Blush

by Nicola Marsh

  “Yeah, the baby’s his,” Adele said, placing a hand over her stomach when Jess continued to stare at her like she expected her to give birth at any second. “And I don’t want him to know.”

  Jess leaped off her seat like she’d been electrocuted. “Why the hell not? He deserves to know—”

  “You said it yourself. Reid would do right by me,” Adele held up her hand when Jess appeared ready to butt in again, “and I don’t want him sacrificing his career out of obligation.”

  Confusion clouded Jess’s eyes for a moment before her shoulders slumped in defeat. “You’re protecting him from making a choice.”

  Adele nodded, glad Jess understood. “You know your brother better than I do, but from the time we’ve spent together he’s a pretty special guy. I don’t want to ruin his life.”

  Jess gnawed on her bottom lip in indecision. “But a baby…could change everything…”

  “It could, but it’s not fair to put him in a position to choose.” Adele spoke with a quiet authority, the same tone she’d used on her mom countless times when she’d go off on one of her drunken rants.

  She’d never known what pushed her mom to drink, had given up insisting she get help when she fell off the wagon time and time again. Adele had supported them both and when the going got tough, she did what she had to do to survive.

  And that was the one thing she had to remember whenever she felt remotely sentimental about her baby’s father.

  Reid could never know about her past. That meant keeping him away from her future.

  “Well, I think she should tell him,” Chantal said, holding up her hands in surrender when Adele shot her a death glare. “What? You already know what I think, it’d be good to get Jess’s perspective.”

  Jess swore and shook her head. “My brother has feelings for you. Genuine feelings that are sending him into a tailspin. But his career is his life and a baby…even a quickie wedding wouldn’t keep the gossip mongers at bay.”

  Adele stared at Jess in horror. “No way in hell I’d marry Reid out of obligation.”

  “Not even to save his career?” Jess’s eyes narrowed, sizing her up. “It could be the only way out of this—”

  “No.” Adele wrapped her arms around her middle. “I’m not bringing a child into a marriage ultimately filled with recriminations and bitterness and regret.” She moved in for the kill. “Your niece or nephew deserves better than that.”

  Some of the tension pinching Jess’s mouth eased, as her lips curved into a soft smile. “I’m going to be an auntie…”

  “Sounds pretty fucked up to me,” Chantal interjected, making loopy circles at her temple. “Jess gets to have a place in this kid’s life but the father doesn’t?”

  An uncomfortable silence grew until Adele muttered, “Tell us how you really feel.”

  Chantal shrugged. “I have. Not that it’s making any difference.” She pointed at Adele’s belly. “That kid needs to know its father. It’s the right thing to do.”

  Before they could stop her, Chantal stomped out of the room, leaving Adele to face whatever else Jess wanted to dish out.

  They didn’t know each other well enough for Adele to confide her many fears, the main one being what if Reid discovered the truth, gave up his career and ended up hating both her and their child in the process?

  “Did Chantal tell you about her mom withholding the truth about her dad?”

  Adele nodded. “I can understand why she feels so strongly about this.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t need the added pressure,” Jess said, strolling around the dressing room, touching the velvet walls, toying with the feather boas, as if she had no idea what she was doing. “Ultimately, this is your decision, and I’ll support you whatever you choose.”

  For the second time in the last half hour, emotion clogged Adele’s throat. Jess trusted her enough to do the right thing. It meant a lot.

  “And Reid won’t hear about your pregnancy from me.” Jess made a lip zipping motion across her mouth. “But promise me one thing.”

  Adele blinked against the burn of tears. “What?”

  “From what I’ve heard so far, you’re thinking solely about Reid. How this will affect him. His career. His life.” Jess jabbed a finger in her direction. “I want you to consider carefully what would make you happy in all this. What about you? What you want?”

  Adele bit back the ultimate truth: I want it all. The kid. The husband. The happily ever after.

  Sadly, she’d been a realist for too long and knew she’d only get one out of those three, and a beautiful baby would have to be enough.

