Treading Water (44 page)

As one long summer day faded into another
Andi began to accept he wasn’t coming and felt like she’d lost him
all over again. Now here it was, August twenty-fourth, and she was
left to mark the second anniversary of the day they met alone, with
only his babies moving around inside her to remind her that they’d
ever been together at all.

Eric came out of his room and peeked in to
check on her. While he couldn’t wait to be a big brother, she knew
he was grossed out by the size of her belly. He’d told her he hoped
the babies would come soon so she could stop being so fat.

She crooked a finger at him.

He jumped up on the bed with her.

She lifted the covers and snuggled him in
next to her. They must’ve dozed off, because the next thing she
knew, the phone was ringing, and she was startled to see it was
after nine. She reached for the phone.

“
Good morning,” Jen said.
“How are you feeling today?”

“
Like I’m eight months
pregnant and overslept,” Andi grumbled.

“
Why don’t you stay there
for a while longer? I’ll send up some breakfast for you and Eric. I
can cover this morning. Take a break, Andi.”

“
I just might do that. My
back is on fire.” Andi reached down to massage it. The pain in her
back had gotten worse since yesterday, which had been a chaotic day
at the hotel. Among several smaller disasters, Jen had closed the
south veranda after cracks were discovered in the still-new patio.
Jen arranged to have it repaired, and Andi left it in her capable
hands.

“
Don’t forget, you have the
meeting with that distributor at noon, but otherwise, I can handle
everything else,” Jen said. “Bring Eric down with you when you
come. He can hang out with me while you’re in your
meeting.”

The rep from the liquor distributor had left
so many messages that Andi finally agreed to let Jen set up a
meeting to discuss stocking his brands at Infinity Newport.

“
Sounds good, thanks,” Andi
said and hung up. “Well, buddy, looks like we have some time to
hang out and relax,” she signed to Eric.

He grinned. “Good.”

Just before noon, Andi and Eric walked hand
in hand through the lobby to her office, where Jen waited for
them.

She looked up from Andi’s desk. “Hey, guys.”
Jen signed to include Eric. She’d insisted her boss slow down over
the last few weeks and had taken on many of Andi’s duties.

“
Thanks again for the
morning in bed. It did wonders for my disposition,” Andi said with
a grin. “Is the liquor guy here yet?”

“
He came in a few minutes
ago. For some reason, he wants to meet with you upstairs, so I’ll
walk you up and then I’ll take this guy outside for a while,” Jen
said, reaching out to ruffle Eric’s hair.

He dodged her hand with a giggle.

“
Why upstairs?” Andi asked,
annoyed by the pesky salesman. “We have a perfectly good conference
room down here.”

“
I don’t know,” Jen said
with a shrug. “He said he’d be up there when you were ready, so
let’s go.”

Since Andi avoided the stairs these days,
they took the elevator to the second floor. Jen and Eric walked out
ahead of her, and when Andi stepped off the elevator, Jack was
waiting for her.

She gasped and drank in the sight of him. He
wore a navy polo shirt with khaki shorts, and even though he looked
tired, he had never been more handsome. “What’re you doing
here?”

He held out one hand to her and the other to
Eric as Jen stepped into the elevator and left them alone.

Andi looked back as the elevator doors
closed. “What’s going on?”

“
Come with me.” Jack led
them to the top of the stairway, to the spot she’d once told him
was her favorite place in the hotel, and gestured for her to have a
seat in the chair he’d put there for her.

Standing next to her, Eric put an arm around
her shoulders.

Jack knelt in front of her to rest his face
against her pregnant belly and was rewarded with a solid kick to
the cheek from one of the babies. He laughed as his eyes met
hers.

The look on his face stopped her heart.

“
Andrea, two years ago
today you walked into my life and changed it forever.” Jack signed
as he spoke to include Eric.

Andi looked down at Jack, still shocked to
see him and not sure yet why he was there.

