Baby Business. Brenda Novak

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СКАЧАТЬ WATCHED several emotions flicker across Macy’s face, surprise, incredulity, anger, but before she could settle on one and reject him, he added, “There would be a lot of benefits to the arrangement, for both of us. Before you say anything, just hear me out.”

      “No.”

      “No, you won’t hear me out? Or, no, you won’t marry me?”

      “No, period. Our ‘arrangements’ have gone far enough. Don’t you understand that what you want, what we’re doing, makes a mockery of everything I believe in? You’ve reduced love, marriage and family to…to this. To nothing but emotionless agreements and practical considerations.”

      Thad flinched. Love, marriage and family were just as sacred to him, maybe more so. That was why he was trying so hard to preserve a vestige of what he’d had with Valerie. But he couldn’t explain that to Macy, or anyone else, for that matter. It exposed a part of him that was wounded and raw with need, a result of the pain, betrayal and anger he felt at his wife’s death.

      “Think of the baby,” he said, stepping back from the flame of those dark emotions. “If we marry, the baby will have my name. And since I will be its father, what could be more natural than that?”

      She’d gone to the sink to rinse off her plate. When she spoke, her back was to him. “And how do I explain our relationship to Haley?”

      “I’ve met Haley already. We simply tell her that we’ve fallen in love and are going to be married. Think about it, Macy. I’ve gone over every angle, and this is by far the best way for everyone involved. If we don’t marry, what will you tell your daughter about the pregnancy? That it was the water?”

      Her shoulders slumped as though she was suddenly weary again, but after a moment, she stood straight and turned to face him. “And when you disappear from our lives and take her brother or sister with you, do I simply say that it’s nothing? Just one more man who doesn’t want us?”

      A normal man would be crazy not to want Macy, Thad thought. She was bright, ambitious, determined, full of passion. And he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. For the first time since his wife’s death, he’d actually felt the stirrings of desire when he saw her this morning, braless and without makeup, her hair mussed from sleep. It was probably just his body’s way of reminding him how long it had been since he’d held a woman in his arms. But he had felt…something.

      “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said, not wanting to address the issue of divorce right now, when Macy was gazing at him with those incredible eyes. “A lot has to go right before we get that far.”

      She glanced at the clock again, as though she wished she could turn back the hands, then pinched the bridge of her nose. “So we’d be married, but we wouldn’t live together. Is that what you’re suggesting? A marriage in name only?”

      Thad cleared his throat, certain that Macy wasn’t going to like this next part any more than she’d liked the first part. “Actually, I was thinking we would live together here, at your place. Just as roommates.”

      “But why? What purpose could there possibly be in—Oh, I get it.” Her eyes narrowed. “We’re back to protecting your investment by controlling my life.”

      Thad pushed his plate away and stood up. “I know this whole thing sounds terrible, Macy. I wouldn’t do it if—” if I wasn’t so damn desperate “—if I thought there was another way. But I’m not trying to control you. I just thought you could use someone to look after the house and yard a bit, make you a hot dinner on occasion, drive you to the doctor. You wouldn’t have to move or change anything. Does that sound too much like torture?”

      “I don’t know,” she said. “What I’m going through now is torture. I can’t imagine it getting any worse.”

      “Then trust me.” He smiled. “And I’ll write you a check for the full amount the moment we say ‘I do.’”

      She sighed and shook her head. Then she kneaded her temples. “You’ll sleep in the guest room,” she said at last, “and pick up after yourself, and steer clear of my friends and family, and stay away from Haley. If she doesn’t know you, she can’t be hurt when you leave.”

      “Okay.”

      “And you’re not going to watch Dr. Biden put me in stirrups. Neither are you going into the delivery room. I’ll have the baby on my own, then turn it over to you.”

      “But I want to see my baby being born.”

      “Sorry, that’s the deal,” she snapped. “You can take it or leave it. It’s up to you.”

      Because of Haley, Thad knew, if he pushed, he could have it all. Macy was bluffing. The businessman in him, the negotiator, told him so. But the courage shining in her eyes, and the sacrifice she was willing to make for her daughter softened his heart. In that moment, his respect for her grew.

      “That’s good enough,” he said, and once the words were out, he couldn’t take them back. An agreement was an agreement. The businessman in him said that, too.

      He could only hope she’d relent.

      “YOU’RE WHAT?”

      Macy held the phone away from her ear to avoid her mother’s bloodcurdling screech. She was on campus, in between classes, with a flood of other students milling around, six of whom were in line to use the pay phone after she finished. “I’m getting married,” she repeated.

      Shocked silence greeted her on the other end of the line as Edna absorbed the news, then, “But this is so sudden. You’ve never mentioned dating anyone. Who is he?”

      Macy watched the trees dotting the rolling campus sway in the wind that funneled down from the canyons above. “His name is Thad Winters,” she said, pushing her hair back, out of her face. “He’s an ad executive here in Salt Lake.”

      “Is he successful?”

      “Mom, why would that be one of the first questions you ask? Does it really matter?”

      “You don’t think it’s important, dear, after Richard?”

      Macy chuckled. “I see your point. Okay, I think he’s successful. He has some nice office space on South Temple.”

      “He has what?” her mother asked in surprise, and Macy wished she could take back her words. How odd it must sound for her to talk about his office, instead of something more personal, like his home. “Where does he live?”

      He could live in South Jordan, Murray, Ogden, Sugarhouse, anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley, for all Macy knew. She hadn’t seen him since he’d made her breakfast the day before, and she hadn’t thought to ask him on the telephone last night when they’d set the date for their wedding. “Um, in a nice house,” she replied vaguely.

      “So you and Haley will be moving in with him?”

      “No, he’ll be moving in with us.”

      “But your house is so small. What if you decide to have more children?”

      “That’s a very good possibility. He really wants a baby.” At least that was God’s own truth.

      “Right СКАЧАТЬ