  Ensuring her voice didn’t quaver, she said, “I want this baby to be happy and loved and cherished.”

  Three things she’d never had as a child and she’d do whatever it took to make it happen.

  “My brother’s going to miss out on so much…” Jess bit her bottom lip and took a few moments to compose herself before continuing, “Word of advice? I wasted ten years of my life because I was too scared to go after the guy I loved. Don’t make the same mistake.”

  Adele nodded, hoping she wouldn’t spend the next six months battling the urge to bawl, as Jess gave her a quick hug.

  “I’ll be in town for the next week before heading to Sydney.” Jess plucked at her sleeves, before stilling her fiddling fingers. “Maybe we can get together before I go?”

  Touched by Jess’s uncertainty, Adele nodded. “I’d like that.”

  Jess smiled, the similarity to her brother snatching Adele’s breath. “Great. I’ll call you.”

  It wasn’t until Jess had left that Adele realized how relieved she was to get Reid’s sister’s input.

  Not the ideal scenario, having Jess learn the truth, but to her credit Jess had handled the situation with diplomacy, care and understanding.

  Adele should be rapt. Nothing had to change and she now had the support of her baby’s aunt.

  Instead, all she could think about was Jess being able to watch this child grow and Reid couldn’t.

  Life wasn’t fair. If anyone knew the truth of that statement, she did.

  She had to focus on this baby and ignore the tiny, fractured pieces of her heart that continued to bleed whenever she associated her child and Reid together.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Reid couldn’t let his baby sister head to Australia for months without saying goodbye. And that meant a trip to Vegas.

  His excuse, he was sticking to it.

  So what if Jess had responded to his text last night with a short and sweet OUT WITH CHANTAL & ADELE, CHAT LATER? It had nothing to do with the fact he’d rearranged his schedule for the next forty-eight hours and jetted into Vegas this morning. Yeah, right.

  They hadn’t chatted yet, but Jess had said she’d stop by his hotel shortly. Good. He could grill her about Adele. Subtly.

  Like his sis hadn’t already picked up on the fact he was gaga for the woman.

  He needed a buffer to prevent interrogating Jess as soon as she walked in. And he knew just who to use.

  Allowing for the seventeen hour Vegas-Sydney time difference, he put a Skype call through to Jack. If the slick Aussie couldn’t soften up his sis, nothing could.

  The fact he’d probably be waking his best friend in the middle of the night? Too damn bad. Reid was desperate.

  Thankfully, when Jack’s face popped up on his laptop screen, the Aussie appeared wide-awake despite the hour.

  Jack cocked his thumb and forefinger in a mock gun and fired. “Lucky for you I keep restaurant hours, otherwise I’d kick your ass for Skyping me at one a.m.”

  “G’day to you too,” Reid said, putting on his best Aussie accent, guaranteed to make Jack laugh.

  “Dumbass,” Jack muttered, grinning. “Let me guess. Woman problems.”

  Resisting the urge to blurt ‘abso-frigging-lutely’, Reid shook his head. “Jess will be here shortly and I thought it’d be a good time to kill two birds with one stone.” He held up two fingers. “Chat
to my best friend and let you catch up with Jess.”

  “Bullshit.” Jack snorted. “Jess and I speak daily, so the fact you’ve Skyped me at this ungodly hour means you want me to soften her up for something.”

  “Man, can’t you give a guy a break?” Reid couldn’t help but laugh. “Should’ve known a schmuck like you would be onto me.”

  Jack tapped his temple. “Doesn’t take a lot of gray matter to figure out this has to be about Adele. And seeing as Jess is in Vegas before she flies out here, you must want her to do something for you.”

  Reid shrugged, having to come clean. “Actually, Jess was out with her last night, and I want to know how Adele is.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

  Sheepish, Reid shook his head. “Well, maybe there’s more.”

  Jack’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you two were seeing each other? Has something happened?”

  “Shit yeah.” Reid dragged a hand through his hair. “She won’t see me. Called it quits over a month ago. Didn’t want a relationship.”

