Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

weeks, I'm feeling downright slothful."

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

"No more morning sickness?"

A car cut in front of them and Karen put on the brakes, then changed lanes to let the faster traffic go by. "An occasional bout. Nothing like I had with Kayla."

"Have you made an appointment yet to see your doctor?''

Karen nodded. And she'd cried for an hour afterward, too. "I go in next week."

"So, you gonna tell Dennis this weekend?"

Karen looked at Jamie, wishing she had her friend's strength, her confidence. Her life. "I guess I kind of have to, huh?"

"Unless you want him guessing first."

No, she didn't want that. She wanted to be the one to break it to him, to see his expression the exact second he heard. She could read Dennis like a book, and that instant expression would tell her what she needed to know. She was just scared to death to see it. Signaling their exit, she steered the van down the ramp.

"I'm going to tell Ashley's father about her."

Swerving, Karen pulled into the gas station at the corner of the exit ramp. "What?" She stared at Jamie. "When? Where is he?"

Jamie tried to grin, but her lips were quivering.

"Who is he?" Karen asked.

"It doesn't matter who he is," Jamie whispered, gazing out the windshield again. "I don't expect anything from him." She took a deep breath. "But he has a right to know."

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Frowning, wishing she could read Jamie's mind, Karen asked, "Why now? Ashley's four years old."

Jamie glanced over, and then away again, shrugging. "Because she needs to know who he is."

"Do you think that's wise?" Karen certainly didn't. "I mean, if he doesn't want her, wouldn't she be better off not knowing?"

"He'll want her."

"I thought he didn't." Karen wasn't getting this at all. And hoped Jamie wasn't letting misplaced guilt open up a Pandora's box she'd never be able to close.

"I thought so, too."

Karen's heart thudded. "You've heard something different?"

Jamie nodded, sucked in her lips and took another deep breath, her face still expressionless. "I've done some… checking.''

"And?"

"He's a good man." Karen saw just the hint of tears in Jamie's eyes, tears she was sure would never be shed when anyone else could witness them. She wanted to haul Jamie into her arms and never let go-

"That doesn't mean he'd want a daughter sprung on him." Then something else occurred to Karen. "Did you find out if he's married? If he has other children?"

She just didn't see any sense in upsetting the nearly perfect life Jamie had created for herself. And where would the handsome professor fit in all of this?

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"He's not married, doesn't have any other children." Jamie sighed and squeezed Karen's hand. "He's an honorable man, Kar. He deserves to know."

"So why didn't you tell him before?"

Releasing Karen's hand, Jamie looked away. "I just didn't… There were circumstances—" She broke off.

"Hey." Karen reached for Jamie's hand again. "It's okay. You don't need to tell me any more." Jamie gave her a tremulous smile, those tears almost brimming over. "I just want you to know I'm here for you, okay?" Karen said.

Jamie nodded but still couldn't speak.

"Anytime, day or night, if you need me, you just call, got it?"

Jamie nodded again, gratitude shining from her eyes.

Karen gave her hand one last squeeze and put the van in drive. She pulled out into the Denver suburb toward the little music shop she and Jamie had been visiting every Thursday morning for the past six weeks.

"When're you gonna tell him?" She finally broke the silence that had filled the van.

"I don't know." Jamie was staring out at the rows of middle-class houses with their nicely manicured lawns—as nicely manicured as they could be with an inch of snow still covering them. She looked at the toys and sleds littering the shoveled walks. "Soon."

Making a mental note to keep close tabs on Jamie

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in case, when the time came, her friend needed her, Karen drove the last few blocks without speaking.

Denver was such a beautiful city, a combination of big city and natural wonders. The trees were still bare, but they'd be getting their buds and blossoms soon, their leaves and flowers. She wondered where her life and Jamie's would be by then.

"Did you practice this week?" Jamie asked, grabbing her rented flute from the car floor as they parked in front of the shop.

"A little. How about you?'

Jamie grinned. "Not quite that much."

"Think he'll notice?"

"Maybe not."

"Ready to go get yelled at?"

"I guess."

The two women were giggling as, flutes in hand, they strolled to the door of the music shop.

"Hi."

Recognizing the voice on the other end of the line that Friday morning in early March, Kyle felt a grin spread from the inside out. "Hi." He dropped his glasses onto his desk in front of him.

His times with Jamie had been somewhat limited over the past few weeks, but they'd talked almost every day. And each day he was more convinced that their fate had been sealed years before and there was nothing either of them could do about it. She needed time. Had established a hands-off policy as far as any physical relationship went. After the way

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

he'd jumped her bones the first time they'd met, he figured he owed her that much.

"How were classes today?"

"Lively," he said, leaning back in his desk. "We've moved on to Edgar Allan Poe."

"The poet who killed himself?"

"That's debatable."

"That he's a poet or that he killed himself?"

"That he killed himself. He was poverty-stricken. His wife died first and illness took him two years later."

"I heard he was an alcoholic. That he died in a gutter."

"That doesn't prove suicide, does it?"

' 'Let me guess. You spent the past hour debating it, right?" She sounded just a little too sure of herself. Of him. Just as she had that day his furniture had arrived and she'd insisted he needed her help deciding where things should go. As if he hadn't been living alone most of his life. And who cared if