The Pregnancy Plan (13 page)

Ashley frowned at her sister’s question. “Why does the when matter?”

“Because Paige and I made a bet about when it would happen.”

“You
expected
this to happen?”

Megan smiled. “Honey, you’re probably the only one who didn’t. After seeing you and Cam together, it wasn’t a question of if, but when.”

Ashley huffed out a breath. “Three weeks ago,” she admitted.

“Damn. That means Paige wins.” She looked at her sister with obvious disapproval. “
I
thought you would hold out longer than that.”

Ashley squirmed. “Well, it’s been a long time.”

“And Cam has always known how to ring your bell.” Megan took a long sip of her Sprite, then looked across the table. “So—how is it?”

“Spectacular,” Ashley admitted.

Her sister grinned. “Good old Cam.”

“But I didn’t want to be having great sex with him,” Ashley told her sister.

“You wanted to be having lousy sex with him?”

She sighed. “I wanted to be having purposeful sex with him.”

“Purposeful?” Megan queried skeptically.

“For the purpose of procreation,” she explained.

“You want to have Cam’s baby?” There was more than a hint of concern in Megan’s question.

“No,” she denied. “I want to have
a
baby, and Cam has agreed to help me.”

Her sister frowned.

“You obviously don’t approve,” Ashley noted.

“I don’t understand,” Megan admitted.

“I thought it was pretty self-explanatory.”

“And if you get pregnant?”

Now it was Ashley’s turn to frown. “Why are you even asking that question? You know I’d be ecstatic.”

“But what would it mean for your relationship with Cam?” her sister wondered.

“Well, that’s what I’m worried about, because this was never supposed to be a relationship.”

“Just sex?” There was skepticism again—a lot of it.

“Yes,” Ashley insisted.

“And you expected that Cam would politely bow out of your life after his stud service had been completed?”

Her frown deepened. “You don’t have to make it sound so crude.”

“Using pretty words won’t change the intent,” Megan warned. “
If
that truly is your intent.”

“I was clear about what I wanted and Cam accepted the terms.”

“Do you really believe that?” her sister challenged.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ashley asked warily.

“Because you’ve seen that man with his daughter, you know how completely devoted he is to her, and yet you’ve somehow managed to delude yourself into believing that he would turn his back on another child.

“Or maybe,” Megan continued, “you let yourself believe it because you want the forever kind of tie that having a baby together would create.”

Ashley was stunned by her sister’s conclusion and immediately opened her mouth to deny it. But then she found herself wondering—could it be true? Had she only been deluding herself about what she wanted from Cam? Did she really want a future with him, a family with him?

“I have been such an idiot,” she said, reaching for her drink.

“Love will do that,” Megan said consolingly.

Love?

She nearly choked on her Diet Coke. Though she’d acknowledged that there was probably some truth in what her sister had said, she hadn’t yet made the jump from accepting that she had feelings for Cam to putting a label on those feelings.

“Oh. My. God.”

Megan looked at her, silently questioning.

“I
am
in love with him,” she admitted.

“Again—probably not news to anyone but yourself,” Megan told her.

“I thought I was being so smart. So careful.”

“Honey, this is a
good
thing, not a catastrophe.”

“That’s a viewpoint exclusive to the happily married,” Ashley told her. “The perspective of a woman who was in love with the same man once before is a little bit different.”

“You were both young,” her sister said gently.

“I know.” Which didn’t alter the fact that he’d trampled her heart and shattered her dreams. He’d known what she most wanted and taken it away from her.

And now he’s trying to give it back to you.

She wasn’t sure where that thought had come from, but she realized it was true. Whether or not Cam’s decision to help her have a baby was a conscious effort to make amends, there was no denying that he was offering her everything she’d always wanted.

Not just a baby but, if Megan’s theory was right, a family. A life and a future with Cam and Maddie and any other children they might have together.

“Maybe you’re right,” Ashley finally said to her sister. “Maybe this is a good thing.”

