скачать книгу бесплатно
“No need to apologize,” said Mick. “We’re the ones who changed our appointment at the last minute.” They’d been scheduled to meet with her in the afternoon.
“It didn’t occur to me that this might overlap. We have a new legal consultant at the hospital.” At a tap on the door, Melissa started to rise. When her abdominal muscles protested, she put a hand on the desktop for support.
“Please don’t exert yourself. I’ll get it.” Uncoiling from his chair, Mick crossed the floor. Since he was closer, she yielded without protest.
Melissa braced for this encounter with Edmond. They’d run into each other occasionally since he’d arrived in town and they’d exchanged polite how-are-yous. He’d represented one of her housemates in a divorce, and another, briefly, on a custody issue. She’d assured her friends that he was an excellent attorney, which was true. But this was her home territory.
Just say hello and it’ll be over. For now. And if she remained seated, she might be able to save her startling news until they were alone.
Mick opened the door. “Don’t mind me. I’m the butler,” he joked to the imposing administrator, Dr. Mark Rayburn, a large man with black hair and power eyebrows.
“Pardon the interruption,” Mark said. “We have a new attorney on staff and today’s his first chance to meet everybody. We’ll just be a sec.”
“No problem.” Extending his hand, Mick introduced himself and his wife.
The slim, strong man Melissa had once loved moved past Mark, and cool brown eyes met hers from behind steel-framed glasses. It was lucky that her clients were comfortable chatting with the newcomers, because her voice got stuck in her throat.
As always, her ex-husband was impeccably groomed—even in July, he wore a jacket and tie. Being in the same room made her keenly aware of his light, spicy scent and the breadth of his chest.
And it also made her aware of how much she missed curling against him at night, missed talking over the day’s events and missed his logical insights. Once, she could have tracked his reactions to people and events as easily as her own. It was disorienting, to have no idea what he was thinking right now.
What was wrong with her? It must be the emotional effect of maternal hormones. She’d long ago resolved any lingering sense that she belonged with this man.
“Good to see you, Melissa.” He sounded slightly hoarse.
“You, too,” she managed. She ought to rise, but if she did...
At Mark’s subtle prompting, Edmond greeted the Landrys and handed them his business card. “If you have any legal questions, I’d be happy to schedule a free consultation here at the hospital. I have office hours Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons.”
“Maybe later,” Mick said. “We’re still in the early stages.”
The administrator indicated they should move on. Just when Melissa figured the encounter was over, Edmond swung toward her. “Okay if I stop by in a few minutes? There are a few matters we should discuss.”
“Certainly.” All very professional, although everybody in the office—plus the cheerily nosy receptionist lingering outside the door—must be aware of the undercurrents.
When he held out his hand, there was no avoiding it. Melissa stood up, big belly and all.
Edmond’s jaw dropped and his body went rigid. His double take might almost have been comical, had she not felt his shock so keenly. Melissa had prepared herself for his disapproval or anger, or perhaps indifference. To her surprise, she caught a glint of pain.
His gaze went to her left hand, to her ringless third finger. But he could hardly draw conclusions from that. Pregnant women often removed their wedding rings to accommodate puffiness.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to you later, then. Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Landry.”
As Mark ushered Edmond out, he regarded Melissa with concern. He didn’t miss much, she reflected, and she smiled in an attempt to reassure him.
With a nod, the big man closed the door. She hadn’t fooled him. She wasn’t fooling anybody these days, except maybe herself. Oh, quit overthinking this.
The Landrys resumed their seats and Melissa did the same. Returning to their discussion, she said, “You might try listing the qualities that are most important to you in an egg donor and a surrogate. That will guide your choices.”
Her suggestion had the desired effect of pushing the interruption from their minds. When the clients departed a quarter of an hour later, Melissa had recovered her equilibrium.
She reached for her cup of tea, to find it empty. Although an hour remained until lunch, she was starving, and she’d already finished off the crackers in her desk. These days, she found herself eating more than enough for four. Her doctor insisted her weight gain was healthy, but Melissa had trouble adjusting to her rotund body shape. At five-foot-eight, she’d always been tall and slender.
Well, she was still tall.
The slightly open door swung wider, and she forgot to breathe. Then she saw with relief that her visitor wasn’t Edmond.
Karen Wiggins, the fertility program’s financial counselor and occupant of the adjacent office, handed her a cup of white liquid. “It’s almond milk—fifty percent more calcium than cow’s milk.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Melissa teased. Ten years her senior, Karen was a nurturing friend as well as her landlady.
