Free Bundle of Joy by Barbara Bretton Page A

before his eyes and he had no one but himself to blame.
    Caroline, paper-white now instead of pale green, crossed the room toward her chair. He stood up and went around the table to hold it for her.
    "Feeling better?"
    She nodded. "Much."
    He motioned for the waitress to clear the table.
    "You didn't eat your steak," said Caroline.
    He shrugged. "Lost my appetite."
    Her smile was gently sardonic. "Morning sickness?"
    "Shock."
    She closed her eyes for a moment, looking delicate and wan and terribly appealing. Too damn appealing. "I know what you mean."
    "Have you seen a doctor?"
    "Not yet." She folded then re-folded the pale rose linen napkin at her place.
    "Is there--I mean, could there be a chance you're not really pregnant?"
    Those beautiful blue eyes turned cold as the North Sea. "Wishful thinking, is it, Charles?"
    "Practical thinking," he shot back. "I can't believe those home pregnancy kits are foolproof."
    "They're not." Her gaze lowered to her breasts, fuller even to his untrained eyes. "Some things, however, are dead giveaways."
    "You need a doctor," he said. "Someone to make it official."
    She wanted to say that spending her mornings in an intimate relationship with the underside of her toilet bowl was official enough for her but she didn't have the energy. "I'm not going to hold you to that proposal of marriage, if that's what you're worried about, Charles," she said in a weary voice.
    He wanted to say that the proposal still held, that he'd meant every word he'd said, that he would embrace the prospect of a child wholeheartedly but Charlie Donohue wasn't a very good liar and so he said nothing at all.
     
    #
     
    Caroline made an appointment with her gynecologist for the next afternoon. The heat wave had finally broken and with it came a rush of cool air that promised an autumn filled with splendor. There were so many wonderful things Caroline loved about the autumn. Gorgeous suedes the color of fine sherry. Sleek evening clothes in drop-dead black and siren red. The parties Princeton was known for kept Twice Over Lightly in business, and provided Caroline with a social life beyond compare.
    And that social life was important. Many of Caroline's best customers were found at cocktail parties or gala balls. Young wives on a tight budget, businesswomen with more savvy than cash, they all found their way to Caroline's shop to rent the absolutely perfect dress for that once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
    Oh, how the questions would fly the day she showed up in maternity clothes for the first time. She dreaded those questions, the teasing, the defiantly independent stance she knew she would adopt. How much easier it would be if she had a husband....
    She pushed the thought from her mind as if it were treasonous. Never once, not even as a little girl, had she daydreamed about weddings and babies. Why on earth at thirty-one was she suddenly thinking about marriage?
    The answer, of course, was obvious.
    "Yes," she told Charlie from the pay phone in the lobby of the professional building near the hospital. "Definitely yes."
    The silence on the other end was profound.
    "Charles?" Her voice was sharp. "Are you still there?"
    "I'm still here." She almost felt sorry for him, he sounded so shell-shocked. Almost but not quite. "When are you due?"
    " Late January."
    Another silence. She wanted to ram her fist into that silence.
    "You're healthy?"
    She exhaled loudly. "As a horse. My doctor expects no complications."
    "Great," he said in a falsely hearty voice. "That's great."
    The third silence of the ninety second conversation. Three strikes and you're out. "I must go," she said without preamble. "I simply wanted to let you know of the results."
    "Yeah," said Charlie. "Thanks."
    She hung up the receiver, stung by his sudden indifference. It couldn't have disturbed her more if he'd ended the conversation with, "Have a nice life." What in hell had happened to his talk of marriage, his dissertation on the importance of family, his easy