Callie’s mouth dropped open.
She looked at Danielle’s stomach. There was a slight baby bump there, probably not even noticeable to anyone else, but even so it was concealed behind the sapphire-blue business jacket. However, she couldn’t conceal her swollen fingers. She was retaining water like crazy, and just the day before her fingers had reached the point where she’d had to use soap and then oil to remove her wedding and engagement rings. Of course, with her divorce looming, the rings would have had to come off anyway.
That didn’t explain why she was wearing them on a chain around her neck.
“The doctor said it’s a miracle baby,” Danielle told Callie. “That there was only a one in a million shot I’d ever conceive.” But she had. And she was carrying that miracle inside her. “I’m nearly four months along,” she added. And held her breath. Because Callie could and would do the math.
It didn’t take her friend long. “Colin and you split three months ago. It’s his child.” And there was no doubt in her tone or expression.
Danielle didn’t even try to lie. “Yes.”
Callie grabbed on to her shoulder as if she were about to whoop for joy, but the joy went south in a hurry. “You haven’t told him.”
“No. I meant to. I mean, I tried. I phoned him right after I found out, but he was away on assignment. Days later, when he finally got around to calling me back, the divorce papers had just arrived, and he was in the worst of moods.”
“Oh, damn.” Callie groaned. She glanced around, probably to make sure their conversation was still as private as it could be, considering their location. Callie moved her even farther behind the van. “How do you think Colin will take the news?”
That was the million dollar question. There were times when he’d seemed indifferent during the fertility treatments. Times when he’d asked her flat out to stop. Coupled with his long hours and intense assignments, Danielle wondered if he had truly ever wanted a child.
“I don’t know how Colin will feel,” Danielle admitted. And she certainly didn’t know how he’d feel about her being his baby’s mother. He was finished with her. He hadn’t made one attempt to stop the divorce. So, he might see the baby as some kind of trap that would keep him connected to her.
Danielle didn’t want this baby to ever feel that kind of resentment. Like she had. Before her parents’ divorce, how many times had she heard her father say that her mother had trapped him into marriage? She wanted better for her child, even if that meant having only one parent.
Callie touched her arm, rubbed lightly. “Look, I’m your friend, Danielle, but I have to think of Luke first. He has to be the priority here.”
“I understand.” Danielle had already had this argument with herself and knew what she had to do. “Now isn’t the time to tell Colin I’m carrying his baby. Best to wait, until all of this is resolved.” And even then she wasn’t sure she’d go through with it. Maybe it was better if Colin never knew.
Callie nodded. “You can do that? You can work with Colin and keep this secret to yourself?”
“What secret?” someone asked.
Danielle was glad that Callie caught on to her or she might have fallen on her face. Because the someone was Colin, and she didn’t know how he’d gotten so close without Callie or her noticing, but he’d managed it. He was only a few feet away.
Close enough to have heard everything.
“What secret?” he repeated, putting his hands on his hips.
“Just girl talk,” Callie volunteered.
Colin looked at Callie. Then, at Danielle. He wasn’t buying it, and that would make this assignment even more uncomfortable. Colin was like a bulldog with a bone when he thought he was on to something.
Callie excused herself and headed toward one of the vehicles. Danielle sprang into action, too.
“Did you calm down Luke’s parents?” Danielle asked, forcing herself to move. She should return to the van. To the job. She had to be more like Colin now and concentrate only on what had to be done.
But Colin caught on to her when she tried to walk past him. The eye contact came, and he examined her face with those intense blue eyes. “What secret?”
Best to try to keep it light. “It wouldn’t be a secret now if I told you, would it?”
He still didn’t let go of her, and it seemed as if he changed his mind a dozen times about saying anything. “Are you seeing someone else?”
“God, no.” She saw the surprise go through his eyes, and she wanted to smack herself. The denial had come much too adamantly and quickly. She should have let him think that he was right, and he wouldn’t have pressed about the secret.
But she didn’t want to hurt him.
Or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part—that Colin would be hurt or jealous if she had another man in her life. It wasn’t logical, but even though their marriage was over, the thought of him with another woman would hurt her to the core. That was something she’d have to work out eventually, because if he hadn’t already, Colin would find someone else. Someone not obsessed with having a baby. Someone more sympathetic to the ever-increasing dangerous assignments that he volunteered to do.
She glanced at his left hand.
No wedding ring. He’d already removed it, and he didn’t have the same swollen-finger excuse that she did. Colin had removed the ring because for him this divorce was a done deal. No more negotiations. Just the cleanup.
So that there wouldn’t be any more questions, Danielle eased out of his grip and headed toward the Vaughns, who were about thirty feet from the van. Griffin, the father, was trying to talk Tom into calling Boyd again so he could speak to him. Which wouldn’t be a good idea. It was best to keep Boyd calm, and a conversation with a terrified, angry father definitely wouldn’t help.
“Boyd has agreed to set up some video games for Luke,” Danielle told them. They stared at her and hung on to each word. “As I build a rapport with Boyd, I’ll try to make the conversations longer with Luke, while Colin works for your son’s release.”
“But I have to talk to Boyd. I’ll pay whatever he’s asking.”
“Right now, he’s not asking for money.”
“Then offer it,” Griffin insisted. “And I want to talk to Luke. I have to hear my son.”
Even though her child wasn’t born yet, Danielle understood that. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Both Colin and Tom looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. And maybe she had. Unless Griffin could totally keep the fear out of his voice, the call might upset Luke. It might make things worse. But Danielle couldn’t stop herself from seeing this as a parent. If their situations were reversed, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She would do anything to talk to her child.
Tom led the couple away, back toward the fence. Danielle climbed into the van. Colin was right behind her
