Special Deliveries: Her Gift, His Baby: Secrets of a Career Girl / For the Baby's Sake / A Very Special Delivery. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ you have a good break?’ Mr Dean gave a tight, mirthless smile as he walked past, but Ethan just rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a damn about things like that—he worked hard when he was here and was entitled to his days off. The only person Ethan was worried about now was Penny.

      Except when he tried to call her, she didn’t pick up her phone.

      ‘How’s Penny?’ Ethan asked a worried-looking Jasmine when she arrived for her late shift.

      Jasmine’s cheeks flushed and she just gave a brief shake of her head.

      ‘Did she lose it?’

      Ethan grimaced when Jasmine gave a reluctant nod.

      Ethan headed to his office and rang Kate and told her the little he knew.

      ‘Don’t call it it,’ Kate suggested.

      ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’

      ‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘Poor thing.’

      ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Ethan didn’t even know how he felt. He was gutted for Penny as he thought of all she had been through.

      But there was guilt there as well.

      ‘I don’t know what you can do either,’ Kate admitted, because Carl had been as invested in the procedures as she had and had been right there beside her when on many occasions the news hadn’t been good. But though she utterly understood where her brother was coming from, he wasn’t going to react as Carl had.

      ‘Do I just not mention it? I mean …’

      ‘No,’ Kate said, but then halted. ‘I don’t know. You said she hadn’t told you she was pregnant?’

      ‘I can’t just ignore it,’ Ethan said. ‘She won’t pick up the phone.’

      ‘You really like her?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Then I think you ought to go over there and just be ready.’

      ‘For what?’

      ‘For anything.’

      Even as he rang the bell, Ethan had absolutely no idea if he was doing the right thing.

      It just couldn’t go past without being noted.

      That was all he knew.

      She opened the door in her dressing gown, except it was undone and underneath she had on a short nightdress. Ethan hadn’t known many woman who wore silky nightdresses and matching dressing gowns, but this was Penny, he reminded himself, and even if she was a bit washed out, she still looked stunning.

      ‘I’m so sorry, Penny.’

      She looked at him, all brown and healthy and brimming with energy from nearly a week off, and she felt drab and pale in comparison. ‘How do you know?’ Penny asked. ‘Did Jasmine say something?’

      Ethan hadn’t even made it through the door and he’d already put his foot in it. ‘No,’ Ethan said. ‘I asked her when I heard you’d called in sick.’

      ‘She shouldn’t have said anything.’

      ‘She didn’t say a word,’ Ethan said. ‘I asked if you’d …’ He breathed out. ‘Penny, I knew before you went away that you were pregnant.’

      ‘How?’

      How? Because she was buried so deep in his skull, he’d been on IVF sites and working out dates and watching her unseen, constantly tuned in to her, though she didn’t need to hear that. ‘I just knew,’ Ethan said. ‘Jasmine didn’t say a word.’

      Penny opened the door further and let him in.

      ‘I didn’t know what to bring.’ He was very honest with his discomfort and it helped that he didn’t try to hide it. It helped that he had come too.

      ‘Wine would have been nice.’

      ‘I can go out and get some.’

      ‘I’ve got some open.’ Penny looked at him warily. ‘I’m not very good company.’

      ‘I’m not here for a party.’

      ‘Well, you won’t get one. I’m boring even me now in my quest for a baby, so I’d run for the beach now if I were you. I know it’s not your thing. I’ll be back to normal soon.’

      ‘Come here,’ he said, and he gave her a cuddle. She wriggled a bit as she had the first day he’d held her and then she gave in; it felt really nice to be held by him.

      ‘Do you want me to go out and get a bottle?’

      ‘No. I’m drinking alone. Well, not alone, I’ve got my cat.’

      And an ugly cat it was too, Ethan thought as feline eyes narrowed in suspicion at a big male stomping through the room. He followed Penny to where she was retrieving her glass and bottle from her bedside table and hovered at the door.

      ‘I’m a cliché,’ Penny said. ‘I’ll be the mad aunt, if Jasmine ever lets me see them again.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I had a terrible argument with her when I found out. I’m a horrible sister.’

      ‘I’m sure you’re not.’

      ‘I am.’ Penny sniffed. ‘We’ve never been that close, but for the last few months we’ve both really tried, and now I’ve gone and ruined it. I told her that she had no idea how I felt.’

      ‘She doesn’t,’ Ethan said.

      ‘But she tries so hard to. It’s not her fault, I just …’ She was embarrassed to admit just how bad she’d been, but was too guilt ridden to gloss over it. ‘She gave me a cuddle and I could feel her stomach and I told her that, no, she didn’t know, but I said it more nastily than that.’ Worried blue eyes lifted to him and a dark blush spread on her cheeks. ‘It wasn’t just that she’s pregnant, though.’ She stopped. She certainly wasn’t about to share her shameful truth. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

      ‘Tell me.’

      ‘I can’t.’

      ‘You can.’

      ‘I really can’t.’

      ‘I hate that,’ Ethan said. ‘I hate it when people go, oh, it doesn’t matter, when clearly it does, and then they say they can’t tell you, and you know that it’s something relevant, except you’re not allowed to know.’

      She actually smiled a little when she responded to him. ‘You’re not allowed.’

      ‘Fine.’ Ethan sulked.

      ‘If I told you and you ever said anything, I’d have to kill you.’

      Ethan СКАЧАТЬ