Free Mixed Blessings by Danielle Steel

Pilar looked amused. Why was everyone so anxious to know if she and Brad were going to have a baby?

    "The world of hormones could be yours too," Alice teased as she stood up and looked across the desk at her. They were good friends, and both women knew that they always would be.

    "Actually, with your luck, you'd probably get pregnant the first time you tried. And don't give me that shit about age." You're only forty-two. I'm not impressed, Grandma Coleman."

    "Thanks. But I think I'll spare myself that little headache anyway. Poor Brad . . . he'd be stunned . . . and so would I." She grinned at her law partner and stood up as she glanced at her watch. She had a lunch date with her stepdaughter, and she was going to be late if she didn't hurry.

    "Do you want me to do some digging about surrogates?"

    Alice was always a good sport about doing research. "I've got some time this afternoon and tomorrow morning."

    "Thanks, but I wouldn't spend the time on it. I don't think they'll call back. I'm not even sure they're going to press for visitation. I think they want the whole shot or nothing. I could be wrong, but I think they're going to find someone cheaper than we are who'll promise them the moon, and wind up offering them visitation, if they're lucky."

    "Okay. Let me know if they call."

    "I will . . . and thanks for the offer." The two women exchanged a smile, and Alice went back to her own office across the hall. She was less busy than Pilar, less intense, less inclined to do litigation.

    She liked the interesting cases that involved unusual points of law.
    If she had been a doctor, she would have done research. And she only worked part time now. She stayed home two days a week with her kids, which didn't bother Pilar.

    They had their own styles, and Bruce did more than his share of work.

    He liked the civil suits, the corporate cases that went to court. He loved dealing with the institutions, and Pilar loved the people. They were a good team, and on really tough cases they often conferred, and when necessary they hired on assistants. It was exactly the way Pilar had always wanted to practice law. She felt capable and independent and free to choose the cases she wanted to take on, and she liked the people she practiced law with. She liked Brad's associates on the bench too. They had an interesting circle of friends, even though once in a while she complained that they never saw anyone except judges and lawyers. But the truth was, she loved it.

    Pilar couldn't imagine a life without work, or the law. As she drove downtown to meet Nancy, she found herself wondering, as she always did, how her stepdaughter could stand an idle life, without working. She hadn't had a job since she'd gotten married the year before, and Pilar thought she should. But Brad insisted that his children had to lead their own lives, and Pilar did her best not to interfere, or contradict him. But it wasn't always easy. She had her own opinions too. Her own list of things she believed in, and work was high on that list.

    But apparently not on Nancy's.

    When Pilar got to the Paradise, she was ten minutes late, and Nancy was already waiting for her, wearing a dark knit dress and boots and a red coat, her long blond hair brushed back and held with a velvet ribbon.

    And as usual, she looked very pretty.

    "Hi, darling. You look great!" Pilar swept into her seat, glanced at the menu, ordered as soon as the waiter came, and turned her attention to Nancy. She had the vague feeling that something was bothering her, but she didn't want to pry, and she decided to wait and see what surfaced during lunch. But she was in no way prepared for Nancy's news, which didn't come until dessert, which was a large piece of chocolate decadence with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Pilar was impressed by her choice when she ordered, and even more so when she saw it. Nancy was certainly in good health and eating well, but at least it didn't show, she was as thin as