Читать книгу The Pregnancy Plan - Grace Green - Страница 11

“HE SHOULD have told me!” Lacey glared at her brother. “Alice was my sister, too, I had every right to know what he was planning to do. He had no right to shut me out!”

Jordan made a placating gesture. “Honey, this has been very difficult for Dermid—”

“Of course it has, I’m not denying that. It must be breaking his heart, knowing that Alice’s baby is there, just waiting for a chance to be born. But now she never will be!” Lacey felt her anger dissipating as sorrow took over. “Oh, Jordan, why does life have to be so cruel?”

He had nothing to say that would comfort her. He looked helplessly at Felicity, who looked back equally helplessly at him.

Lacey paced the sitting room. She crossed to the window, looked out in the pitch-dark night. Jordan had been very late getting home, but she couldn’t settle until she’d had it out with him, had vented all the resentment she felt toward Dermid McTaggart.

Impatient, she whirled around now. “I still can’t forgive him for not including me in his decision-making. I know he thinks I’m an airhead—”

“If he does,” Jordan said, “you have only yourself to blame. You’ve deliberately led him to believe you’re a bit spacey—”

“Only because from the moment we met, he made it clear that he thought anyone who made a living the way I did must have the IQ of a gnat!”

“Let’s not get sidetracked, Lace.” Her brother’s expression had become somber. “No matter how smart you are, what could you have contributed to our conversation? After all, the matter was simple. Dermid had already made his decision, and what he wanted from me, as Alice’s brother, was my support…and that was all there was to it.”

“No, I won’t accept that!” Lacey’s silver bracelets flashed in the light as she stuck her fists on her hips. “Three heads are better than two—and if you’d included me in your furtive little get-together, I might have come up with some other option.”

“It wasn’t furtive. It was private. Besides, what other option could you have come up with? All you could have suggested was that he delay the inevitable. The man’s been having nightmares, Lace, for months! Leaving the situation the way it is, is not an option.”

“So what’s his next step?” Felicity asked.

“He’s going to Toronto on Friday, to talk with the people at the clinic, tell them not to preserve the embryo any longer.”

Felicity tsked. “Won’t that be terribly hard on him—going back there, where he and Alice…?”

“Yeah, it’ll be hard. But Dermid feels it’s something he can’t do by phone. He wants to do it in person—”

“There is another option.” Lacey’s voice had been quiet, but it stopped Jordan in his tracks.

He looked warily at her. “There is?”

“Yes.” Excitement welled up inside her. “Dermid can hire a surrogate mother—she’d be a gestational carrier, actually, since she wouldn’t have any genetic link to the child—to bear the baby for him!”

“I already suggested that to Dermid,” Jordan said. “This morning.”

“And?” Lacey demanded. “What did he say?”

“Emphatically ‘No!’. He won’t even consider it.”

“Is it the money issue?” Felicity asked. “He wouldn’t feel comfortable paying someone to act as a host uterus?”

“It’s nothing to do with money. I don’t remember his exact words, but the gist of it was that making a baby was a family affair, and not something an outsider should ever be part of.” Jordan shrugged. “It is not an option.”

“He’s a stubborn man, is the McTaggart.” Lacey’s excitement died. ‘Well, that’s that, then.” She sat on the arm of her brother’s chair. “You were right, Jordan. I couldn’t have contributed anything useful to your conversation. And now that the decision is made, sad as it is, we’ll all just have to accept it.”

“It’s particularly sad for Dermid,” Felicity said. “He won’t ever be able to have another child, should he decide to remarry.”

There remained nothing more to say on the matter, and soon after, Lacey got up to leave.

“Are you going to be home for a while?” Jordan asked as he and Felicity walked her out to her car. “Or are you off on a shoot somewhere?”

“I’m going to be around for the next while, taking a bit of a break. But after that, I’m heavily committed for the next several months. And my agent’s been making overtures to GloryB. They’re going to be looking for a replacement for Kinga Koff—their GloryB girl—because she’s getting married in the Fall and she’s planning to retire.”

“For their cosmetic line, then,” Felicity said. “Oh, how thrilling!”

“Fingers crossed,” Lacey said. “It’s always been my dream, to be the face of GloryB!”

She smiled as she stood by her silver convertible and looked out over the dark waters of the inlet. “If it all works out, I may be asking you to find a house for me, Jordan. Something really deluxe, up here on the hill.”

But as she drove away a few moments later, her smile faded and she was left with her thoughts. Desolate thoughts about Alice, and the baby who would never be born.

Alice had done so much for her after their mother died, and had made many huge sacrifices. Lacey had thanked her many times, but mere thanks had never seemed adequate.

If only, she reflected, with a sense of grief and great loss, she had ever been able to do something to repay her beloved sister, but the occasion had never arisen.

“Aunt Lacey, this is Jack speaking…”

Lacey stood in her kitchen, making coffee as she listened to her nephew’s voice on her answering machine. She’d been in the shower and hadn’t heard the phone ring, but now, on this gray Thursday morning, with her wet hair wrapped in a towel, she gave his message her attention.

