The Pregnancy Surprise

Chapter Eleven

The Clifford’s Landing Party Barge was decked out with so much white ribbon, lace and flowers, it looked like a wedding cake.

Sara wanted to be happy and excited for her best friend, and she was. But she now had something else to worry about.

For some unknown reason, she’d looked at her calendar this morning, and she’d realized something. She was late. As in, really, really late. And the thought had occurred to her that she just might be pregnant. Yes, she was on birth control pills, but sometimes she forgot to take them.

Reece would freak out. Truth be told, she was freaking out a little. She’d run to the closest drugstore and bought a pregnancy test, but she didn’t have the time-or the courage-to take it now. She resolved to put the problem out of her mind, at least for today, Allie’s day.

Sara was pleased with how her very first wedding catering job was going. She’d timed her preparations of the various dishes to perfection. Now, as the hour for departure approached, guests were boarding and Sara was putting the finishing touches on the hot dishes.

Valerie had offered to assist, and Miss Greer, whose recovery was going so well it shocked everyone including her doctor, had insisted she could manage on her own for a couple of hours so that Valerie could help serve and watch over the buffet while Sara did her maid-of-honor duties.

“We’re good here,” Valerie said. “You go help the bride.”

When Sara entered the salon, which had become the impromptu bride’s room, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of tomboy Allie in her girlie-girl wedding gown.

“Oh, Allie, you look like a princess.”

“Princess for a day. Every bride is entitled.”

Sara wondered if she would ever get to be a princess. Thinking about Allie sharing her life with Cooper, having kids, growing old with him-she had to admit it held some attraction. Maybe it was the shock of a possible pregnancy, but she was starting to realize her free-spirit lifestyle couldn’t last forever. Sooner or later she would have to decide who she wanted to be. If she was soon to be a mother…oh, Lord…she would have to be a responsible one.

Since Allie’s parents were deceased, Cooper’s mother had stepped into the role of helping the bride get ready. She also fussed with Sara’s hair, which she’d wound on top of her head and woven with flowers, then powdered her nose and called it good. Jane, who lived on the boat next door to Allie’s Dragonfly, was a bridesmaid, but she evidently didn’t need any help in the primping department. She looked as if she’d just stepped off the pages of Vogue, and the raw silk dress she’d chosen clung to her size-two figure, making Sara feel like a horse by comparison.

Jane’s three-year-old daughter, Kaylee, was there, too. She was Allie’s flower girl, and though she was opposite Jane in her coloring with her bright blond curls, she was every bit as beautiful.

“I think we’re ready,” Mrs. Remington declared. “I’ll cue the musicians to begin, then I’ll go stand with Jonathan, and we can start. Good luck, dear. You’ll need it, being Cooper’s wife. He’s so much like his father, even if he won’t admit it.”

Allie laughed nervously after her future mother-in-law left. “Cooper would deny that to his grave, but after seeing him together with his dad, the comparison is obvious.”

The trio of musicians started the processional song.

Sara swallowed back the tears that threatened. Honestly, she cried over anything these days. Did pregnancy hormones make you more emotional? But her best friend getting married was a good thing to cry over.

“I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to say so again,” Allie said quickly, “but thank you both for being my friends. You’re the best friends anyone could wish for.”

“Allie,” Jane said in a scolding voice, “you promised not to make me cry until after the ceremony. My makeup is going to run.”

They all drew close for one last hug, and then it was time. As the boat cut smoothly through the water, Jane went first down the makeshift aisle among the guests. Most were standing, as there were only a few places to sit. Then Sara went. As she approached the front of the boat, she got her first glimpse of Reece since his return from New York. Oh, God, did he look handsome in a tux.

He also looked tense, as he had when he’d first arrived. Less than two weeks back at his job had undone two months of beach life. She wished he could see what the stress was doing to him.

He was watching her, too, and as she reached the place where she guessed she was supposed to stand, he gave her a little finger wave. She winked at him in answer, and she could have sworn he blushed.

Little Kaylee trotted down the aisle next, flinging rose petals with great glee. Then all eyes were on the bride as she made her appearance. Not a princess, Sara decided. An angel. Her friend had never looked so radiant.

The ceremony was short and sweet, the bride and groom exchanging vows with strong, confident voices. They obviously had no qualms about pledging the rest of their lives. Was something wrong with her? Sara wondered. Didn’t most women look forward to the day when they could settle down, maybe have kids and a dog and a house in the suburbs?

Sara’s attention drifted to Reece again. He was watching his cousin with obvious fondness, but he also appeared solemn. This was serious stuff to Reece. Allie was right about that. He wasn’t going to rearrange his whole life on a lark.

The bride and groom kissed, a long, slow, slightly inappropriate embrace, and everyone cheered. The happy couple paraded down the aisle arm in arm. Then suddenly Reece was there, offering his arm to Sara.

“You look beautiful,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t know why anyone looked at the bride when you were standing next to her.”

Now Sara felt herself blushing. She looped her arm in his and they followed the bride and groom. Max and Jane fell into step behind them, with Kylie holding on to the hem of her mother’s dress, having forgotten her flower duties.

Cooper and Allie paused once they cleared the crowd. “We’d like to invite everyone to enjoy the Mexican buffet provided by our talented bridesmaid, Sara Kaufman.”

That was Sara’s cue to hurry back to her catering duties, or Valerie would quickly be overwhelmed. She reluctantly released her handsome groomsman. “Save me a dance, huh?”

He frowned. “Uh, yeah.”

What was that about? Was he wishing he’d never hooked up with her? Embarrassed that a few people had identified them as a couple? Now that he’d spent some time back in his regular life, maybe his dalliance with that crazy bed-and-breakfast girl seemed frivolous, even foolish and low class.

Despite the fact they were on a boat, Sara had rented good china dishes and fancy silverware. She risked some of it going overboard, but that was better than leaving a trail of paper plates fouling up the ocean, which was exactly what would have happened in the stiff breeze.

The guests lined up to sample Sara’s buffet, which pleased her no end. She liked nothing better than to feed people food they loved. This was much more fun than catering a movie set, where the people she served were so absorbed in their work that she was invisible.

Here, among the people of Port Clara whom she’d come to know over the past ten-plus years, she was loved and appreciated. She knew most of the guests-at least the ones who weren’t Cooper’s out-of-town friends and family-and every one of them had a kind greeting.

The one person she wanted to see, though, was conspicuously avoiding her. He was busy with the photographer, posing with his cousins and the bride and looking kind of miserable, even when he smiled.

Once the main rush of guests had gone through the buffet line, Allie dragged Sara out from behind the table for pictures of their own. Allie certainly would have an interesting wedding album, with the boat and the ocean as backdrops for all the photos.

Sara posed with Allie, then with Allie, Jane and Kaylee. Then the men joined them. Reece stood beside her, his arm slipped around her waist in a distinctly nonsexual fashion, and she knew she was right. He regretted getting intimate with her and was trying to extricate himself gracefully. Visions of the reunion sex she’d planned for tonight