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 pregnancy. 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
T HE NEARER J AKE 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. Jakedidn’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.
The driveway up to his house in Port Douglas had never seemed so steep as that morning when he had trudged back up it after waving Eliza off on the shuttle bus. He’d pushed open his door to quiet and emptiness and a sudden, piercing regret. Her laughter had seemed to dance still on the air of the house.
No matter how much he’d told himself he was cool about the way his time had gone with her, he hadn’t been able to help but think that by protecting himself he had talked himself out of something that might have been special. Cheated himself of the chance to be with a woman who
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 pregnancy. 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
T HE NEARER J AKE 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. Jakedidn’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.
The driveway up to his house in Port Douglas had never seemed so steep as that morning when he had trudged back up it after waving Eliza off on the shuttle bus. He’d pushed open his door to quiet and emptiness and a sudden, piercing regret. Her laughter had seemed to dance still on the air of the house.
No matter how much he’d told himself he was cool about the way his time had gone with her, he hadn’t been able to help but think that by protecting himself he had talked himself out of something that might have been special. Cheated himself of the chance to be with a woman who
Similar Books