“Now that we’ve established that,” Megan said, as if her
conclusion was never in question, “is there anything else I should know?”

“I think I’ve made enough potentially life-altering revelations for one night,” Ashley told her.

But the truth was, there was one more.

Her period was two days late.

A
shley woke early Saturday morning feeling tired and crampy, but she still didn’t have her period. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and swallowed her daily dose of Fedentropin and the prenatal vitamins she’d been taking since she and Cam started sleeping together.

According to all the books she’d read—and she’d read a lot of them—it was important to take the vitamins not just in the first trimester of pregnancy but even before conception to ensure the mother’s body wasn’t lacking in any essential nutrients required for her baby’s healthy development. She laid a hand on her belly and thought about the tiny life that might already be growing inside of her. Cam’s baby.

She knew it was too early to make any plans. She didn’t even know for sure that she was pregnant. She was only a few days late and she hadn’t even taken a home pregnancy test, so sharing her suspicions with Cam might seem a little premature.

But when she headed out for her usual morning walk, she found herself turning toward his house. Her heart was pounding as she made her way along the interlocking brick path that led to his front door. She still didn’t know what she was going to say, or even if she would say anything, she was suddenly just anxious to see him.

She pressed the bell and heard the chime through the partially open living room window, then the sound of pounding footsteps. Maddie, she thought, with a smile.

The little girl opened the door just as Ashley heard an unfamiliar female voice call out from the background. “Madeline, you know you don’t open the door unless you know who it is.”

“It’s Miss Ashley,” Maddie called back, and pushed the door wider, giving Ashley a clear view down the hall.

A view that included a stunningly beautiful woman who didn’t seem to be wearing anything more than a silky robe that fell to mid-thigh.

Ashley felt as if the bottom had dropped out of her stomach.

The woman’s silky dark hair, delicate features and slim build clearly identified her as Maddie’s mother. And Cam’s ex-wife.

“Miss Ashley?” Danica questioned, moving toward the door without any apparent regard for or concern about her state of undress.

“She’s my teacher,” Maddie announced.

The other woman’s perfectly shaped brows lifted. “Oh. Well, I’ll have to apologize, Miss Ashley. We had a late night and you’ve caught us before we’re all up and about for the day.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Ashley said. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Daddy and I are going to make pancakes,” Maddie announced, oblivious to the tension between the adults. “Do you want to stay and have breakfast with us?”

Ashley shook her head. “Thanks, but I, uh, already ate.”

“You’re more than welcome to join us,” Danica said, as if she had every right to be inviting guests for breakfast in her ex-husband’s home. “Cameron should be down from the shower in just a minute or two, and he really does make fabulous pancakes.”

“I’m sure he does,” Ashley said, because she’d never actually tasted
Cameron’s
pancakes. Because he’d never made breakfast for her after spending the night in her bed. Because that wasn’t the kind of relationship they had. “But I really can’t stay.”

Those brows lifted again, and Ashley knew the other woman was wondering why she’d stopped by in the first place. So she made a hasty retreat before her lover’s ex-wife could ask the question she had no idea how to answer.

Cam had become accustomed to changing his plans at a moment’s notice, because he believed that it was important for Madeline to spend time with her mother. So whenever Danica contacted him to say that she would be in town—whether she gave him a week’s notice or called from the nearest airport—he tried to accommodate her. That didn’t mean he didn’t resent it.

But he’d never resented it more than when he got the call Friday night and had to rearrange his whole weekend schedule. A weekend that he’d planned to include a sleepover for Maddie at her grandparents’ and a quiet, romantic evening at home for himself with Ashley. He definitely resented having to change those plans.

After breakfast Saturday morning, he suggested that Danica take Maddie to her ballet class. He figured it would give his ex-wife the opportunity to see how well her daughter’s dancing was coming along and give Maddie some time alone with her mother. But Danica balked at the
idea, claiming she would love to see Maddie dance but that she was uncomfortable driving in an unfamiliar city. So the three of them had gone to Maddie’s dance class, then to Walton’s for ice cream, then to the grocery store to pick up a few things. By the time they got back home, most of the day was gone.

