The Bridesmaid's Baby Bump

by Kandy Shepherd

  ‘Clever Gemma,’ said Jake. ‘Tristan told me she’s shaken up all the stodgy traditional menus served at the castle.’

  ‘I believe she has,’ Eliza said. ‘She’s instigated cooking programmes in schools, too. They’re calling her the people’s princess, she told me. Gemma’s delighted.’

  ‘No more than Tristan is delighted with Gemma.’

  Gemma and Tristan had found true love. Whereas she had found just a diverting interlude with Jake. After the royal wedding both Gemma and Andie had expressed high hopes for romance between the best man and the bridesmaid. Eliza had denied any interest. But deep in Eliza’s most secret heart she’d entertained the thought too. She couldn’t help a sense of regret that it so obviously wasn’t going to happen.

  Idly, Eliza swished her toes around in the water. ‘They call these wet-edge pools infinity pools, don’t they? Because they stretch out without seeming to end?’

  ‘That’s right,’ he said.

  ‘In some way these four days of my vacation seemed to have gone on for ever. In another they’ve flown. Only this evening left.’

  ‘Can you extend your break? By another day, perhaps?’

  She shook her head. ‘There’s still the Gemma problem to solve. And there are some big winter parties lined up for the months ahead. I have back-to-back appointments for the day after I get back. Some of which took me weeks to line up.’

  ‘That’s what happens when you run a successful business,’ he said.

  ‘As you know only too well,’ she said. Party Queens was insignificant on the corporate scale compared to his company.

  ‘I’d have trouble squeezing in another day here, too,’ Jake said. ‘I’m out of the country a lot these days. Next week I fly to Minnesota in the United States, to meet with Walter Burton on a joint venture between him and Dominic in which I’m involved. My clients are all around the world. I’ll be in Bangalore in India the following week. Singapore the week after that.’

  ‘Are you ever home?’ Her voice rose.

  ‘Not often, these days. My absences were a bone of contention with my ex. She was probably right when she said that I didn’t give her enough time.’

  Eliza paused. ‘It doesn’t sound like you have any more time now.’

  Jake took a beat to answer. ‘Are you any different? Seems to me you’re as career-orientated as I am. How much room does Party Queens leave for a man in your life?’

  ‘Not much,’ she admitted. She felt bad that she had fielded so many phone calls while she’d been with him. But being a party planner wasn’t a nine-to-five weekday-only enterprise. ‘The business comes first, last and in between.’

  It could be different! she screamed silently. For the right man. But was she being honest with herself? Could Jake be the right man?

  ‘Seems to me we’re both wedded to our careers,’ he said slowly. ‘To the detriment of anything else.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ she said immediately. Then thought about it. ‘Maybe. If neither of us can spare another day to spend here together when it’s been so perfect.’

  ‘That tells me something,’ he said, his voice guarded.

  Eliza swallowed hard against the truth of his words. The loss of what might have been hurt.

  ‘It could be for the best,’ she said, trying to sound matter of fact, but inwardly weeping over a lost opportunity.

  She didn’t know him any better than on Day One. His body, yes. His heart and soul—no. Disappointment stabbed deep that Jake hadn’t turned out to be the man she’d expected him to be when he’d been whirling her around that fairytale ballroom.

  Why had she ever hoped for more? When she thought about it, the whole thing with Jake hadn’t seemed quite real. From the moonlit terrace in Montovia to the way he’d intercepted her at the airport and whisked her away to this awesome house perched high above the beach, it had all had an element of fantasy.

  Jake held her for a long moment without replying. She could feel the thudding of his heart against her back. The water almost stilled around them, with only the occasional slap against the tiled walls of the pool. She had a heart-stopping feeling he was saying goodbye.

  Finally he released her, then swam around her so he faced her, with her back to the edge of the pool. His hair was dark with water and slick to his head. Drops of water glistened on the smooth olive of his skin. Her heart contracted painfully at how handsome he looked. At how much she wanted him.

  But although they got on so well, both in bed and out of it, it was all on the surface. Sex and fun. Nothing deeper had developed. She needed something more profound. She also needed a man who cared enough to make time to see her—and she him.

  ‘Do you really think so?’ he asked.

  ‘Sometimes things are only meant to be for a certain length of time,’ she said slowly. ‘You can ruin them by wanting more.’

  * * *

  Jake’s heart pounded as he looked down into Eliza’s face. She’d pushed her wet hair back from her face, showing the perfect structure of her cheekbones, the full impact of her eyes. Water from the pool had dripped down over her shoulders to settle in drops on the swell of her breasts. The reality of Eliza in a bikini had way exceeded his early fantasies.

  Eliza was everything he’d hoped she’d be and more. She was an extraordinary woman. They were compatible both in bed and out. They even enjoyed the same sports. But she’d been more damaged by her divorce than he had imagined. Not to mention by the tragedy of her inability to have a baby.