“
I asked you to take an
enormous leap of faith by coming into my life, and you did it so
willingly. A lot’s happened since then, but one thing has never
changed. I’ve loved you from the first instant I saw you, and I
always will. I’m here today because, for the first time since we
met two years ago, I’m completely free to love you, free to make a
life with you and our children, and free to marry you if you’ll
have me.” He held up a large diamond ring.

Andi’s hand flew to her mouth. Tears rolled
down her face as his words registered, and she finally got exactly
what he was doing.

He slid the ring onto her
left hand. “Andi, will you please,
please
marry me?”

Unable to get a word past the huge lump in
her throat, she nodded and glanced at Eric, who didn’t seem as
surprised by this as she was. She held out her arms to Jack, and he
wrapped her and Eric in a tight embrace. Andi breathed in the scent
she’d recognize anywhere as his.

He held them both for a long time before he
leaned back to kiss her and wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“
I thought you weren’t
coming,” she whispered when she could speak again.

“
I wasn’t coming until I
could offer you everything.” The weariness she saw in him told her
what it had cost him to stay away.

Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved two
folded pieces of paper. The first one he handed her was a marriage
license.

She sucked in a sharp deep
breath when she saw the date. “
Today?
”

He smiled and signed. “It
had to be today. And do you really think there’re cracks on
my
veranda?”

Eric giggled at the face she made when she
realized she’d been had.

“
Were you in on this?” she
signed to her son.

Eric nodded with glee.

“
He gave me his permission
to marry you a week ago and was a very big boy to keep it a secret.
I have something for you, too, Eric.” Jack handed the second piece
of paper to the boy.

Eric unfolded it and passed it to his mother
when he didn’t understand what it said.

“
It’s a petition for
adoption,” Andi signed for Eric. Alec Walsh’s signature
relinquished all claims to his son. Stunned, she looked up at Jack.
“How did you do this?”

“
I hired an investigator to
find him, and he signed it two days ago,” Jack said, but he didn’t
sign that part to spare Eric.

“
He wouldn’t have done that
unless there was something in it for him,” Andi said
softly.

“
Don’t worry about
that.”

“
He’ll be back for
more.”

“
No, he won’t.”

Eric looked confused, so Jack turned to
him.

“
I love you, Eric, and I
want you to be my son,” he signed. “I want more than just to have
you living in my house. I want you to have my name, too. I’d like
to adopt you, and that’s what the paper says. Will you have me as
your father, Eric Harrington?”

Eric nodded eagerly. “Can I call you Dad
now?”

“
Yes, buddy,” Jack signed,
his voice hoarse with emotion.

He hugged them both as a loud cheer erupted
from downstairs.

Their family and friends started up the
stairs, dressed for a Tuesday afternoon wedding. Jill, Kate, and
Maggie were first in line. Andi’s mother and Aunt Lou followed the
girls. David, Lauren, and their girls were there, as were Frannie,
Jamie, and the twins, Jack’s parents, and Jamie’s parents. Standing
behind them were Andi’s former coworkers from Chicago, Jack’s
colleagues from HBA, and most of the Infinity Newport staff.

Jen gave Quinn a high five and a delighted
smile that they’d managed to pull off Jack’s best surprise yet.

Jack took Andi’s hand to help her up to
greet their guests. “We have a wedding to get to,” he said.

“
I can’t go looking like
this.” She gestured to her casual summer dress as she received hugs
from the girls. Seeing Jill and Maggie for the first time in months
brought new tears to her eyes.

“
Not to worry, Andi, I’ve
got you covered there.” Frannie handed Olivia to Jamie. “Let’s go.
He’s giving us thirty minutes, and that’s it.”

“
Don’t be late,” Jack said,
watching her be swept up by Frannie and the girls.

Almost afraid to walk away, Andi glanced
back at him. What if she’d imagined the whole thing? “How in the
world did he do all this?” she whispered to Frannie.