“Aunt Lacey, nobody knows I’m phoning—I’m in Uncle Jordan’s study, he’s at work and Aunt Felicity’s busy with the baby. Here’s why I’m calling. Can you come and drive me home? I’m just itchin’ to get back. So…will you call me if you can come? Please? Love, Jack.”

Lacey gave a wry smile. Who could have resisted that earnest “Love, Jack”?

She phoned Deerhaven and when Felicity answered, she asked to talk to Jack. When he came on the line, she said, “I got your message, and I’d be happy to take you home. Can you be ready to leave in about an hour?”

“Sure! And thanks, Aunt Lacey!”

“Now talk to your aunt. Come clean, tell her you’re homesick, she’ll understand. And I’ll pick you up at ten.”

Jack was ready when she arrived at Deerhaven, and they drove straight out to Horseshoe Bay. The morning was still overcast, and by the time they boarded the ferry, rain was drizzling down.

But it cleared up after a while, and by the time they reached Nanaimo, sunshine and blue skies greeted them.

Jack had chattered happily on the ferry trip, but on the drive to the ranch, he lapsed into silence. Slumping back in his seat, he stared glumly out of the window.

“Is something wrong?” Lacey asked as they turned off the highway and onto the side road leading to the ranch. “I thought you’d be so excited to be home, but—”

“I am.”

“You don’t sound very excited!” She glanced at him and saw his little face was drawn down in lugubrious lines. “I know you wanted to surprise your dad, but maybe we should have called and told him you were coming back early—are you afraid he’ll be away somewhere?”

Jack shook his head. “If he wasn’t here, Arthur would be around. It’s just…well, I’m glad to be back, but…”

“But what?”

“They’re lucky,” he muttered. “Mandy and Andrew and Todd and the baby. All these kids to play with, they’d never be lonely. I just wish I had a brother—or a sister—but I’m never going to have one. My dad was sick a long time ago and now he can’t have any more kids. It sucks.”

“I know,” she said gently, “that it must be hard, being an only child. But at least you have cousins, and you get to see them quite often.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess.”

But it was obvious he felt they were a poor second-best to actually having a brother or sister of his own.

By now they were approaching the house, and she saw Arthur emerge from the back door.

A confirmed bachelor and shy around women, the man had worked with Jordan for many years, and was now a permanent fixture at the ranch.

“Look,” Lacey said, hoping to divert Jack from his forlorn musings. “There’s Arthur!”

Jack bounced up in his seat, waving.

Arthur loped toward the car, and gave Lacey a respectful salute. “Hi, there, Ms. Maxwell.”

Jack snapped open his seat belt. “Where’s Dad?”

“Inside, throwin’ a few things in a bag. He’s going to Toronto, flyin’ out from Vancouver this evenin’.”

“I thought,” Lacey said, “he was going on Friday?”

“Too impatient, he was, too restless, to wait.”

“Arthur!” Jack opened his car door and hopped out. “Did Molly May have her cria yet?”

“Yup, yesterday, like clockwork. Cute as a button, too…your dad called her Molly Maybe.”

Jack said, “I can’t wait to see her—come on, Aunt Lacey. You gotta see this!”

Heavy rain must have fallen here earlier; the track was still muddy in places. But even if it had been dry, Lacey wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to traipse off looking at animals. That had been Alice’s life. It certainly wasn’t her idea of a good time.

“No, thanks,” she said. “I’ll pass.”

“Okay. But thanks for taking me over!” Jack ran around to her side of the car, and put up his arms for a hug.

She leaned over and gave him a warm one. “I enjoyed the trip,” she said. “It’s always fun to have an outing with such a cool young dude!”

Jack beamed with pleasure. Then turning to the ranch hand, he said, “Let’s go, Arthur!”

Arthur put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’d better nip inside first and let your dad know you’re back.”

“Aunt Lacey will. Right, Aunt Lacey?”

She’d intended to leave without seeing Dermid. It still rankled that he hadn’t included her in the private talk he’d had with Jordan. But Jack was hopping around impatiently, eyes eager as he waited for her response.

How could she refuse? “Yes, I’ll tell him.”

“Just go in,” Arthur said. “The doorbell needs fixin’, and he’s upstairs, won’t hear you if you knock.”

While he and Jack headed off, she got out of the car and walked toward the house, stepping carefully so’s not to muddy her cream leather pumps.

To her right was the terraced bank that Alice had transformed into a picturesque garden. While she’d been alive, it had been a joy to behold at this time of year; now weeds flourished, crowding out the once-vibrant perennials that Alice had so lovingly planted and tended.

But it wasn’t only the garden that had a desolate air; the house itself looked sad. Paint was peeling off the green front door and the brass fittings cried out for a polish. Where once the windows would have been open to the fresh spring day, with crisply laundered curtains billowing in the breeze, now they were shut…closing out the world.

Lacey opened the door and walked into the entryway. Stepping over mud-caked boots, noting the grit on the formerly gleaming slate floor, she felt her spirits sink.

