Читать книгу The Baby Bonus - Metsy Hingle - Страница 8

“I’m pregnant?” Regan St. Claire repeated, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. She stared across the desk at her aunt, New Orleans’ noted fertility specialist, Dr. Elizabeth St. Claire. “You’re sure, Aunt Liz? I mean there’s no mistake?”

The older woman shook her silvery-blond head and smiled. “I’m sure. Ran the tests myself—twice. You’re definitely pregnant, dear. Based on the date I performed the insemination procedure, you’re just shy of five weeks along.”

Regan squealed with delight. Too excited to sit still, she shot to her feet and raced around the desk to hug her aunt. “I’m going to have a baby! A baby,” she said again in awe, dancing them both around in a circle.

“Regan, child. Slow down,” her aunt admonished, laughter in her voice.

“I can’t. I’m too happy,” she countered, tears of joy stinging her eyes. Even now she could hardly believe that a diagnosis of endometriosis and possible infertility had spurred her down this path that had resulted in a…a miracle. Because that’s what this baby was. A miracle. “I’ve wanted a baby for so long. Ever since…” Ever since she had miscarried her first child—Cole’s child—all those years ago.

As though reading her thoughts, her aunt offered her hand. Regan clasped it, drew strength from the woman who had filled the role of mother for nearly all of her twenty-nine years. “Honey, it’s still early days,” Aunt Liz cautioned. “That tiny life inside you has a long way to go before he or she makes a debut.”

“I know,” Regan replied, her smile slipping a notch as she recalled her last pregnancy. She’d been seventeen and madly in love with Cole Thornton. As if it were only yesterday instead of twelve years ago, images of Cole filled her mind’s eye. Cole working in her family’s garden, sweat glistening on his sun-darkened skin, muscles rippling across his bare shoulders as he sank a shovel into the soil. Cole lifting his head, swiping the midnight hair from his face and staring at her out of those silver eyes.

There had been something wild and dangerous in his eyes when he’d looked at her. He’d been so different from the boys she knew—so serious and driven, so much smoldering passion. She’d been drawn to him instantly. After getting to know him, she’d admired his strong sense of honor and determination to make something of himself. But it had been the yearning to belong that she sensed in Cole that had stolen her heart. Making love with him had been as elemental as breathing to her. When she’d become pregnant, he had insisted they marry—just as she’d known he would. Convincing him to elope had been the tricky part. Yet, even after all this time, she remembered those magical days as his wife—days when she’d been so sure their love was strong enough to survive anything.

Until her world came crashing down, and she’d lost both Cole and their baby.

“…and I just hope that…that I’ve done the right thing. You mean the world to me, Regan. All I want…all I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.”

Something in her aunt’s tone snagged Regan’s attention, pulled her from thoughts about the past. “I am happy, Aunt Liz. You’ve given me the one thing in the world that I want most—a baby…or at least the chance to have a baby.”

A worried frown chased across her aunt’s brow. “As wonderful as a baby is, it only fills a part of your life. What about a husband? Someone to share your life with? Don’t you want someone to be a father to this baby, to make more babies with you?”

Regan sighed at her aunt’s simple assessment of all the things missing in her life. “You didn’t need a man to make your life complete, Aunt Liz. Neither do I.”

“We’re not talking about me, dear. Besides, I did have someone once. Someone I was foolish enough to let go. I’m an old woman now, with most of my life behind me. But you…you have most of your life still ahead of you. Don’t waste it. Don’t settle for memories and regrets.”

“I’m not wasting my life,” Regan insisted.

“Are you sure? I can’t help remembering the last time you were pregnant. How happy and in love you and Cole were, and when the two of you got married—”

“Our marriage was a mistake. We were too young to know what we were doing.”

Her aunt’s frown deepened. The brown eyes so like her father’s pinned her. “You were old enough to know that you loved each other, to conceive a child together. I’ve often wondered if your father hadn’t insisted on that annulment—”

“Daddy did what he thought was best,” Regan countered, a lump forming in her throat. She turned away, stared out the window, hugging her arms about her as though it could somehow stop the ache that always came when she played the game of what-ifs. What if she had gone to Cole and told him about her father’s threats to have him arrested because she’d been underage unless she annulled the marriage? What if she hadn’t lied to Cole, hadn’t said she didn’t love him? What if…

“Honey, I know you loved your father. He was my brother, and I loved him too. But that doesn’t mean I was blind to his faults. He wasn’t perfect. Sometimes he made mistakes, judged people unfairly. He was wrong about Cole. And he was wrong to interfere in your marriage, to force you to make a choice.”

“What’s done is done, Aunt Liz. We can’t go back.” Determined to lock the painful door to the past, she turned around to face her aunt. “What matters is the future. This baby is my future.”

“You’re right,” her aunt said, sliding a worried glance to Regan’s stomach. “I just hope that whatever happens…”

Suddenly alarmed, Regan placed her hand protectively on her belly. Fear curled like a fist around her heart. “Aunt Liz, is there something you haven’t told me? Is there…is there something wrong with my baby?”

“No. Oh no, child. Nothing’s wrong with the baby.”

“Then what is it? Why the long face?”

She shook her head, gave her a tight smile. “I guess I’m just worrying that maybe I’m as bad as your father because I’m the one interfering in your life now.”

Relief washed through Regan. “You haven’t. You’ve given me a priceless gift.”

“But what if—”

“No what-ifs,” Regan insisted. “Everything’s going to be fine. Just wait and see. This time absolutely nothing’s going to go wrong.”