Cam checked the answering machine, listened to the three messages that had recorded. The first was from his mother, just checking in, the second was a credit card company wanting to share important information about his account and the third was Maddie’s friend Victoria.

Maddie overheard the last message and insisted on calling her friend back right away. Cam recited the number for her to dial, while Danica set up her laptop at the breakfast bar to check her e-mail.

Cam put the groceries away while Maddie chatted to her friend and Danica clicked away on her keyboard.

Maddie hung up the phone and skipped back into the kitchen. “Daddy, I need you to take me to Victoria’s.”

“First of all, you
ask
if I can take you to Victoria’s,” he told her. “Second, you have to get permission before you make plans. And third, you can’t go to Victoria’s today because your mom is here to visit with you.”

Maddie glanced at her mother, who was engrossed in her electronic correspondence and oblivious to their conversation.

“She’s working, and I want to play with Victoria.”

His usually sweet-natured daughter wasn’t prone to temper tantrums, but Cam sensed that this was one of the rare occasions when she was heading in that direction. “I know you’re disappointed, Maddie,” he said reasonably, “but it’s not often that you have the opportunity to spend time with your mom so you need to take advantage of it while you can.”

“She doesn’t want to spend time with me,” Maddie said.
“Even when I go to London, she sends me off to museums and zoos with Peggy. I want to play with Victoria.”

The mention of London seemed to catch Danica’s attention, because she glanced over at Maddie and frowned, but she didn’t dispute her daughter’s claim. And while Cam was disappointed to learn that Maddie had spent her time in London with her mother’s assistant rather than Danica, he wasn’t really surprised.

“How about a compromise?” he suggested to his daughter now.

“What’s a compromise?”

“It’s when two people who want different things both accept that they can’t have what they want but agree on something in the middle.”

Her brow furrowed as she tried to follow that explanation. “What’s in the middle?”

“Well, in this case, it might be Victoria coming over here to play.”

She considered that for a minute before she asked, “But what if she doesn’t want to come here because she doesn’t want to intrude?”

He wasn’t sure what had precipitated that question, but he answered it anyway, “If you invite someone, it’s not an intrusion.”

“But I invited Miss Ashley to stay for pancakes and she said she didn’t want to intrude.”

Cam frowned. “When was this?”

“At breakfast.”

“Today?”

She nodded.

He looked at Danica, directing his next question at her. “Ashley was here this morning?”

“Did I forget to mention that?” Danica said.

Cam narrowed his gaze on his ex-wife, but she only shrugged.

“I didn’t realize she was here to see
you,
” she protested. “In fact, she didn’t mention why she’d stopped by.”

“Maddie, please call Victoria back and ask if she can come here to play.”

Happy to accept his proposed compromise, she skipped off again.

“So who is Ashley?” Danica asked. “Because obviously she’s someone more than Madeline’s teacher.”

“She’s a friend.”

“Our daughter seems quite taken with her,” Danica noted.

“She’s spent a lot of time with Ashley over the past few months.”

“In the classroom—or here?”

He wasn’t ashamed of his relationship with Ashley and he had no intention of hiding it from his ex-wife. On the other hand, he didn’t feel as if he owed Danica any explanations, so he only asked, “Why the twenty questions?”

“I’m just curious about the woman you seem to have lined up to fill the role of stepmother in my daughter’s life.”

There was an unexpected edge to her voice, but Cam had learned a long time ago that Danica could manufacture whatever emotions were required to suit her purposes. “And I’m curious to know why you think spending maybe thirty days a year with your daughter gives you the right to turn everything upside-down when you do show up for a visit.”

“If my being here is interfering with your life, I can go,” she said coolly.

“You’d like me to say yes, wouldn’t you? Then you could blame me for the lousy relationship you have with our daughter.”

She looked away, but not before he saw her eyes fill with tears.

“Victoria’s coming to play,” Maddie announced, coming back to the kitchen. “Her mommy’s going to drop her off so I’m going to sit on the porch to wait for her.”

