Mommy by Mistake (34 page)

“That
is
quite unusual,” Frances said helpfully.

“But I don’t care if it’s freaky. I don’t care if it’s a risk and if it’s complicated. Sometimes complications are exactly what we need. You are a very complicated person. And I need you.” Jack took a deep breath and shrugged. “You make my heart beat stronger than it ever has.”

There was a collective female sigh in the room.

“There, I’ve said it, and I said it in front all of these strange and quite scary women and that guy, because I’m less frightened of them than I am of being alone with you and you turning me down.”

“But,” Natalie said with a tiny smile, “we’d be mad, wouldn’t we?”

“I would say so,” Jack agreed with a curt nod.

“Doomed to almost certain failure?”

“If we always put Freddie first, it might work,” Jack said urgently, taking two more steps closer to her. “And anyway, on paper it might look like a terrible idea, but here in my heart it feels like the right thing to do. The only thing to do.” Jack paused and glanced at his captive audience. “Have I overplayed the corny romantic gesture part yet?”

“Not as far as I’m concerned,” Meg said, misty-eyed, her hands clasped to her chest.

“Maybe slightly,” Frances suggested.

“No,” Natalie said slowly, afraid to blink in case she shed a tear. “No, you haven’t, because I feel the way you do. I just had no idea, no idea at all that you felt the same. I never could have asked you, I would have been too afraid. You’ve been the strong one, the brave one. You’re the one with guts. I want this, Jack, I want to be with you.”

“Will you go out with me, then?” Jack asked her, smiling broadly.

“I will,” Natalie said, and the two of them stood in the middle of the kitchen, in the middle of the baby group, grinning at each other.

“Is that it?” Jess asked. “Aren’t you going to kiss or something?”

“Not in front of all of you, we’re not,” Natalie said, smiling at her. “And besides, we haven’t even been on a second date yet.”

“Oh, who cares about convention,” Jack said decisively, and before she could move, he had closed the last two steps between them, taken her face in his hands, and was kissing her. Somewhere dimly outside the feel of his lips on hers and his fingers in her hair as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, Natalie heard all her friends laughing and cheering.

“There’s just one thing I want to know,” Jill asked. “Is every baby group meeting going to be like this one?”

I
consider myself extremely lucky to have two wonderful editors working on my books and I want to say thank you so much to Georgina Hawtrey-Woore, who has been so supportive and dedicated during the writing of
Mommy By Mistake
, and to Kate Elton, whose early input was so important to the book. Georgina and Kate, I hope you know how highly I value you both.

Thank you to all of Random House, and especially my heroes in the sales, marketing, and publicity departments, who have done such sterling work on my behalf for which I am truly grateful.

And thank you to the lovely Maggie Crawford and the wonderful team at Pocket Books, who I feel so privileged and fortunate to be working with.

Thank you also to my agent and good friend Lizzy Kremer, who is a constant source of support, ideas, and, most important, laughs—she always keeps me sane.

To my stalwart friends who are always there even if I don’t see
them often enough: Jenny Mathews (Mrs. Basquille), Clare Winter, Lynne Smith, Sarah Boswell, Cathy Carter, Rosie Wooley. Thanks for generating the sales, girls! I miss all of you.

Very many thanks to the dear friends I see every day and who have given me so much support over the last year: Margi Harris, Kirstie Seaman, and Catherine Ashley.

My mother has always been extremely supportive of my career and I don’t think I have ever thanked her enough for everything she’s done for me over the years, so thank you, Mom. I love you.

Finally, thank you to Erol, who always makes me smile and laugh, and whose dedication as a husband and father I learned to truly appreciate when trying to imagine life without him. It’s something I never want to have to experience for real! And to my darling little girl, Lily, who is a constant source of inspiration and ideas and who lights up every day.

I
NTRODUCTION

W
hen a spur-of-the-moment romantic weekend has unexpected consequences, successful lingerie designer Natalie Curzon believes she is ready to tackle motherhood singlehandedly. But is any woman ever truly ready to cope with such an enormous life change? While she loves her baby, Freddie, Natalie finds it difficult to be home alone all day with him and her post-pregnancy hormones. During a rehaul of her house’s electrical system, Natalie meets Tiffany, the teenage girlfriend of one of the electricians, who also has just become a mother. They start a baby group and suddenly parenthood is no longer a solitary experience. When Natalie’s estranged mother comes for a visit and Freddie’s father unexpectedly reappears, Natalie realizes she has to make some major decisions, not just for herself, but for her baby as well.

