This was the true beginning of her new life, not as the sexy imp who’d briefly captured Jake’s volatile fancy, but as a strong woman who could cope alone, depending on no man.
‘Who says it’s too late?’ she whispered. ‘It might be too late for us, but it’s only just starting for me.’
Next day she found Jake sitting in a chair by the window. He seemed stronger, but there was a tension about him that made conversation difficult.
‘Does the doctor think you’re any better?’ she asked.
‘I’m making progress. Slow but sure, that’s what he keeps saying.’
‘Good.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m fine. I got a good mark for my last essay.’
‘And your job?’
‘That’s easy.’
‘But for how much longer?’ he asked slowly.
Time seemed to stop. ‘What-do you mean?’ Kelly asked.
‘You’re pregnant, aren’t you?’
‘What? Jake, for pity’s sake-one little giddy spell-’
‘At precisely three o’clock in the afternoon.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘That’s what happened last time. Dead on three o’clock.’
She stared. ‘You can’t possibly remember that.’
‘We were hurrying to catch a bus. It left at ten past three and when we reached the bus station I said, “It’s only three o’clock.” And the next minute you turned green. Yesterday it was three o’clock again.’
‘Well-that’s a coincidence.’
‘You’re pregnant.’
This was the last thing she’d expected. How had Jake remembered that detail all these years when she hadn’t remembered it herself? With disaster staring her in the face she tried belligerence. ‘Well, what if I am?’
‘I just thought you might want to tell me,’ Jake said, looking out of the window.
‘Why?’
He digested the implications of this for a moment before saying quietly, ‘No reason.’
‘Let’s stick to what we agreed, Jake,’ she said desperately. ‘Friendly, but no strings.’
‘All right, then as one friend to another tell me what happens now. Are you planning to marry the father?’
‘That doesn’t concern you.’
‘Tell me,’ he insisted, like the old, determined Jake.
‘No.’
‘Live with him?’
‘No.’
‘Your decision or his?’
‘Mine.’
‘Who is he?’
‘Jake, I’m warning you-’
‘Do you even know who he is?’
‘Well, let’s face it, you were spoilt for choice when I last saw you-
He was talking to empty air. Kelly had stormed out.
She ran most of the way home, driven by her anger. She stopped finally in a tiny park where there was a duckpond, and sat on a bench. How shrewdly she’d planned a way of dealing with the situation, and then she’d fallen at the first fence.
Yet she’d still travelled far. Once she would have been in tears at this point. Now she didn’t want to cry. She wanted to wring Jake’s neck. How dared he suspect her of sleeping around? Even if she had worked hard to give him that impression.
A mother duck, with six frantically paddling ducklings in tow, made her way determinedly across the pond. Kelly smiled at the sight, and felt herself calming down. As her thoughts regained some sort of order she realised that Jake might have done her a favour by doubting the baby’s parentage.
He’d seen her ‘belle of the ball’ act, and been fooled by it. Good. Anything was better than having him suspect that he was still the only man she’d ever slept with. What he was thinking would make life simpler. The truth would merely make it impossible.
Her courage was returning as she headed out of the park.
When she reached her apartment the telephone was already ringing.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jake said as soon as she answered. ‘I really didn’t mean it the way it came out. It was just that you- Never mind. Can you come back here?’
‘No, but I’ll look in tomorrow.’
‘Promise?’ His voice was urgent.
‘I promise.’
He was answering letters when she arrived next day, but he shoved the whole lot aside to greet her eagerly. His colour was better and his voice stronger.
‘How are you feeling?’ he demanded.
‘Fine.’
‘Have you seen your local doctor?’
‘No.’
‘Why, for Pete’s sake?’ His eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion. ‘Have you made any decisions yet?’
‘Yes,’ she said, understanding him. ‘I’m going to have the baby. I want it.’
He relaxed slightly. ‘Then you must take proper care of yourself. You’ll just have to take money from me after all.’
At the words ‘have to’ Kelly tensed. ‘I don’t
‘It’s common sense. You can’t study and do a job if you’re pregnant. You mustn’t take risks.’
‘Fine. I’ll be careful.’
‘But not with any help from me, eh? Well, that tells me all I need to know.’
‘I don’t know what you mean by that-’
‘You know exactly what I mean.’
‘Jake, understand this: nothing has changed between us. I am having a baby.
She thought he became a little paler, but he spoke calmly. ‘You’ve already made that quite clear. But I told you before that I owe you, and I’d like to help.’
She didn’t answer, but crossed her arms and looked mulish. It was Jake’s turn to grow annoyed.
‘And what about when the baby’s born? Have you thought of that, you mad woman? You can’t support yourself. You
‘I don’t have to do anything,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘That’s just fine talk. In practical terms you do have to do what’s best for your baby, and that isn’t the way you’re living now.’
‘Will you stop giving me orders? You can’t do that any more.’
‘I never gave you orders.’
‘Oh, sure!’
‘I never did,’ he yelled.
‘Of course not. Why bother giving orders to someone who scurries to do whatever you want without waiting to be asked?’
He stared. ‘You make me sound like a bully.’
‘No, you weren’t,’ she conceded with a sigh. ‘You just never thought. And that’s as much my fault as yours because I never forced you to think. I always gave in too easily.’
‘And you’re doing it again,’ he pointed out.
