him for his earlier indiscreet remark. ‘Jamie has made it clear he’s not the sort of person interested in committing to this beyond his ability to fill a plastic cup. I think you should get that down in writing in case he changes his mind again.’
Wow. He hoped it was sexual frustration causing her to lash out too. If she really believed he was the unreliable, flaky type who’d mess his brother around, she knew nothing about him at all. He’d spent his whole adult life raising and providing for his kid brother. That was why he’d no intention of marrying or having kids of his own any time soon. Now Tom was married and starting a family, Jamie was free of responsibility. He no longer had a dependant to think of with every decision he made, and he didn’t think it was selfish of him to want a little quality time for himself.
He couldn’t be sure if she’d formed her disapproval of him at the wedding or this afternoon when he’d made a pass at her and hadn’t followed through, but it was no longer important. Once he’d done his part behind closed doors he’d walk away with a clear conscience and wouldn’t have to set eyes on her again.
If she was as sensitive as she appeared, he’d be better off letting her despise him. There was no point in getting involved with someone who’d read more into a fling than he was willing to give. Jamie had been there, done that, and wasn’t in a hurry to repeat the experience. The same could be said about his attitude to fatherhood.
IT HAD BEEN three months since that dreaded phone call from Jamie, but she could still hear it.
‘I’m sorry, Kayla, there’s been an accident. Tom, Liam...they didn’t make it.’
Her world had fallen apart with those words at a time when she should have been enjoying her pregnancy. She’d conceived on the first attempt, thanks to the assistance at the fertility clinic and not an afternoon of passion with Jamie. With their brothers’ well-timed intervention that day, she’d taken back control of her senses and avoided any further one-to-one dealings with Jamie.
The guys had gone over to Vietnam to tie up loose ends on the project they’d been working on out there. As Tom was an architect, and Liam a builder, they’d used their skills to build a medical centre for an impoverished area they’d visited on their holidays a few years ago. This was supposed to have been their babymoon, their last trip before they settled down into family life. Heavy rainfall had caused flooding, resulting in a landslide in the area where they’d been staying. Liam and Tom had been swept away to their deaths.
It was only a matter of weeks before this baby was due and she had no idea how she was going to do everything on her own.
‘Kayla. Let me in.’
Oh, yes, and Jamie had suddenly turned into a stalker, showing up all the time and trying to convince her he was out to win Father of the Year. It was a complete turnaround from his visits earlier in the pregnancy when he’d been more interested in catching up with his brother than acknowledging the baby. The way she’d preferred it. Life was difficult enough for her trying to come to terms with the fact she was about to become a mum without having to deal with him and those unwanted feelings he kept stirring up inside her.
‘I don’t care if you are the father of this baby. You’re practically a stranger and I have no intention of letting you interfere in my life.’ Kayla slammed the door and promptly burst into tears. This was all such a mess.
She rubbed her hand over her huge belly. ‘I’m so sorry, little one. We all wanted better for you.’
He or she should have had happily married parents with a life mapped out. Not an unlovable mother and a playboy father who’d never wanted the responsibility of a baby, handing it over to those better suited to the parenting role. She’d let this child down before it had even been born. How the hell was she going to provide the upbringing it deserved? It wasn’t as though she had good role models to follow. She was going into this blind.
Another veil of tears fell, soaking the delicate silk scarf around her neck; Liam had bought it for her last birthday. Her brother had known she’d adore it because of the motif. The dragonfly was her personal totem and a powerful symbol of change and light in many cultures. In this case Liam said it represented the start of their new life and the rebirth of their family.
Now it was a reminder of everything she’d lost.
She slipped the scarf off her neck and draped it around the photograph of Liam and Tom on their wedding day. Happiness radiated from their smiles as they gazed at each other, so full of hope for their future together. Only to have it so cruelly snatched away from them a short time later.
‘I have as much right as you to be here.’ Jamie’s voice carried down the hall to interrupt her grief and cause her temper to flare again. His constant presence was preventing her from focusing on more important matters. Such as the prospect of becoming a single parent.
‘How did you get in?’ She watched helplessly as he stalked into the living room as though he owned the place.
He swung the house key around his finger on the hand-stitched felt key ring she’d made with Tom’s name on it as a moving-in present. ‘This is my house too, remember? You’re not the only one who lost a brother and it’s about time you stopped avoiding me. We have a lot to discuss.’
Their brothers had left everything to the two of them in their wills, making it impossible for Kayla to avoid him unless she sold up, and there was enough upheaval without having to move to a new house as well. It was a pity the wills hadn’t been updated since the surrogacy arrangement. Then they might have had some idea of what it was they were expected to do.
Jamie threw himself onto the settee and she worried he was ensconced for the night. There was no other choice for her but to join him. Although it took her slightly longer to ease herself and her bump into a chair.
‘I thought you’d made it abundantly clear from the start you didn’t want anything to do with this baby.’ She wished that were still the case. He had a choice where she didn’t. No matter what happened, she had to give birth and be a mother to this baby.
‘That was when I thought I was going to be nothing but a sperm donor to make my brother’s dream of being a father come true. I wanted Tom to be happy. No matter how unconventional, I wanted to see his dream of having a family come true. Now he’s gone this baby will need someone to look out for it.’
‘I’m looking out for it. I am the mother.’ He wasn’t the only one who’d done this with the intention of making the couple happy. This wasn’t the time to be searching for accolades. Jamie had provided his little swimmers because Tom’s hadn’t been doing the job they were supposed to, but she’d been the one who’d gone through the intrusive medically assisted insemination process.
It was she who’d carried the baby all this time. She was the one whose body would never be the same again.
‘In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the father.’
‘I haven’t forgotten. I’m giving you the opportunity to walk away. As you’d planned from the start.’ She didn’t want to parent on her own, but it was preferable to a lifetime of being tied to this man.
Kayla had moved to London with Liam nearly fifteen years ago to escape the control of their parents and she wasn’t going to tie
