Free Blush by Nicola Marsh Page B

an auntie…”
    “Sounds pretty fucked up to me,” Chantal interjected, making loopy circles at her temple. “Jess gets to have a place in this kid’s life but the father doesn’t?”
    An uncomfortable silence grew until Adele muttered, “Tell us how you really feel.”
    Chantal shrugged. “I have. Not that it’s making any difference.” She pointed at Adele’s belly. “That kid needs to know its father. It’s the right thing to do.”
    Before they could stop her, Chantal stomped out of the room, leaving Adele to face whatever else Jess wanted to dish out.
    They didn’t know each other well enough for Adele to confide her many fears, the main one being what if Reid discovered the truth, gave up his career and ended up hating both her and their child in the process?
    “Did Chantal tell you about her mom withholding the truth about her dad?”
    Adele nodded. “I can understand why she feels so strongly about this.”
    “Yeah, but you don’t need the added pressure,” Jess said, strolling around the dressing room, touching the velvet walls, toying with the feather boas, as if she had no idea what she was doing. “Ultimately, this is your decision, and I’ll support you whatever you choose.”
    For the second time in the last half hour, emotion clogged Adele’s throat. Jess trusted her enough to do the right thing. It meant a lot.
    “And Reid won’t hear about your pregnancy from me.” Jess made a lip zipping motion across her mouth. “But promise me one thing.”
    Adele blinked against the burn of tears. “What?”
    “From what I’ve heard so far, you’re thinking solely about Reid. How this will affect him. His career. His life.” Jess jabbed a finger in her direction. “I want you to consider carefully what would make you happy in all this. What about you ? What you want?”
    Adele bit back the ultimate truth: I want it all. The kid. The husband. The happily ever after .
    Sadly, she’d been a realist for too long and knew she’d only get one out of those three, and a beautiful baby would have to be enough.
    Ensuring her voice didn’t quaver, she said, “I want this baby to be happy and loved and cherished.”
    Three things she’d never had as a child and she’d do whatever it took to make it happen.
    “My brother’s going to miss out on so much…” Jess bit her bottom lip and took a few moments to compose herself before continuing, “Word of advice? I wasted ten years of my life because I was too scared to go after the guy I loved. Don’t make the same mistake.”
    Adele nodded, hoping she wouldn’t spend the next six months battling the urge to bawl, as Jess gave her a quick hug.
    “I’ll be in town for the next week before heading to Sydney.” Jess plucked at her sleeves, before stilling her fiddling fingers. “Maybe we can get together before I go?”
    Touched by Jess’s uncertainty, Adele nodded. “I’d like that.”
    Jess smiled, the similarity to her brother snatching Adele’s breath. “Great. I’ll call you.”
    It wasn’t until Jess had left that Adele realized how relieved she was to get Reid’s sister’s input.
    Not the ideal scenario, having Jess learn the truth, but to her credit Jess had handled the situation with diplomacy, care and understanding.
    Adele should be rapt. Nothing had to change and she now had the support of her baby’s aunt.
    Instead, all she could think about was Jess being able to watch this child grow and Reid couldn’t.
    Life wasn’t fair. If anyone knew the truth of that statement, she did.
    She had to focus on this baby and ignore the tiny, fractured pieces of her heart that continued to bleed whenever she associated her child and Reid together.

 
     
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    Reid couldn’t let his baby sister head to Australia for months without saying goodbye. And that meant a trip to Vegas.
    His excuse, he was sticking to it.
    So what if Jess had responded to his text last night with a short and sweet OUT WITH CHANTAL &