“How’d it go with the ex?” Karen lingered near the desk. This month, she’d dyed her shoulder-length hair reddish-brown, which Melissa preferred to some of her friend’s more flamboyant choices.
“Smoothly. Oddly. I don’t know.” Staying alert for approaching footsteps, Melissa added, “He’ll be back any minute.”
“I’ll talk fast. Did you pay attention to the guest list for Saturday?”
“No. Should I?” Melissa and three other coworkers rented rooms in Karen’s large home. This weekend, one of their group, nurse Anya Meeks, was getting married there. “As long as we have enough food, who cares?”
“You don’t mind that Edmond’s invited?”
That was a less-than-welcome surprise. “I had no idea. I wasn’t aware he knew Anya and Jack that well.”
Karen shrugged. “Anya posted on her wedding website that he’d brought them together. You’ll recall she hired him to arrange for Jack to waive his paternal rights after she found out she was pregnant. That set off a whole chain of events leading to...” She hummed a few bars of “Here Comes the Bride.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Several months ago, Anya had asked about a lawyer to help her explore giving up her baby for adoption and Melissa had recommended Edmond. “That hardly qualifies him as Cupid.” She sipped the milky liquid, enjoying its slight vanilla flavor.
“She led me to believe she’d already told Jack about the pregnancy.” Edmond peered through the doorway, his brown eyes alight with amusement at slipping into the discussion. “I dropped off what I assumed was routine paperwork to Jack and—bam! Fireworks.”
Despite an instinctive tensing at his appearance, Melissa had to smile at the image of her normally unflappable ex-husband facing Jack’s outrage. “You smoothed things over.”
“Not entirely. It was among the more awkward moments of my career,” Edmond said. “But all’s well that ends well.”
“And you’re coming to my house on Saturday?” Karen asked.
He gave a start. “The wedding’s at your house?”
“The address is on the invitation,” Karen pointed out.
“I didn’t check where it was. I figured I’d GPS it.” A puzzled line formed between Edmond’s dark eyebrows. “By the way, why did the invitation come with nose clips?”
Both women laughed. “You’ll find out,” Karen said.
Aware that Edmond disliked being kept in the dark, Melissa explained, “The house is next to an estuary. The smell of decomposing vegetation and fish can get a little ripe.”
“Dare I hope the wedding’s indoors?” he asked. “Nose clips don’t work too well with glasses.”
“It is,” she assured him.
“Glad to hear it.”
Karen scooped up Melissa’s empty mug. “Later, guys.”
Then she left them alone.
Chapter Two (#ulink_762f6524-084c-5de8-b9a2-bd4514c05290)
Edmond’s ethics had prevented him from questioning fellow staffers about his ex-wife’s pregnancy. Now that they were in private, though, it took all his resolve not to blurt the questions bedeviling him.
How frustrating that her condition made her glow even more than usual. That was saying a lot. The first time he’d seen Melissa, sitting with her friends at a UCLA campus coffee shop, light through a leaded glass window had bathed her in gold. Now, at the memory, her radiance hit him doubly hard.
They’d been a couple from the moment they met. He’d opened up to her, and she to him, or so he’d believed. They’d agreed that their marriage, their intimacy and their commitment would always be the center of their lives.
He’d been frank about the fact that fatherhood, on top of his demanding profession, would bring too many pressures. Edmond did nothing halfway, and he understood how important a father was to his children—a loving, devoted father, not a man who had them just because others expected him to. He’d taken on family responsibilities too young, filling in with his younger sister for an often-absent father and an emotionally withdrawn mother. And had done a poor job with her, as things turned out.
His wife’s announcement after five years of marriage that she wanted children had come out of nowhere. No warning, no hints before then that she’d changed her mind. Astonished and angry, he’d reacted strongly. Perhaps too strongly, but surely they could have saved their marriage if she was open to it. Instead, she’d walked out and cut off all communication about everything except divorce.
Despite his resentment, their deep connection had lingered in Edmond’s thoughts through the years. Although her presence in Safe Harbor hadn’t been his only reason for moving here, he’d looked forward to reconnecting, at least on a friendship basis. A friendship that might, in time, have grown.
No chance of that now. Not that Edmond begrudged her happiness. “Pregnancy suits you.”
Melissa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Nice of you to say so.”
“I never pay idle compliments.”
“I’m aware of that.” She waved him into a chair in front of her desk. A handful of brochures and papers were stacked more or less neatly on its polished wooden surface.
“Thank you for consenting to me being hired.” He’d been pleased to learn from Dr. Rayburn that she’d raised no objection.
“You’ll do a good job.” Her tapered fingers started to drum the desk, then stopped. “Why do you wish to be a consultant here?”
