Free The Bridesmaid's Baby by Barbara Hannay

‘Thanks for helping me with the python,’ she remembered to say as they crossed the lounge room.
    Will smiled. ‘My pleasure. I hope he makes a good recovery, and thanks for the drink and the chat. It was like old times.’
    No, Lucy thought. Blurting out her desire to have a baby was not remotely like old times.
    They went through to the kitchen, where Will collected his jacket and tie, and then on to the front door. His hand touched Lucy’s shoulder and she jumped.
    ‘See you later, Goose.’ He dropped a light kiss on her cheek and then he was gone.
     
    Will felt as if he’d stepped off a roller coaster as he started up the truck and drove away, watching the lights of Lucy’s house grow smaller and more distant in the rear-vision mirror.
    What a crazy night! In a matter of hours, he’d gone from being best man at a wedding to standing in as a veterinary nurse to fielding a request for his services as a father for Lucy’s baby.
    Not that Lucy had been serious, of course.
    But bloody hell. The thought gripped Will and frightened him beyond belief. His heart had almost raced out of control when Lucy made that offhand suggestion tonight.
    He was still shaken now, even though the subject had been laid to rest. Problem was, he couldn’t let it go.
    He kept thinking about how badly she wanted a baby. If he hadn’t seen the emotional pain that Gina had been through, or if he hadn’t so recently attended Keith’s funeral, he might not have caught the genuine longing in Lucy’s voice. In her eyes.
    He might not have understood, might have simply thought she was selfish, wanting it all, when she already had so much.
    But now he got it, he really understood that the desire to have a child came from somewhere deep, so deep that it couldn’t be properly explained. And it shouldn’t be ignored.
    But should he be involved? For Pete’s sake, he’d seen the haunted loneliness in Lucy’s eyes and he’d almost grabbed her suggestion and moulded it into a realistic option.
    They’d been such good friends and he’d wanted to help her.
    But father her baby?
    That was even crazier than the way he’d felt when he’d danced with her tonight at the wedding. It was the kiss on the veranda revisited. He’d been caught out by unexpected emotions, by an inappropriate desire to get too close to Lucy.
    Every time she’d stumbled against him, he’d wanted to keep her close. He’d wanted to inhale the clean, rosy scent of her skin, to touch his lips to her skin, right there, in front of the wedding guests.
    Thank heavens he’d had the sense to stop dancing before things got out of hand.
    But it didn’t really make sense that he was feeling this way about Lucy now. Why would he want to play second fiddle to the memory of his brother?
    If he’d wanted Lucy as his girlfriend, he should have grabbed the chance when they were at university, before she got to know Josh. Problem was, he’d been too distracted by the sheer numbers of girls at Sydney Uni and he’d wanted to play the field.
    And, truth be told, when he thought about those days, he had to admit that whenever he’d made a move in Lucy’s direction she’d adroitly held him at a distance. She’d insisted that she was his buddy, not his girlfriend.
    And yet she’d fallen for Josh quite easily. Will knew that was exactly why he mustn’t think twice about her crazy suggestion.
    Lucy had loved his brother. She’d been about to marry his brother and have his brother’s baby.
    Did he honestly think he could make amends by stepping in as a substitute?
    The question teased him as he steered the truck over a single lane wooden bridge that crossed Willow Creek. He felt the familiar sickening slug of guilt he always felt when he thought about Josh and remembered the row they had on that last fateful morning before he’d died.
    That was what he should have talked about tonight. He should have confessed his role in Josh’s death.
    Oh, God. The mere thought of telling Lucy