anxious expression, she expelled a gusty sigh and pinned a suitably pleased smile on her face. ‘But it’s marvellous!’ she cried, enfolding her mother in a bear-like hug.
Megan felt helpless when her mother began to cry.
‘You mean that?’
Megan nodded. ‘Of course I do.’
Laura released a shuddering sigh. ‘I was so worried that you’d think I was being disloyal to your father’s memory…I always said I would never get married again.’ She lifted her head from her daughter’s shoulder and accepted the tissue that Megan offered with a watery smile.
‘Dad wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone, Mum,’ she said quietly. ‘He was the last person who would have wanted you to live in the past.’
Laura sniffed and searched her daughter’s face. ‘You really don’t mind?’
Megan shook her head. ‘Of course I don’t mind. I just want you to be happy. You love Jean Paul…?’ It felt incredibly strange to be quizzing her mother on her romantic life. She noticed her mother looked as awkward as she felt.
‘He’s a lovely man—’ Laura’s self-conscious smile faded as her manner became solemn ‘—but he knows…’ She shook her head. ‘I made it quite clear to him that I wouldn’t marry him if it upsets you.’
‘So you want my blessing—? There’s a bit of role reversal for you,’ Megan teased, but her mother didn’t smile.
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Then you have it.’
‘Thank you, darling. It isn’t the same as it was with your father…but, yes, I am very fond of him and he makes me laugh and feel young again.’
‘Then I already love him,’ Megan said fondly. ‘Have you set a date?’
‘We thought…well, there doesn’t seem much point waiting under the circumstances.’ She met her daughter’s eyes and blushed. ‘Neither of us are getting any younger…’ she added quickly.
‘So when…?’
‘Next month.’
Megan let out a soundless whistle. ‘Wow, you two don’t let the grass grow, do you?’ Despite her light-hearted tone Megan was beginning to be concerned that her mother was rushing into this.
‘The thing is, Megan, Jean Paul’s practice is in Paris. I’ll be moving there. This place…it’s such an enormous responsibility for you with your busy life.’
‘Paris isn’t very far, you mustn’t worry about this place,’ Megan said firmly. ‘Actually, I might be around a lot more. The company is relocating to nine miles from here, of all places. So I’ll be on hand to keep an eye on the old place.’ Head tilted to one side, she scanned her mother’s face. ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’
Laura nodded. ‘Yes, there is.’
Megan’s brows lifted. ‘Well, go on,’ she prompted, kicking off her shoes and drawing her knees up as she curled up cosily on the sofa. ‘It can hardly be any more shocking than learning I’m about to have a new stepfather.’
Laura sighed and placed her interlinked hands on her lap. ‘This is very embarrassing,’ she groaned, closing her eyes. ‘I’ll just have to say it.’
‘I wish you would,’ Megan remarked. ‘My imagination has gone into overdrive.’
‘The thing is, Megan, I’m pregnant.’
A bubble of laughter escaped from Megan’s throat. ‘So what’s really up?’
Her mother bit her lip and looked hurt. ‘I’m not joking, Megan.’
Megan’s jaw sagged. Her imagination, even in overdrive, had not produced this possible explanation.
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ Laura rushed on, avoiding eye contact with her open-mouthed daughter. ‘I can’t be; I’m too old. That’s what I said to the doctor when he told me,’ she admitted. ‘But it seems I can be and I am…actually I’m twelve weeks.’
‘What does…does…Jean Paul say?’ Does he know?’
‘Of course he knows—it’s not like I wouldn’t tell him, is it?’ her mother rebuked gently and wondered at her daughter’s guilt-stricken expression. ‘Actually Jean Paul is being marvellous about it, worried about my health, but everything’s fine, I’m very fit. Marilyn couldn’t have children, you see, and this will be his first so he’s very excited…’
Megan, her voice shaky, interrupted the flow. It still didn’t seem possible. ‘You’re really pregnant?’
Her mother nodded. ‘Yes, I’m having a baby.’
Megan looked at her. ‘Me too, Mum,’ she said with a high laugh that trembled on the brink of hysteria.
Laura’s eyes widened. She scanned her daughter’s face and Megan nodded. ‘It’s true, I am.’
‘Oh, my God!’
Suddenly mother and daughter were in one another’s arms, tears streaming down their cheeks.
Later when they were both cried out Laura turned to her daughter. ‘Now let’s get practical. I’m assuming that Luc is the father.’
‘Why would you assume that?’
‘Really, Megan! He couldn’t take his eyes off you…I’m assuming you had a falling out…?’
Megan nodded.
‘You are going to tell him?’
‘I don’t know where he is…he’s not in London.’
‘Malcolm will know. I’ll ask him.’
‘No,’ Megan replied. ‘I’ll ask.’
CHAPTER TEN
UNCLE MALCOLM had been reluctant to tell Megan where Luc was so she had been forced to tell him why she needed to see him.
‘So you see I have to tell him, but,’ she hastened to assure him, ‘I’m not going to ask anything of him. It’s my decision to have the baby…’
‘Well, obviously you will have the baby.’
Megan inclined her head slightly in agreement. How obvious it had been had been something that still surprised her. Maybe there was a point with most women, even those like herself who had never even considered motherhood, when your body told you it was the right time.
Or maybe wanting to bear the child of the man you love has something to do with it…?
Megan gritted her teeth and ignored the sly voice in her head. ‘And obviously he or she will be my responsibility and mine alone…’
