Free A Baby in the Bargain by Victoria Pade Page A

for babies. Reggie cured me of being a sucker for anything else.”
    “I have a friend who spotted Reggie on a plane to Las Vegas last weekend,” Lindie said as if she’d been debating about whether or not to tell Jani. “Just in case you have any doubts that you did the right thing...”
    “Believe me, after four years of frustration and then being scared to death thanks to Reggie, I don’t have any doubt that I was right to finally call it off with him. And the last thing I’m interested in is starting all over again with another guy and putting off what I really want. Again. So I’m telling you, tonight is a dinner meeting and that’s it!”
    “So is there going to be a baby?” Livi asked, conceding the point and getting to the subject that made Jani happier. What her cousins had come tonight to ask about in the first place.
    “With any luck, yes, there will be a baby,” Jani confirmed. “My tests and blood work were all good, so I have the go-ahead. The next step is to pick a donor, then I’ll start the hormones and—”
    “We could have a baby by this time next year!” Lindie finished for her.
    “Fingers crossed...” Jani said, thankful that her cousins were supportive.
    Lindie, Livi and their brother, Lang, were the Camden triplets. The triplets had been born the same year as Jani—they were the youngest of the Camden grandchildren. They’d lived together with GiGi from the time they were six. And while all ten of the cousins were as close as siblings, since Jani, Livi and Lindie were the only girls, they were particularly close. Her female cousins felt like sisters to Jani, and what they thought of her plan to have a baby on her own was important to her. Vital to her, actually.
    And they were in favor of it.
    “How do you pick a donor?” Lindie asked. “Do you go to a sperm bank or something?”
    “The doctor has an affiliation with one he trusts—not only because of the donors they use and their screening process, but also because of the way the sperm is handled. He says viability can depend on things like that. So yes, the sperm comes from a sperm bank, but I do it through the doctor. I’ll go into the office to read profiles next Wednesday and choose.”
    “Pick a dad, any dad...” Lindie joked, sounding like a carnival hustler. Then her eyes widened and she said, “Oh, that probably sounded bad! I’m sorry!”
    Jani didn’t take offense. She knew that what she was planning to do was uncharted territory—it was for her, and it certainly was for her family. They were all just feeling their way, so she didn’t hold it against anyone if they said something awkward.
    Instead she held up two different outfit options to give her cousins something else to talk about. “The blue dress or the sweater and slacks?”
    “The blue dress if it’s a date. The sweater and slacks if it’s just a casual dinner meeting, ” Lindie said.
    “So the sweater and slacks,” Jani decreed, regretting that she hadn’t just put on the blue dress without asking for their opinion.
    “GiGi said this guy is giving you a hard time?” Livi commented as Jani pulled on the white cowl-necked angora sweater and the gray pinstripe pants.
    “It was a little better when I saw him on Wednesday, but like I said, he’s definitely in the hate-the-Camdens camp.”
    She’d put on blush and mascara already, and now took the soup cans out of her hair. After brushing it, it did fall in softer waves around her shoulders, so the technique had worked the way she remembered it.
    “Hey, the soup cans really do work!” Livi marveled.
    All of the Camden grandchildren bore a striking resemblance to one another but that was particularly true of the girls—something that had made it difficult for their classmates in elementary school to believe that Lang was the other triplet and not Jani.
    “Can I borrow them?” Lindie asked. “I have a blind date tomorrow night and no time to run to the store for soup.”
    “Sure,” Jani