And they sank further as she looked around the front hall. This would break Alice’s heart, she thought with a spurt of anger, if she could see it. The hall table was thick with dust, as were the pictures on the walls, and the carpet leading up the stairs was fuzzed with lint.

Tears stung her eyes. How could he! How could Dermid McTaggart have let Alice’s cherished home fall into such a state of abandonment!

Dermid stepped out of the shower in his en suite bathroom, and whisking a towel from the floor, he ran it over his hair. Then tucking it around his waist, he swiped a hand over the steamed-up mirror, brushed his hair, and then threw the brush, along with his shaving gear, into the toilet bag he was going to take to Toronto with him.

Tomorrow, he was going to the clinic.

Tomorrow, he was going to do something that would make his heart ache for the rest of his life.

And after he’d signed the necessary papers, he reflected as he brushed his teeth, he’d no doubt feel like going to the nearest pub to drown his sorrows; but he wouldn’t, because of Jack—

Someone hammered on his bedroom door.

Arthur? What did he want? And when had he ever knocked!

He turned off the tap and heard the knocking again. This time, it was even more demanding. And it was followed immediately by the sound of a voice he recognized, one that had him almost choking…then spitting out his toothpaste as if he’d discovered it contained arsenic.

Lacey Maxwell.

What the devil was she doing here!

Dropping his toothbrush on the countertop, he strode to the bathroom door and came to an abrupt halt.

There she was, in his bedroom, dressed in an indigo shirt and a cream miniskirt and cream shoes, with her black hair falling like a sheet of jet to her breasts.

And she was spitting mad.

“Didn’t you hear me knock?” Her green eyes had a furious sparkle. “Are you deaf?”

He swallowed and the toothpaste made his throat feel raw. “What—” his tone was incredulous “—are you doing here?”

“How could you!” She glared at him. “How could you let this place go to rack and ruin. Alice would turn in her grave if—”

“I asked,” he said grimly, “what you are doing here.”

She sliced a hand through the air, the gesture angry and dismissive. “I brought Jack back. He was homesick. Though how he could be homesick for such a pigstye is utterly beyond me! How can you possibly justify what you’ve let happen here? It’s an absolute disgrace—”

“Now that you’ve brought Jack back,” he said coldly. “You’re free to leave.”

“Uh-uh! I still have some things I want to say to you.”

“I’m really not interested in what you have to say. And please don’t come in here, from your polished plastic world, and tell me how I should live. You’re not even on the same planet. Now why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, Ms. Maxwell. I think there’s a lot more to it than a dustball or two!”

“You’re right.” She set her hands on her hips, and gave him a look that would have annihilated a lesser man. “I want you to know that Felicity happened to overhear you and Jordan talking the other day, and she told me about your conversation because she felt that as Alice’s sister, I had the right to know what you were planning to do—”

“I’m sure Felicity acted with the best of intentions, but she was wrong. The decision was mine alone to make, and—”

“But you went to Jordan for advice,” Lacey snapped. “You left me out!”

“I went to Jordan because I needed to talk to someone about what I was going to do. I didn’t go to him for advice. I went to him for support. I knew what I had to do, it wasn’t as if I had any other option. I needed to hear him say it was okay.”

“But there could have been another option.” Her breasts rose and fell under her silk shirt, as she took in a deep breath, let it out again. “Surrogacy.”

“It’s out of the question.” The harshness in his tone surprised even himself. “I won’t consider it.”

“That’s what Jordan said.”

“Then Jordan got it right.”

Her eyes burned with challenge. “If you really wanted this baby to be born, you’d surely consider every possible avenue—”

“Not that one, because—”

“I know your reasons. Jordan told me. Having a baby is a family affair, and outsiders shouldn’t be involved.”

Silence shimmered between them, and he suddenly realized he was standing there in nothing but a towel—not that it seemed to faze her. Of course, she was probably used to seeing men half-naked. Or totally naked. In the world she inhabited nudity was probably run-of the-mill.

She walked away from him and crossed to the window.

The silence between them continued, but he sensed a buildup of tension in her that made him wary.

“What is it?” he asked. “What are you thinking?”

In a voice that was no longer challenging but quiet, she said, “I was just thinking how happy Alice was here. How happy she was, with you and with Jack. And…how very much she wanted this baby.”

What could he say to that? Nothing…even if his throat hadn’t tightened with emotion, because what she said was true.

Without turning, she went on, “After our mother died—and you probably know this—I was sent to live with an aunt—a rigid and unloving person—and I was miserable. But after a few weeks, Alice came for me. She’d dropped out of university in order to come back home and bring me up. I owe her, Dermid. And I was never able to repay her.”

Now she turned, and he saw that her face was very pale.

“You told Jordan,” she said, “that you could never consider surrogacy because having babies was a family matter. I’m family, Dermid.”

He looked at her blankly, and then his eyes narrowed. “What the devil are you trying to say?”

“This will be my last—my last and only chance, to do something to repay my sister for what she did for me. Let me be the gestational carrier for your baby, Dermid. For you…and for Alice.”