  Jack’s jaw dropped as he peered closer at the screen. “You? In a relationship? Fuck, what’s going on over there?”

  “Don’t be a dick,” Reid said, wondering how shallow he’d appeared all these years if even his best friend couldn’t contemplate him having a relationship. “You know my work has kept me busy and that’s why I don’t get involved.”

  “So what has changed now?” Jack edged away from the screen, his expression incredulous. “You’re still a politician, right? Or have you finally gained perspective and left that shitty job behind?”

  In the early days of their friendship, Reid used to bristle at Jack’s deliberate teasing. He’d wised up once he got used to the laconic Aussie sense of humor, where the entire nation ‘took the piss’ out of anything and anyone.

  “Actually, my shitty job is the major problem for us.”

  “How so?”

  Reid cleared his throat. “’Til I know where this is going with her, I kinda said we’d need to keep our relationship under wraps.”

  Jack grimaced and Reid rushed on. “In case it doesn’t work out, I didn’t want her dragged through the mud by smarmy muckrakers trying to get the dirt on me—”

  “You’re full of shit,” Jack said, stabbing a finger at the screen. “You didn’t want your precious bloody reputation tainted because of where she works.”

  “That too,” Reid admitted, hating how the truth stung.

  No wonder Adele told him where to stick his offer of a relationship. Which woman in her right mind would put up with being hidden away like some dirty secret?

  “So what do you expect Jess to do?” Jack asked. “Put in a good word for you? Because from where I’m sitting, mate, it’s way too late for that. You’re screwed.”

  “Tell me about it,” Reid muttered, as a knock sounded at the door. “Give me a sec, I’ll let Jess in.”

  Increasingly out of his depth and not knowing what the hell he was doing, Reid opened the door to find his sister smirking at him.

  “Hey, big bro. Disappointed?”

  Confused, he gestured her in. “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t bring Adele with me?” She elbowed him in the ribs on the way through, her eyes lighting up when she spied Jack on the screen. “Oh my God, Jack!”

  “A little thanks might be in order,” Reid said, his grumble earning another elbow, with a pat on the cheek chaser.

  Jess almost tripped in her haste to get across the room to the screen and a shard of sadness pierced Reid. What he wouldn’t give to have a woman that eager to see him, even on a laptop screen? Though it couldn’t be any woman. Adele. Only Adele.

  “Hey babe, what’s cooking?” Jess sat in front of the screen and blew Jack a kiss.

  “At one in the morning and with you here now, do you really want me to answer that?” Jack winked and Reid groaned.

  “Cut it out, you two. Save that innuendo crap for when I’m not around.” Reid sat next to Jess and bumped her with his shoulder. “Besides, you’ll be seeing his ugly head in person next week, can’t you save it ’til then?”

  Jess crooked her finger at Jack. “Someone’s a bit grumpy because he hasn’t been getting any.”

  “Ha, frigging, ha,” Reid said, his lack of sex the least of his problems. Though it had been pretty phenomenal with Adele, he just wanted to see her again.

  Jack sniggered. “Apparently, your brother wanted to spend some time with you before you headed over here, but why don’t you ask him why you’re really there?”

  “Adele.” Jess rolled her eyes. “Like I can’t read him after all these years.”

  Reid leaned into the screen and waved his hands. “Hello? I’m still here.”

  Jess half turned toward him. “So what do you want to know? Is Adele still single? Yeah. Does she like you? Yeah. Should you not give up on her? Hell yeah.”

  Jess’s honesty made Reid’s heart leap, but there was something lurking in her eyes he couldn’t fathom, like she knew something he didn’t.

  Probably secret women’s business and he’d be well advised to leave that alone.

  Feeling like an insecure teenager, he said, “Did she say anything about me?”

  “Yeah, that you were a terrible lay and had a wiener this big.” Jack held up his pinkie and made it droop. “What are you, thirteen?”

  Reid swiped a hand across his face. It probably did little to erase his dufus expression. “Come on, guys, give me a break. I’m floundering here.”

