.”
“You don’t know. You have no idea what it’s like to have your life ripped away from you.”
“I do, actually. But this is not the way to move forward. Wrecking Jackson’s relationship with me isn’t going to get you anywhere. Even if it worked, which it won’t, when he discovered the truth, he’d hate you.”
“Shut your face. Just shut it.”
“Not until you tell me the truth,” Maggie said. “You’re not pregnant.”
“Fine. You figured it out. Aren’t you smart?” Her words came out in jagged spurts. Once perfectly applied eye makeup was now blue and black smudges. Like a scary clown. Maggie’s heart softened. She was sorry for how it had all come down. It wasn’t fair to Sharon, no matter how much she loved Jackson and he loved her. For Sharon, it was a nightmare.
“I’m sorry for your pain. Truly, I am. When you have love with the right man, you’re going to see how wrong you and Jackson were. You’re going to be so happy that it didn’t work out with him.”
“How dare you pity me. You’re just a stupid whore. That’s what you are. Coming here and seducing him, like the past twelve years didn’t matter. What did you do all those years in New York anyway? It’s not like you have a career. Why should you get to come back and pick up where you left off? You’re nothing. You’re a two-bit actress that’s not going to age well. I mean, look at your skin.”
“You need to go now,” Maggie said. “You’re embarrassing yourself with every moment you stay.”
“I told you to shut up.” Sharon lunged at her.
Maggie, shocked, stepped back, but the stairs tripped her. She crumpled. A sharp pain shot through her head. Then, darkness.
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