not your uncle Lester. How come you think you’re the boss of everybody?”
“I’m standing up for my friend,” the kid insisted. “You gotta think about your future. You don’t want to be a criminal.”
“I ain’t a criminal, and you didn’t let me finish my sandwich.”
“Oh, quit thinking about your stomach.”
“I don’t need you to—” Ben started to say but the other kid jerked him out the door.
Fred heard feet running away, and the one sitting on his back jumped up, freeing him. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he cursed.
His prisoner was in the wind.
Twenty years later
LISA THOMAS STARED at the row of pregnancy tests—six of them—lined up on the table in front of her like crestfallen soldiers who had let their leader go down in defeat.
“They’re all positive.” Gemma Whitmire, one of her best friends since childhood, sat beside her. Carly Joslin, her other best friend, sat, too, and scooted her chair in closer.
They were in one of the examination rooms of the Sunshine Birthing Center, which Gemma had founded for the benefit of the women of Reston County. The walls were painted a soothing pale green, but the color did nothing to calm Lisa’s distress.
Her eyes full of tears, and her lips trembling, she asked, “You don’t think they could be lying?”
Gemma gave her a gentle smile, her eyes sympathetic. “What would be their motive? They’re inanimate objects. They would have no reason to lie. I’ve been a midwife for a long time, Lisa, so I can tell you that pregnancy tests, especially six of them done at the same time, are going to be truthful.”
Panic fluttered in Lisa’s throat as she looked around. “But we’re in your birthing center. Don’t you have a...another test I can take?”
“The ones here at the Sunshine Birthing Center aren’t any different than those you bought at the pharmacy.”
In desperation Lisa turned to clutch at Gemma’s hands, holding them with her shaking fingers. She knew her hair was frazzled and messy because she’d been sitting and holding her head in her hands while she’d waited for the test results—which she now had. “But what if I did another—”
“Doing another test won’t change the results,” added Carly.
White-faced, Lisa looked at them. “Pregnant. How? How could this have happened?”
Carly raised a dark eyebrow. “Oh, I think it happened in the usual way.”
“I can give you a clinical description,” Gemma added, “but I think you know how it happened.”
“I...I do know. But I’m thirty-three years old. It’s not like I’m a silly teenager with her first boyfriend...and we...we used protection.”
“No protection is one hundred percent reliable.”
“I know that—however, I didn’t think—”
“Did you suspect you were pregnant? Has anything been different?”
“I’ve been a little light-headed, though not really faint, for a couple of months. I thought I was just working too hard, what with the plans coming together for the resort out on the lake—”
“You always work too hard,” Gemma pointed out. “And I’m not quite sure you have to be the point person on the resort project.”
“Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how many jobs this will bring to Reston County? And besides, I’m not really heading it up. Mayor Morton is.”
Gemma held up her hand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have become sidetracked. What other symptoms have you had?”
Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Things smell odd. Stronger. I had to take all the scented candles out of my home and office because they were overwhelming, and they’ve never bothered me before.”
“Those are all symptoms of hormonal changes.”
“I’ve felt sick every day for two weeks and I’ve thrown up every day, too. I thought it was some kind of flu bug or—something I ate.”
“Every day for two weeks?” Carly asked. “Denial much?”
“You didn’t say anything about feeling sick,” Gemma put in, sending Carly a quelling look.
“My period’s been off for months, but I thought maybe things change when you’re in your thirties, you know?” She groaned and continued, “And they should. A person is supposed to have sense enough to not get unexpectedly pregnant at the age of thirty-three.”
Gemma said, “Some hormonal changes are normal—”
“But a complete abandonment of common sense?” Lisa asked desperately. “I don’t think so.”
They all fell silent. Lisa knew they were waiting for her to deal with this the way she did most things—head down, moving forward, plans set.
She couldn’t do that, though, because she’d been distracted and daydreamy for the past month. She had difficulty concentrating, and odd, random thoughts and memories had popped up like jack-in-the-boxes when she tried to focus on work. She was sure Gemma was right—it was probably hormonal.
And now shock had paralyzed her brain even more. She could barely form a coherent thought, except for one—that this didn’t seem real. Or possible. “I’m going to have a baby.”
“That’s right,” Gemma said. “In about seven months.”
“So...in September?”
Lisa frowned. “So, nine months from the end of December—”
“Nine months isn’t accurate. Pregnancy is actually supposed to be forty weeks, a little more or less depending on the mother—and the baby. Multiples often come earlier.”
Lisa gulped as her eyes widened. “Multiples?”
“Um, sorry. I gave you too much information right there. Professional hazard.” Gemma cleared her throat. “Back on track. Be forewarned, being pregnant in this Oklahoma heat and humidity won’t be easy.”
“Nothing about this will be easy.” Lisa looked up. “And I feel sick all the time.”
“That should ease up in a few weeks. We need to make an appointment for you to see Nathan. He can prescribe something to help with the morning sickness if you want. In the meantime, there are herbal supplements you can take.”
Lisa nodded, then dropped her head forward. “I can’t believe I’ll be the first one of us to have a