D
ISCUSSION
Q
UESTIONS

1. Mommy By Mistake
   opens with Natalie skipping an important business meeting in order to have lunch with an attractive stranger, which leads to dinner and a weekend with him in Venice. What is your first impression of Natalie Curzon? Discuss whether you would have accepted the same invitations from a man you had just met.
   
2. What did you initially think of Jack Newhouse when you learned he didn’t call Natalie after their romantic weekend in Venice? Did your estimation of Jack change later in the story when he explained why he didn’t call her? Did it change again with his reaction to the news that Natalie gave birth to his son?
   
3. Why does Natalie lie to the electrician Gary Fisher about having a husband who works in Dubai? Why does she perpetuate this lie with the parents in the baby group? Are her reasons for making up a husband as simple as she rationalizes to herself?
   
4. One of the strongest friendships that develops in the novel is the one between thirty-six-year-old successful businesswoman Natalie and sixteen-year-old high school dropout Tiffany. Why do you think these two very different females become friends? How do they complement each other?
   
5. Discuss why Natalie is reluctant to contact Jack, the father of her baby, when she is given his phone number. What would you do if you were in Natalie’s position?
   
6. What is your impression of Sandy, Natalie’s mother? How do you think Sandy’s style of parenting influences Natalie’s behavior toward her son? How are Natalie and Sandy alike? How are they different? How is Natalie’s experience as a single
   parent different from that of her mother in the 1970s–1980s?
   
7. Were you surprised when thirty-six-year-old Natalie told herself “I might not feel like a grown-up but I have to act like one”? Which of Natalie’s actions indicate that she doesn’t feel like a grown-up? In which situations does her mature behavior belie her estimation of herself?
   
8. Which female character in the novel do you identify with most strongly? Which female character’s lifestyle appeals to you most?
   
9. Discuss Meg’s reaction to the text her husband Robert receives in the middle of the night. Did you initially think Meg’s reaction to it was reasonable? Warm-hearted, family-loving Meg faces a major life decision at the end of the novel. How do you think her four children might influence her decision?
   
10. Do you think that Natalie and Jack are in love with each other? Do you think they will get married? How do you envision their life together? Natalie is attracted to two different men during the course of the novel, Jack and Gary. Which man do you think would make a better husband for Natalie? How about for you? What would Natalie’s life be like if she married Gary?
    

Q
UESTIONS FOR THE
A
UTHOR

1. Natalie Curzon is a vibrant, unpredictable heroine. Why were you drawn to writing a novel about such an impulsive woman?

I have often written about women who hesitate to grab on to life and make the most of it, like Catherine in
Another Mother’s Life
or
Sophie in
The Accidental Mother.
I thought it would be fun to have a heroine who came from the opposite extreme—and it was. I had a great time creating Natalie.

2. Have you ever belonged to a baby group?

Not a formal one. Like Natalie I wasn’t keen on the idea of a structured group of women thrown together with nothing in common but a baby—but I did develop a group of friends through my little girl who became a crucial support network.

3. Did becoming a mother change the way you write?

It’s hard to say really. I’ve only written one book before my daughter was born and I was pregnant throughout writing it. It is true that motherhood and how it defines and influences both your own life and those of your children is a constant source of inspiration and interest to me, and that is evident in my books.

4. You write from a number of different perspectives in
Mommy By Mistake.
Was there a character you particularly identified with or enjoyed voicing?

I thought that I would love Natalie the most and the other supporting characters would be great to write but not be so exciting. I was wrong. All of the characters became my friends and I enjoyed them all—my very own imaginary baby group!

5. You depict a complex and difficult mother/daughter relationship in
Mommy By Mistake.
How do you manage to inject such emotional realism and poignancy into your writing?
I think that mother/daughter relationships are so fascinating—so fiercely loyal and loving and yet so potentially destructive and painful. I put a little of my own experience into this book, but I
also talked to a lot of other mothers and daughters to create that story line.

6. How do the themes in
Mommy By Mistake
relate to those you addressed in your earlier novels
Another Mother’s Life
and
The Accidental Mother
?

Modern motherhood is a difficult path to follow. The role is much less clearly defined than it used to be half a century ago. In all three of these books I’m exploring what it’s like to be a mother in the twenty-first century and how to reconcile the demands of being a single, teen, or adoptive mother with the common goal—which is to do the best for your children.

7. Have you finished writing the sequel to
The Accidental Mother,
which became a bestseller in the United States and the United Kingdom? When can readers expect a new Sophie Mills novel?

Just this afternoon I have dotted the last “i” and crossed the final “t” on the new Sophie Mills book
The Accidental Family.
It was wonderful to be back with Sophie and Louis and the girls again and to find out what happens next in their lives—you’ll have to read it if you want to find out what happens!