Читать книгу Instant Dad - Raye Morgan - Страница 7

THE INVITATIONS ARE OUT

“Why do they call them baby showers, anyway?”

Sara Parker looked up from the last of the invitations she was addressing. “I don’t know. Maybe because they are a celebration where you shower the baby with gifts.”

“Hmm.” Jenny Kirkland sounded skeptical. Leaning back in her chair, she patted her rounded belly. “I just hope this little one arrives in time for the shower you’re having. It’ll be fun for you to show all your friends your new baby.”

Sara glanced at where her sister’s hand was placed, an uneasy mixture of love and envy filling her eyes. If only she were the one who was pregnant instead of Jenny, this would all seem more natural. But no matter —the baby Jenny was carrying would soon be hers. It was the waiting that was so hard.

“You’re invited too, you know,” she said with a quick smile.

Jenny laughed. “I don’t think so. Baby showers and a bunch of women getting together to play games and drink green punch are not exactly my sort of scene.”

Sara knew she was only being honest. Jenny could usually be found wherever the music was the loudest and the men the handsomest. It was amazing that Sara had been able to convince her to spend all these months gestating a baby and she knew Jenny was champing at the bit to get back into the action on the singles scene.

“Only a couple more weeks,” she told her softly as she put the stamp on the last envelope. “Not long at all.”

Jenny stared at her for a moment, her green eyes rebellious. But she didn’t express what she was thinking. Instead, she sighed and said, “Let’s go over it again. If it’s a girl, I’ll name her Calli. If it’s a boy, I’ll name him Christopher. Is that it?”

Sara nodded. Those were the names they had decided upon between them. Jenny had been particularly keen on the boy’s name and that made Sara wonder.

“Was his name Christopher?” she asked casually, still sealing envelopes.

Jenny looked up, startled. “Whose name?”

“You know who I mean. The baby’s father.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Let’s not get sentimental about this.” She tossed her red hair back over her shoulder, then glanced at her sister’s face and softened when she saw the look in her eyes. “Oh, forget about it, Sara. You don’t want to know who the father was. It’s better left alone.”

But Sara did want to know. She hated leaving strings, leaving things undone, unfinished. “But if he shows up all of a sudden and wants his child.”

“He won’t. He doesn’t even know I’m pregnant. He’ll never know.”

Sara wanted to say more, but she held her tongue. She and Jenny might be sisters, but they were very different and didn’t often see eye to eye on anything. Where Sara wanted the is dotted and the is crossed, Jenny wouldn’t even bother to write out full words. Abbreviations would do for her.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” Jenny asked suddenly.

“Me?” Sara stared at her. “That’ll be the day. I can hardly wait to…” Her eyes filled with dreams and her voice lowered. “To hold the little bundle in my arms and kiss that downy head and—”

“Okay, okay,” Jenny said quickly. “I get the picture.” She pushed herself awkwardly out of the chair and rose, turning in the direction of the kitchen. “I can hardly wait, either. Only with me, it’s like waiting to get out of prison. Once I deliver this child, I’ll be free, and you can bet I’ll never get myself in this condition again.”

Sara sighed as her sister disappeared down the hallway. She’d done all she could for the past few months, trying to keep Jenny’s spirits up, trying to get her to rest and eat well. For a while, she’d even had her living here in her house so that she could keep an eye on her. But they’d clashed a few too many times and Jenny had gone back to her apartment. Now she came by to visit every few days, but that was it. And Sara was feeling very much alone in her adventure.

That was why she wanted her friends around her so badly. She spread out the invitations on the desk, looking for the most important ones. She’d invited people from all over, but there were only three she really cared about—her three roommates from college. She hadn’t seen any of them for almost ten years and she felt that lack like an ache in her heart.

There was warm, lovable Cami Bishop, now publishing a fern journal in California. Hailey Kingston, beautiful as any model, had come back from art school in Paris to begin a career as a buyer for a San Francisco department store. And J. J. Jensen was in Utah, from what she’d heard, still pursuing her dream of landing the anchor position on some big network television news show. The four of them had been inseparable all through college, there for secrets and for comfort, helping each other pass exams and heal broken hearts. They had all been so full of dreams when they’d started out. Funny how none of the goals had quite panned out. Still, those three young women had been responsible for pulling her away from the defensive, introspective world she’d built around her like a cocoon since childhood, pulling her away from that out into the sunshine. She would always love them for it. Now she felt herself losing confidence again and she needed her old roommates’ help to get through this.

“Please come,” she whispered as she tied the envelopes together and prepared for a trip to the post office. “The way things are going, I have a feeling I’m really going to need a friend.”