“I thought you weren’t all that crazy about Mike,” she said, confused by her friend’s sudden defense of him, this unexpected push into his arms.
“I wasn’t, not when I thought he was the one totally at fault, but I’m seeing another side to this now. Tell him, Janie.”
“There still won’t be a way to compromise.”
“Maybe there shouldn’t be a compromise,” Donna suggested carefully. “Maybe just this once you should give in and follow your heart. I know how much a home means to you, but that house of yours isn’t a home, not unless you manage to fill it with love. Last time I checked the love you want is several thousand miles away.”
“Why do I have to be the one to put everything on the line?” she asked plaintively. “Why is it my sacrifice to make?”
“It’s not a contest,” Donna countered. “If you look at it that way, you’re both bound to lose. In this case, you’re the one with the options. He has a job there that he can’t equal back here, at least for now. You could teach there, as well as here. Mike’s ready to make a home for you there. Isn’t that really what you’ve always wanted—a house, kids, a man who really loves you?”
The idea was tempting. It always had been. “He said the same thing,” she admitted.
“Then maybe it’s time you listened to him.” Donna regarded her intently. “Or is the real truth that he just doesn’t matter enough?”
“How can you say that?”
“Because, sweetie, actions speak louder than words, and you’re still here.”
CHAPTER 4
Mike wasn’t going to call Jane. He made a solemn vow to himself about that. She was the one who’d walked away… again. The door to their future had slammed closed when she’d gotten on that plane.
It was amazing, though, how the color had gone out of his life when she left. San Francisco had had its own unique charm before she’d come. Now, having seen it all over again through her eyes, he should have been doubly enchanted by all it offered. Instead it felt empty and lonely and bland.
The excitement had gone out of his work, too. His boss had offered him a plum assignment just that morning and all he’d been able to do was nod and take notes on the details. The job meant spending two months in Canada planning a new bridge project. He should have been elated. Instead he saw it only as a way to escape the bittersweet memories San Francisco now held for him. Even at that, he debated turning it down. He’d promised his boss an answer before the day ended.
It was hard to believe that just over a week ago he’d been wondering what was missing in his life. Now he knew and he couldn’t think of a single way to change things and get what he wanted, what he needed.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. He could quit his job and go back to Virginia. Jane would marry him then, but he would wind up restless and bitter, just the way her old man had been.
Oh, he’d seen what a hell Johnny Dawson had put his family through, though Jane had done everything in her power to hide the dissension from him. For a long time he’d ached for the little girl whose life had been turned upside down every few months. He’d done as well as any kid could to offer the stability she didn’t have at home. That’s when the bond between them had been forged. He’d been so sure it would last a lifetime.
He’d seen the look in her eyes when he’d told her about San Francisco, the hurt and betrayal. At that moment, she had lumped him in with her father and that had been that. She couldn’t see how different it would be for the two of them. He would have to travel, yes, but he would always come home. He would never leave her in any doubt about that, not the way her father had.
He wondered if it would do any good at all to tell her that, then concluded that it wouldn’t. If she couldn’t see it, then all the words in the world wouldn’t convince her. And she wouldn’t take the risk necessary for him to convince her with actions.
Which meant there were no answers, not now, anyway. He walked down the hall and told his boss he’d take the Canada assignment. He was on a plane the next day, grateful to be running from the memories that now haunted him everywhere he turned.
* * *
Jane hadn’t needed the home pregnancy test or the visit to her doctor to confirm that she was pregnant. She had known it for weeks. Her body was as reliable as a clock. When she missed her period, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind about the reason. Joy flooded through her, though, when the doctor actually said the words.
“You’re going to have a baby,” Dr. Laura Caine said. “Right after the first of the year.”
Tears slid down Jane’s cheeks. “You’re sure? There’s no mistake?” She didn’t think she could bear it if she got her hopes up, only to discover there’d been an error in the lab.
“No mistake,” Dr. Caine assured her. “I take it, despite the tears, that you’re happy about this.”
“Oh, yes,” Jane breathed, cradling her stomach. “Oh, yes.”
“There will be complications.”
Jane’s heart slammed against her ribs. “Complications? What sort of complications?”
“With the school. Parents might object to having an unmarried woman teaching when she’s carrying a child.”
“I don’t care,” Jane said, chin tilted defiantly. “I’ll take a leave of absence, if I have to. I want this baby, Doctor.”
“Can you manage a leave of absence financially?”
“If I have to,” she said, thinking of the money her