“
He enlisted the help of
all of us to throw together a wedding on short notice. I hope you
don’t mind that I designated myself your matron of honor,” Frannie
said as she hustled Andi into the suite that had been set aside to
get her ready.

“
Of course not. You’d be my
first choice. But Frannie, how did he get divorced so fast? I don’t
get it.” She kept her voice low so the girls wouldn’t hear
her.

“
He went to the Dominican
Republic.”

Andi had heard of the expedited Dominican
divorce, but had never known of anyone who’d done it.

“
He’s been divorced for
more than a week, but he was waiting for the adoption matter to be
resolved and then, of course, the date today was
significant.”

“
I still can’t believe it.”
Andi looked down at her gorgeous engagement ring. On her other
hand, she still wore the sapphire he’d given her on their first
Christmas together.

“
He didn’t want the babies
coming into the world without their father married to their mother.
When it became possible for him to prevent that, he did. He’s been
like a cat on a hot tin roof hoping you wouldn’t deliver
early.”

Andi smiled at the image, knowing patience
wasn’t Jack’s strong suit.

“
We’ll run out of time if
we keep gabbing. Let’s get you dressed and ready.”

Andi put her hand on her soon-to-be
sister-in-law’s arm. “I have no doubt you moved heaven and earth to
help him like you always do. Thank you for everything.”

“
It was my pleasure. Come
see the dress I found for you—they won’t even be able to tell
you’re pregnant.”

Andi howled with laughter.

She floated through a dream as she married
Jack on the south veranda, which had been converted to a magical
setting for the wedding. Jamie once again served as Jack’s best
man, and Frannie stood with Andi. Before they took their vows, they
asked the girls to come up next to Andi, and Jack extended a hand
to Eric, who’d put on a tie for the occasion. The only thing that
detracted from an otherwise spectacular day was the grinding pain
in Andi’s back, which was becoming harder to ignore.

After the ceremony, the band Jack had hired
called Kate up to sing with them. Jack sat with an arm around Andi
to watch Kate perform with a live band. She sang “Bless the Broken
Road,” and by the time she reached the chorus, the bride and groom
were mopping up tears.

The wedding guests cheered as the band
played the final notes of the song. Kate was so polished and
professional when she turned to applaud the band that Andi clutched
Jack’s hand when she saw him watching in amazement.

He told Andi he would ask for only one dance
that day and sang along to “The Way You Look Tonight,” changing
“tonight” to “today.”

When she reached up to kiss him a gush of
wetness between her legs made her gasp.

“
Honey, what is
it?”

“
I think my water
broke.”

“
Are you sure?”

She looked down at the puddle around her
feet and then back up at him, nodding.

“
Okay, come on, I’ll tell
Jamie to keep things going here. No need to break up the party,”
Jack said as he spirited her off the dance floor.

But before they could make their getaway,
Andi bent in half with a contraction that left her unable to move
or breathe. She’d no sooner gotten through that one when another
hit her.

“
Jack,” she panted, already
resisting the urge to push. “I don’t think we have time to get to
the hospital.”

Frannie helped Jack get Andi upstairs while
Jamie asked everyone to continue enjoying the party.

“
Looks like we might be
offering two events for the price of one today,” Jamie said to
nervous laughter from the wedding guests.

“
Oh my God, I need to
push,” Andi said, overwhelmed by the sensation.

Jack gave Frannie a panicked look.

“
Maybe there’s a doctor in
the hotel,” Frannie said.

The minute they got Andi into bed, Jack
called down to the front desk and asked them to see if they could
find a doctor. He also called Dr. Abbott, who assured him she was
on her way but would be thirty minutes or more.

“
Hurry,” Jack said and
turned back to Andi, who cried out as another contraction ripped
through her. Between contractions, Jack and Frannie helped her out
of her wedding dress and into a nightgown.

“
I’m so sorry, Jack,” Andi
said, blinking back tears. “I ruined our wedding.”