Noting her tension, he wondered at it. If she’d fallen in love with someone new, surely she’d be indifferent to him. Also, if she loved the father of her child, why was she sharing a house with friends?
“I applied for the post for financial and professional reasons,” he answered. “Until I arrived at Geoff Humphreys and Associates, the ‘associates’ consisted of a legal secretary and a receptionist. I’m slowly building a clientele, but it’s going to take a while.” He decided against mentioning that he’d also been attracted to the hospital opening because she was on staff.
“Why did you leave L.A.?” she asked. “I’m sure it paid better.” He’d earned a hefty salary, plus bonuses.
“It was cutthroat.” The partners at his old firm had encouraged associates to go for the jugular. The more Edmond saw of vicious divorces and custody battles, the less he appreciated that approach to family law.
Despite their pain, he and Melissa had behaved like rational adults during the divorce. That experience had been part of the reason he’d switched his focus to collaborative law and joined a smaller firm.
There’d been other reasons, as well. He’d sought to reduce his hours so he could help his parents and sister, who’d had a rough year. Then, after meeting Geoff and finding that their views dovetailed, he’d leaped at the chance to move to Safe Harbor. And possibly, to start over with Melissa.
Until today, he hadn’t admitted to himself how much he’d hoped she’d let go of her desire to have children. Once, she’d valued being with him above everything else, and as the years passed and she hadn’t remarried, he’d wondered if she might be experiencing some regret.
Obviously, he’d been wrong. Regardless of who the father was, she’d made an irreversible commitment to the child inside her. This pregnancy meant he’d truly lost her.
“So the short version is, you took the hospital consulting job because you need the business,” Melissa summarized.
“Harsh but accurate,” Edmond conceded. “Also, the legal aspects of new medical technologies present an interesting challenge.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t view my clients’ legal concerns as an ‘interesting challenge.’ They’re individuals facing real-life issues.” Judging by her tone, he gathered that he’d irritated her.
“Of course they’re individuals, but when they consult a lawyer, they deserve objective advice more than hand-holding.” Rather than continue in this vein, Edmond added, “My job description also includes educating the staff on family law topics, such as changes regarding adoptions and surrogacy.”
“I presume Tony is on board with this.”
“He’s the one who requested they hire a consultant.” Tony Franco, the hospital’s regular attorney, had his hands full dealing with liability and malpractice matters, as well as refining policies on patient privacy, patient rights and the in vitro program. “Geoff introduced us on the golf course a few months ago. He suggested I apply for the opening.”
“Congratulations.” Melissa stopped there. Whatever she was thinking, she guarded it well. He used to consider her an open book, but then again, if that had been true, he’d have had some idea of how radically she’d altered her opinion of parenthood.
After a brief silence, he said, “Let’s discuss how I can assist you with fertility patients. You’re on the front lines, I understand.”
“Fine. Later.”
“Why not now?” He wasn’t ready to cut short this meeting, not until he had a clearer picture of where she stood. How she felt. Who the damn father was.
Instead of a direct answer, she blurted, “Don’t go to the wedding.”
So that’s what’s on her mind. Edmond struggled to catch this conversational curve ball. “I already RSVP’d.”
“It isn’t set in concrete.” A cord of tension stood out in her slender neck. “You’re only attending to expand your contacts in the community, right?”
Not entirely. “There are personal as well as professional reasons. I had no idea it was at your house.” Why did this bother her? She’d agreed to work with him.
“It’s an informal event,” Melissa said. “One person more or less won’t affect anything. It’s not as if Jack and Anya will be stuck paying a caterer for an uneaten meal.”
Edmond had a tight schedule on Saturday, and skipping the afternoon event might ease things. But in view of his new consulting job, her friends were now his coworkers. Breaking his promise to attend would be rude. And he didn’t understand her reluctance.
Was she trying to hide the circumstances of her pregnancy? Surely she didn’t expect to keep him in the dark for long. Had she broken up with the father? Or was the prospect of introducing him to her ex-husband uncomfortable?
Edmond half hoped the guy was a bum with body odor. Maybe that’s the real reason for the nose clips. At the ridiculous notion, he smiled.
“You find this funny?” she asked.
“I was just...” He shook off his reflections. “We live in the same community.”
“Your choice, not mine.” Her low tone bordered on a growl.
“You gave your permission,” he reminded her.
“Not for you to relocate to Safe Harbor, only for this job. I’ve never been vindictive.”
“That’s true.”
“Then do me a favor and...” Halting, she paled, and sucked in several quick breaths.
“Are you okay?” Edmond leaned across the desk. “Shall I call someone?”