  The entire time he’d felt he had to tread carefully around her, keeping the conversation on neutral topics, never digging too deep. For all her warmth and laughter and seeming openness, he sensed a prickly barrier around her. And then there was her insistence on answering her phone at all but their most intimate of moments. Eliza seemed so determined to keep her independence—there appeared little room for compromise. And if there was one lesson he’d learned from his marriage it was that compromise was required when two strong personalities came together as a couple.

  She was no more ready for a serious relationship than he was.

  Day Four was practically done and dusted—and so, it seemed, was his nascent relationship with Eliza.

  And yet... He couldn’t tolerate the thought of this being a final goodbye. There was still something about her that made him want to know more.

  ‘We could catch up again some time, when we find ourselves in each other’s cities,’ he said.

  ‘Absolutely.’

  She said it with an obviously forced enthusiasm that speared through him.

  ‘I’d like that.’

  She placed her hand on his cheek, cool from the water, looked into his eyes. It felt ominously like a farewell.

  ‘Jake, I’m so glad we did this.’

  He had to clear his throat to speak. ‘Me too,’ he managed to choke out. There was a long pause during which the air seemed heavy with words unsaid before he spoke again. ‘We have mutual friends. One day we might get the chance to take up where we left off.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That would be nice.’

  Nice? Had all that passion and promise dwindled to nice?

  Maybe that was what happened in this brave new world of newly single dating. Jake couldn’t help a nagging sense of doubt that it should end like this. Had they missed a step somewhere?

  ‘Jake, about our mutual friends...?’ she said.

  ‘Yes?’ he said.

  ‘I didn’t tell them I’d met you here. Can Dominic be discreet?’

  ‘He doesn’t know we caught up with each other either.’

  ‘Shall we keep it secret from them?’ she asked. ‘It would be easier.’

  ‘As far as they’re concerned we went our separate ways in Port Douglas,’ he said.

  He doubted Do
minic would be surprised to hear it had turned out that way. He had warned Jake that, fond as he was of Eliza, she could be ‘a tough little cookie’. Jake had thought there was so much more to her than that. Perhaps Dominic had been right.

  ‘That’s settled, then,’ she said. There was an air of finality to her words.

  Eliza swam to the wide, shallow steps of the pool, waded halfway up them, then turned back. Her petite body packed a powerfully sexy punch in her black bikini. High, firm breasts, a flat tummy and narrow waist flaring into rounded hips and a perfectly curved behind. Perhaps he’d read too much into this episode. It was just physical—nothing more. A fantasy fulfilled.

  ‘I need to finish packing,’ she said. ‘Then I can enjoy our final dinner without worrying.’

  That was it? ‘Eliza, don’t go just yet. I want to tell you—’

  She paused, turned back to face him. Their gazes met for a long moment in the dying light of the day. Time seemed to stand still.

  ‘I’ve booked a very good restaurant,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll...I’ll look forward to it,’ she said. She took the final step out of the pool. ‘Don’t forget I have an early start in the morning.’

  ‘I’ll be ready to drive you to Cairns,’ he said.

  He dreaded taking that journey in reverse with her, when the journey here from the airport had been so full of promise and simmering sensuality. Tomorrow’s journey would no doubt be followed by a stilted farewell at the airport.

  ‘That’s so good of you to offer,’ she said with excess politeness. ‘But I didn’t cancel my return shuttle bus trip. It would be easier all round if we said goodbye here tomorrow morning.’

  ‘You’re sure, Eliza?’ He made a token protest.

  ‘Absolutely sure,’ she said, heading towards the house without a backward glance.

  Jake watched her, his hands fisted by his sides. He fancied blue angel wings unfurling as she prepared to fly right out of his life.

  It was stupid of him ever to have thought things with Eliza could end any other way.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TEN WEEKS LATER Eliza sat alone in her car, parked on a street in an inner western suburb of Sydney, too shaken even to think about driving away from an appointment that had rocked her world. She clutched her keys in her hand, too unsteady to get the key into the ignition.

  Eliza hated surprises. She liked to keep her life under control, with schedules and timetables and plans. Surprises had derailed her life on more than one occasion. Most notably the revelation that her burst appendix had left her infertile. But in this case the derailment was one that had charged her with sheer bubbling joy in one way and deep, churning anxiety in the other.

  She was pregnant.

  ‘It would take a miracle for you to get pregnant.’

  Those had been her doctor’s words when Eliza had told her of her list of symptoms. Words that had petered out into shock at the sight of a positive pregnancy test.

  That miracle had happened in Port Douglas, with Jake—most likely the one time there had been a slip with their protection. Eliza hadn’t worried. After all, she couldn’t get pregnant.

  Seemed she could.

  And she had.

  She laid her hand on her tummy, still flat and firm. But there was a tiny new life growing in there. A baby. She could hardly believe it was true, still marvelled at the miracle. But she had seen it.

  Not it.

  Him or her.

  The doctor had wanted an ultrasound examination to make absolutely sure there wasn’t an ectopic pregnancy in the damaged tube.

  Active—like me, had been Eliza’s first joyous thought when she’d seen the image of her tiny baby, turning cartwheels safe and sound inside her womb. Her second thought had been of loneliness and regret that there was no one there to share the miraculous moment with her. But she wanted this more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.

