took a bottle of water from the small fridge in the examination room where she had brought Lisa to wait for the test results. She twisted off the cap and handed it to her.
Shakily, Lisa took a big drink, then held the cold plastic bottle against her cheek and closed her eyes. She had to get a grip on this, but all she wanted to do was to fold up into a ball and cry.
When Lisa opened her eyes, Gemma had seated herself beside her once again. She and Carly were looking at her curiously.
“What?” she asked.
“We’re wondering...” Gemma said. “When you’re going to tell us...”
“Who the father is,” Carly concluded.
Lisa pressed her lips together.
“Oh, come on, Lisa, we’re your best friends. We’re not going to judge you.” Gemma gave her a fond smile.
Lisa looked from one to the other—Gemma, with her practical, no-nonsense approach to life, and Carly, who was strong and businesslike, but who could see a broken-down wooden chair in a junk heap and imagine it as a fun and useful porch swing.
Taking a deep breath, she released it slowly and said, “It’s Ben McAdams.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Carly yelped. “The Reston Rascal? Oklahoma’s answer to Casanova?”
“I thought you weren’t going to judge,” Lisa said drily.
“Um, sorry.”
Astounded, Gemma said, “I didn’t even know that he was back in town, or that you two were dating, or even liked each other.”
“We aren’t and we don’t.” Lisa gazed at them miserably. “We haven’t been friends since we were twelve and his parents banned me from seeing him after I—”
“Masterminded the jailbreak,” Carly interrupted with a grin.
“Yeah. And that hasn’t changed.”
“Lisa, obviously something changed.” Gemma smiled in sympathy. “However you don’t have to tell us and—”
“I want to know what happened,” Carly objected.
“You don’t have to talk about it until you’re ready,” Gemma went on as if Carly hadn’t spoken. She stood and began gathering the test kits for disposal.
Carly settled down and gave an encouraging nod, but Lisa, her eyes full of tears, dropped her face into her hands for a few seconds before she, too, sat back and stared at her friends.
“I feel like my head is floating somewhere off in space.”
“And that will continue for a while,” Gemma said. “But things will settle down. You’ll get used to the idea, and soon you’ll be excited about being a mother.”
“I can’t be a mother,” Lisa said desperately. “I had a terrible mother. I’ve still got a terrible mother. And my grandmother tried, at least when I was little, but she wasn’t much of a model mother, either.”
“You’ll figure it out, Lisa. You’re the smartest and most driven person I know.” Carly gave her a hug.
The warmth of her friend’s arms couldn’t stop the shaking that had suddenly begun.
“I swore I’d never do this,” she said fiercely. “I swore I’d never be careless and get pregnant, and leave my baby—”
“You would never leave your baby,” Gemma objected.
“Lisa, you’re twice as old as Maureen was when she had you and left you with her mom and dad. You’ve got a successful career, a home of your own, a support system. Friends,” Carly said, emphasizing the last word as she gave her another squeeze and stepped back to look at her with an anxious expression.
Lisa took deep breaths and tried to still the quaking that came in waves from her core and moved outward. After a few moments she looked up and tried for a wan smile.
“Right now the question is how are you going to tell Ben?” Carly asked.
“I don’t know, but I’d better do it soon,” Lisa said. “I don’t like putting off unpleasant tasks and this isn’t something that can be hidden indefinitely.”
“No,” Gemma agreed. “And if I know you, you’ll want to have every detail planned well ahead of time.”
Lisa nodded even as she gave her friends a pitiful look. “I can barely form a sentence right now, much less a plan.”
Gemma gripped her hand in sympathy, but Carly looked at her considerately.
“And I had plans,” she went on. She knew she was rambling, but couldn’t seem to stop. “The group of investors from Oklahoma City who are interested in developing a resort on Reston Lake are really making progress on the plans. Can you imagine how many jobs that would bring to this area?”
“So you keep saying.”
“It will be a boost to your business, too, Carly. The resort will need fresh vegetables for their restaurants. If you get the contract, you’ll have to expand your gardens, which means you and Luke will have to hire more employees. As for the rest of the county—between the construction and the running of the resort, it could bring in so much prosperity. I was going to broker the deal if I could convince the current owners to at least consider it.”
Carly frowned. “You can still do all that. You’re having a baby, not giving up your career.”
Lisa barely heard her. “And I didn’t tell you two this, but I’m thinking about running for mayor this year.”
Her friends stared at her. “You’re kidding,” they said in unison.
“It’s true. I would never try to push Harley Morton out of office, but—” she lowered her voice and nodded toward the reception area where Harley’s wife worked “—Brenda wants him to retire and...well, I know I could do the job.”
“Wow,” Gemma said. “Just wow. I had no idea that was even on your mind. Brenda never said a thing to me.”
“We were keeping it quiet.” Lisa put her hands over her belly. “But now...”
“Everything’s changed,” Carly finished for her.
The three of them fell silent for several seconds until Carly cleared her throat. “So you got pregnant two months ago,” she said slowly.
Lisa could see that her friend wasn’t ready to let this go. “Obviously.”
“Ben’s been out of town for months. So how and where? If it was two months ago, it must have been—”
“When I was in Chicago.” Lisa sighed. “At Christmastime. Right after my great-aunt Violet’s funeral.”
“You said you were stuck at the airport during a blizzard,” Gemma added.