  He dragged in a deep breath and blew it out. “I really like her. I want to make it work. But I don’t know how.”

  Jess glanced away, her gaze determinedly fixed on the screen. “Honestly? As long as you’re a politician, I can’t see this working between you two.”

  Jess was merely stating a fact he’d contemplated too many times, but hearing his sister articulate the truth rammed it home harder to Reid.

  “I know, but I can’t give up who I am…” Reid said, wondering when the unthinkable became less unpalatable.

  In the past, he would never, ever, have considered giving up his work. But lately? Even without Adele in the picture, he’d been dissatisfied.

  “Politics isn’t who you are, it’s what you do,” Jess said, so quietly he had to lean closer to hear it. “Maybe you need to prioritize what’s important in your life these days?”

  Surprised by his sister’s pensive declarations—he’d expected blunt teasing—Reid jerked a thumb in her direction while looking at Jack. “You sure you want to take her on? Not only is she a handful, she’s a wiseass too.”

  “I love her,” Jack said, pressing a kiss to his fingertips and touching the screen. “Was never in doubt.”

  “Ah crap,” Reid said, as Jess sniffled, more than a little envious of the relationship these two had.

  “Reid, why don’t you go visit Adele and let me talk to Jack in private?” Jess dabbed at the corners of her eyes, then finished with shooting him a glare. “You should go see her.”

  Once again, he couldn’t put his finger on Jess’s half-evasive/half-steely determination. Maybe Adele had said something to her and knowing Jess, she’d promised not to say anything.

  Fine. He’d go confront the source directly. Damned if he knew what he was going to say when he came face to face with Adele again, but he had to give it a try.

  As he stood and reached for his suit jacket, his cell fell out of the pocket and hit the floor. The screen illuminated, displaying a list of reminders that would take him a week to sort through.

  He picked up the cell and wiped the screen clear without hesitating, an instinctive move that shocked the hell out of him. And not for the reason he anticipated.

  Never, not once in his long career, had he put off a task. He worked longer and harder than anyone in his campaign office. He forfeited sleep for work. He didn’t date or socialize if it meant work suffered.

  So the fact he’d wiped his next week’s tasks without a
second thought should’ve terrified. Instead, he felt liberated.

  He stared at his cell in disbelief, weighing it in his hand, tempted to turn the damn thing off entirely.

  What would it be like to be off the grid completely? To not be reachable for the entire forty-eight hours he’d asked his PA to re-jig his itinerary?

  His heart soared at the thought and in that second, he had his answer to the persistent problem dogging him about what to do about Adele.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, bro, I like it,” Jess said, beaming. “You look about ten years younger.”

  Afraid articulating his half-assed plan would make it real, and wanting that more than anything, Reid slipped his cell into his pocket. “I want to leave the campaign.”

  His declaration sounded bizarre, even to his ears, and he waited for the fear or regret to swamp him. It didn’t and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  Without a word, Jess flew across the room and flung her arms around his neck. “I’m so proud of you,” she said, squeezing the life out of him. “You won’t regret this.”

  Encouraged by her praise, and more than a little surprised by it, Reid eased out of her embrace. “Guess that clears up how you’d feel about a change of career for me.”

  Jess grinned. “You’re doing this for Adele, right?”

  Feeling like a drowning guy finally getting his first gasp of air, Reid nodded, dazed. “And for me. I think I’m half in love with her, so I want to give us a chance. But I haven’t been happy for a long time at work. This feels right, you know?”

  Jess touched his cheek. “I know.”

  “Go get her, tiger,” Jack said, shouting from the screen. “And get your cute little butt back here, Jessie girl.”

  Stunned by the swift turn of events, Reid pecked Jess on the cheek and waved at Jack. “I’ll let you know how I get on.”

  “Good luck,” Jess said, her eyes sparkling with hope. “You’re going to be a great…” her lips compressed quickly, before she finished with “match.”

  Now all he had to do was convince Adele of that.