  Her baby.

  Eliza realised her cheeks were wet with tears. Fiercely, she scrubbed at her eyes.

  Her third thought after the initial disbelief and shock had been to call Jake and tell him. There was absolutely no doubt he was the father.

  His baby.

  But how could she? He’d made it very clear he didn’t ever want to be a father.

  Dear heaven, she couldn’t tell him.

  He would think she was one of the dollar signs flashing gold-diggers he so despised. What had he said?

  ‘A baby means lifetime child support—that’s a guaranteed income for a certain type of woman.’

  She dreaded the scorn in his eyes if she told him.

  You know I told you I couldn’t have a baby? Turns out I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a daddy.

  And what if he wanted her not to go forward with the pregnancy? No way—ever—would that be an option for her.

  How on earth had this happened?

  ‘Nature can be very persistent,’ her doctor had explained. ‘The tube we thought was blocked must not have been completely blocked. Or it unblocked itself.’

  It really was a miracle—and one she hugged to herself.

  She was not daunted by the thought of bringing the baby up by herself. Not that she believed it would be easy. But she owned her own home—a small terraced house in Alexandria, not far from the converted warehouse that housed the Party Queens headquarters. And Party Queens was still doing well financially, thanks to her sound management and the talent and drive of her business partners. And a creative new head chef was working out well. The nature of the business meant her hours could be flexible. Andie had often brought baby Hugo in when he was tiny, and did so even now, when he was a toddler. Eliza could afford childcare when needed—perhaps a nanny. Though she was determined to raise her child herself, with minimal help from nannies and childminders.

  Her impossible dream had come true. She was going to be a mother. But the situation with her baby’s father was more of a nightmare.

  Eliza rested her head on her folded arms on top of the steering wheel, slumped with despair. Pregnant from a four-night stand. By a man she hadn’t heard from since he’d walked her down the steep driveway that led away from his tropical hideaway and waved her goodbye.

  Now he’d think she’d tried to trap him.

  ‘I certainly wouldn’t want to find myself caught in a trap like that,’ he’d said, with a look of horror on his handsome face.

  Eliza raised her head up off her folded arms. Took a few deep, steadying breaths. She wouldn’t tell Jake. Nor would she tell her best friends about her pregnancy. Not yet. Not when both their husbands were friends with Jake.

  If her tummy was this flat now, hopefully she wouldn’t show for some time yet. Maybe she could fudge the dates. Or say the baby had been conceived by donor and IVF. The fact that Jake lived in Brisbane would become an advantage once she couldn’t hide her pregnancy any longer. He wouldn’t have to see her and her burgeoning bump.

  But what if the baby looked like Jake? People close to Jake, like Andie and Dominic, would surely twig to the truth. What if...what if...what if? She covered her ears with her hands, as if to silence the questions roiling in her brain. But to no effect.

  Was it fair not to tell him he was going to be a father? If she didn’t make any demands on him surely he wouldn’t believe she was a gold-digger? Maybe he would want to play some role in the baby’s life. She wouldn’t fight him if he did. It would be better for the baby. The baby who would become a child, a teenager, a person. A person with the right to know about his or her father.

  It was all too much for her to deal with. She put her hand to her forehead, then over her mouth, suddenly feeling clammy and nauseous again.

  The sickness had been relentless—so had the bone-deep exhaustion. She hadn’t recognised them as symptoms of preg
nancy. Why would she when she’d believed herself to be infertile?

  Instead she had been worried she might have some terrible disease. Even when her breasts had started to become sensitive she had blamed it on a possible hormonal disturbance. She’d believed she couldn’t conceive right up until the doctor’s astonished words: ‘You’re pregnant.’

  But why would Jake—primed by both his own experience with women with flashing dollar signs in their eyes and the warnings of what sounded like a rabid divorce support group—believe her?

  She was definitely in this on her own.

  Eliza knew she would feel better if she could start making plans for her future as a single mother. Then she would feel more in control. But right now she had to track down the nearest bathroom. No wonder she had actually lost weight rather than put it on, with this morning, noon and night sickness that was plaguing her.

  Party Queens was organising a party to be held in two weeks’ time—the official launch of a new business venture of Dominic’s in which Jake held a stake. No doubt she would see him there. But she would be officially on duty and could make their contact minimal. Though it would be difficult to deal with. And not just because of her pregnancy. She still sometimes woke in the night, realising she had been dreaming about Jake and full of regrets that it hadn’t worked out between them.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE NEARER JAKE got to Dominic’s house in Sydney for the launch party, the drier his mouth and the more clammy his hands on the wheel of the European sports car he kept garaged there. Twelve weeks since he’d seen Eliza and he found himself feeling as edgy as an adolescent. Counting down the minutes until he saw her again.

  The traffic lights stayed on red for too long and he drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel.

  For most of the time since their four-day fling in Port Douglas he’d been out of the country. But she’d rarely been out of his mind. Jake didn’t like admitting to failure—but he’d failed dismally at forgetting her. From the get-go he’d had trouble accepting the finality of their fling.