Expecting Miracle Twins by Barbara Hannay Page B

thud.
    OK, OK. If he was already heading this way, he might as well drive past the flat. And if he saw Mattie’s car parked in the drive, he might as well go in. Get it over and done with. He had to see her at least once. Maybe he was fooling himself that she hadn’t really wanted to let him go, but he had to know the truth. Had to sort this out, face to face.
    In that disastrous phone call, Mattie had mentioned that she was so busy she’d begun telephoning Roy rather than visiting him. That had surprised Jake and he couldn’t help worrying that there was a problem. Why would the samegirl who’d gone above and beyond in her efforts to please Roy suddenly be too busy to pay him an occasional visit?
    He still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in some kind of trouble. At the risk of totally annoying her, he couldn’t let her go until he got to the bottom of this mystery.
     
    Mattie was working near a window in the lounge room, listening to the rhythm of the rain as she drew a preliminary sketch for another illustration.
    The book was almost finished and she wanted to have everything off to her publisher in the next few weeks—before the last weeks of the pregnancy drained her energy.
    She was concentrating hard, trying to capture exactly the right level of simmering excitement in Molly’s facial expression, when a sound from the street outside caught her attention. She glanced through the window and saw a sleek, low black car shooting a spray of water from the gutter as it pulled up in front of the flats.
    She wasn’t expecting anyone, so she paid the car a cursory glance and went back to her drawing. But then the car door slammed and Brutus began to yap.
    ‘Quiet, Brutus!’ Mattie glanced outside again, frowning. Her little dog only yapped to welcome people he knew and liked. Strangers were greeted by silence, or by a low, mean-spirited growl.
    Curious now, she watched a man make a dash through the sheeting rain. He was wearing a black waterproof jacket and blue jeans and she admired his considerable height, his thick dark hair and broad shoulders.
    Oh, God. Oh, help.
    No!
    It couldn’t be Jake.
    Her heart stopped beating altogether. The pencil fell from her nerveless fingers and clattered to the table, then her heart gave one terrified bound and began to hammer again. Painfully.
    Jake.
    It was Jake.
    Too shocked to move, she sat and watched as he flipped the latch on the front gate and dashed up the path, head down against the rain.
    She hadn’t heard from him since that dreadful phone call. She hadn’t expected him to come, had never dreamed he would come.
    Instinctively, she wrapped her arms over her ballooning stomach. One of the babies kicked, and then the other joined in. A kicking competition began.
    Jake knocked on the door and Brutus darted forward, yapping excitedly. Mattie tried to stand, but her knees shook and her legs refused to support her. What would Jake think when he saw her?
    He knocked again.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    J AKE knew for certain that Mattie was home. Not only was her car in the garage, he’d caught a glimpse of her worried face at the window. But now she wasn’t answering his knock.
    Terrific. He wasn’t welcome.
    Stubbornly, he knocked again.
    Her little dog yapped madly and scratched on the other side of the door. At least Brutus was happy to see him.
    The Mediterranean-blue door remained firmly shut.
    He shouldn’t have come.
    Acid rose in his stomach. After Mattie’s clear rejection, coming here was close to the stupidest thing he’d ever done.
    Teeth gritted, hands clenched, he turned his back on the flat and scowled at the driving rain. No way would he knock on that door a third time. A man had his pride.
    Which meant he had no choice but to get out of here and bid Mattie Carey good riddance. He didn’t need this kind of angst in his life, couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to become entangled in this mess.
    He turned, ready to make a dash for the car, when the