Baby in a Million. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ to hurt you. I suppose I was hoping time might have softened the wounds, but apparently I was wrong. I love you and Cord, and can see that both of you are in horrendous pain. It’s hard to sit back and do nothing, but that’s exactly what I’ve done all this time up until yesterday when I went to see him. That’s when I felt I had to intervene.”

      Ashley started to feel physically ill and couldn’t talk for a minute.

      “I’m sorry you’ve lost confidence in me, Ashley, but I won’t apologize for wanting to help save him. One thing I can promise you, he’ll never try phoning you again. Seeing how bitter you still are, it took more courage on his part than I would have had to reach out to you one last time. To be completely honest, I’m shocked he actually had the fortitude to make contact.”

      He was sounding an awfully lot like Cord.

      “Am I such a horrible person?” she finally asked in a dull voice, dying a thousands deaths inside.

      “You know better than to ask a question like that. I’m not judging you, Ashley. I’m not in your shoes and couldn’t possibly presume to feel what you’re feeling. All I know is, two wonderful people who seemed so perfect for each other are now living drastically altered lives and I’m helpless to do anything about it.”

      Ashley couldn’t take any more. “Greg—I didn’t mean to place you in this terrible position. I don’t blame you for what you’ve done.” Her voice trembled. “In fact I love you for caring so much. I don’t want to be a bitter woman. There’s nothing uglier or more self-destructive.” She lifted her head and eyed him levelly. “D-do you know his room number at the hospital?”

      “He’s not in there now.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “When you didn’t come, he checked himself out and went home.”

      “What?” With difficulty, she got up from the chair.

      “But that doesn’t make sense.”

      “I guess it does to him.”

      She bit her lip. “I—I’ll phone him as soon as I get home.”

      A somber expression darkened his features as he rose to his feet and walked her to the door. “Please, Ashley,” he whispered against her forehead where he gave her a kiss. “Don’t do anything unless you mean it.”

      Don’t do anything unless you mean it?

      Those words went ‘round and ’round in her head all the way back to the apartment.

      As soon as she’d put away groceries and prepared Mrs. Bromwell’s lunch, she left her propped up with pillows listening to the radio, then shut the door and reached for the phone. But fear of becoming vulnerable again prevented her from actually punching in the numbers.

      Another hour went by while she debated what to do, all the while growing more and more frantic. Finally, when she couldn’t stand it any longer, she picked up the receiver and phoned Cord’s extension at the office. Most of the time Sheila answered it for him.

      Prepared to hear the satisfied sound in her husky voice, Ashley was taken aback when a terse, “Yes—” came over the wire to meet her ear. He had to be in a vile mood.

      “Cord?”

      For once the deafening quiet coming from his end told her she’d caught him off guard.

      “Ashley? Dear God—it is you.”

      The raw emotion in his voice revealed that she still had the power to affect him in some small degree. Summoning her courage she said, “I went to see Greg today. He said you’d left the hospital. Why?”

      “Does it matter?” he asked grimly. “Last night you said you didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.”

      She was afraid it would be like this. “Cord—do you want me to go on, or shall we just hang up?”

      “No. Don’t do that! I’ve been in a foul mood and didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

      If she didn’t know better, she would say he was nervous, which was odd because Cord wasn’t the nervous type. Anything but. At least she could say that about the Cord she thought she knew. Right now she didn’t know anything anymore.

      “If you need to be in the hospital, then I don’t understand why you went back home. What’s wrong with you?”

      “It’s my worry, Ashley. I’ll deal with it.”

      She frowned. Something was missing in Cord, some elemental spark which had always been there before. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but the fact that he didn’t seem like himself bothered her terribly. Especially when he was going to be a father soon.

      “I’ve made a decision, Cord. Please check yourself back in and I’ll come over.”

      “Because of problems at the office, I couldn’t go in before Monday. But in any case, it’s asking too much of you.”

      Greg had intimated Cord was deeply depressed. She was starting to realize what he’d meant.

      “Not according to Greg,” she interjected. “He seems to believe you’re in real trouble.”

      “He’s exaggerating.”

      “I don’t think so. Let me know when you’re back in City Creek Hospital and I’ll be there.”

      “No, thanks. Your sacrifice isn’t required, certainly not this close to the divorce. I should never have called you. I’ll work on my problem in my own way.”

      Ashley felt a stabbing pain in her heart. He sounded like he was giving up. She couldn’t let this go, no matter the situation with Sheila.

      “I—I’m afraid it’s not just your problem any more.”

      Another long silence ensued. “What in the hell do you mean by that?”

      At least she’d roused him out of his morose state for a moment. “All will be explained when we see each other Monday morning. I’ll be there early.”

      Without giving him a chance to respond, she quietly put the receiver back on the hook. Only now was it hitting her what she’d done.

      Because she had agreed to meet him at the hospital, he would find out she was practically ready to deliver their child.

      Not only would he be hurt and angry that she hadn’t told him, he’d be in shock. According to the tests, their pregnancy had to have made medical history.

      She had a premonition that once he found out, everything would grow more complicated and the divorce would be prolonged. But she’d taken the risk and couldn’t go back on her word now. Not if something was really wrong with Cord, and she firmly believed there was.

      Without wasting another moment, she called the Bromwell family to arrange for someone else to come in to watch after their mother.

      On Saturday, when Mrs. Bromwell’s СКАЧАТЬ