“Put your coat on, and make sure you stay on the porch.” Cam reminded her.

“I will,” she promised.

Danica watched her daughter walk away.

“No,” she responded to his earlier question. “I know the lousy relationship I have with Madeline is entirely my fault.”

He sighed. “You know it doesn’t have to be like this. I would never deny you the opportunity to spend more time with Maddie.”

“I know,” she admitted. “But it’s better this way. Really.”

Cam didn’t argue with her. He’d spent far too much time doing exactly that over the years and it had never changed anything. It made him wonder how he’d ever thought himself in love with Danica when it was apparent now that he’d never known her at all.

He pushed the thought, and the regrets, aside. He wasn’t going to dwell on the mistakes of the past. He had too much to look forward to for the future—with Ashley.

Ashley was in the garage, up to her elbows in tangled Christmas lights, when Cam came up the walk. She’d been outside for a while, so her fingers were cold and struggling with the task. So far, she’d managed to untangle only half of one sixteen-foot strand.

Her frustration with the lights paled in comparison to her annoyance with him, though she wasn’t entirely sure her annoyance was either rational or founded except that it was now after three o’clock in the afternoon and she’d been thinking about Cam being with his ex-wife for more than six hours.

He studied her for a moment, as if trying to figure out what she was doing, or maybe he didn’t know what to say to her, either. But when he spoke, his voice was light, teasing.

“Jumping the gun, aren’t you?”

Something she seemed to be doing a lot of these days. But all she said was, “I prefer not to be climbing a ladder when it’s snowing.”

“You shouldn’t be climbing a ladder at all,” he said. “I can do that for you.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t need your help. I’ve been handling this particular task on my own for several years now and am more than capable of continuing to do so.”

He tucked his hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels. “You’re annoyed with me.”

She was, but she couldn’t admit it because she had no right to be annoyed with him. So she shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“I heard you met my ex-wife this morning.”

“Formal introductions weren’t made, but yes, I met your ex-wife.”

“What did she say to cause this mood?” he wanted to know.

“Nothing,” she said, because it was true. “In fact, she was very pleasant.”

He eyed her warily. “So why are you angry?”

She gave up trying to pretend that she wasn’t. “Because she was in her robe and you were in the shower.”

He took a moment to absorb her statement and the implications of it. When he responded, his tone was deliberate and even, as if he was trying to hold his own annoyance in check. “You don’t honestly think I slept with Danica?”

She had thought that—if only for half a second. But that half a second had been long enough to make her question the relationship they’d only started to build, and make her wonder if she might lose him again.

“Ashley?” he prompted.

There was a definite edge in his voice, a dangerous glint in his eye, and she knew she’d been foolish to give in to her fears and insecurities for even that half-second.

“No,” she finally responded. “At least, not when I think about it logically.” Then she sighed and dumped the tangle of lights at her feet. “On the other hand, the door opens and there she is, and she’s beautiful and half-naked and we never talked about exclusivity or lack of.”

“I didn’t think we needed to have a discussion,” Cam said. “I thought the fact that we were sleeping together implied exclusivity.”

“I don’t assume anything,” she said. “Not anymore.”

His gaze narrowed. “Don’t you dare compare me to that idiot you were engaged to.”

“I’m not. At least, I’m trying not to. But I was the one who said this was just about sex, that I didn’t want a relationship.”

“Have you changed your mind?”

“No,” she said, and immediately felt guilty for the lie. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Cam picked up one end of a light strand and methodically began to unravel it. She wished she could do the same with the mess of emotions tangled inside of her. But every time she thought she’d figured out one thread, something happened to twist it up again.

“I just wish you’d told me that she was coming,” she said, because coming face to face with the stunning woman he’d married had felt like a sucker punch.

“I would have told you if I’d known,” he said gently.

She frowned at that. “You didn’t?”

“Danica has a habit of calling at the last minute, showing up on a whim. And because Madeline gets little enough time with her mother, I let her.”