They sat side by side on the couch. "It's not as if I didn't try and warn you," Jade teased, trying to lighten the moment. "Nooo, now look at you, heartbroken and pregnant."
Mariah swiped away the wetness from her cheeks, her shock fading into disbelief. "I just don't understand how it happened."
Jade's mouth curled into a sly grin. "It happens when two people have that recreational activity called sex, not that I'd recall what that's like. It's been so long I can almost qualify as a born-again virgin."
Despite her situation, Mariah smiled. Staring at the bright blue plus sign on the strip confirming her delicate condition, she shook her head. "I guess I've just become a statistic."
Jade agreed, and after a few reflective minutes she asked, "What are you going to do, Riah?"
"I'm keeping the baby, of course," she said without a second thought. That wasn't an issue for her. Raising a child alone wouldn't be easy, and it certainly wasn't what she'd envisioned for herself, but she wouldn't consider any other option.
"I didn't doubt that you would keep the baby." Compassion softened Jade's features. "What I meant was, are you going to tell Grey?"
Mariah rested her head on the back of the sofa and stared up at the ceiling fan. The whitewashed oak blades whirled, casting blessedly cool air downward. A rush of tears filled her eyes before she could stop them. Now she knew why she'd been on such an emotional roller coaster lately, and why the mere mention of Grey had her blubbering like a two-year-old.
But her tears changed nothing, especially the fact that Grey didn't want a family.
Swiping at the moisture trickling from the corner of her eye, Mariah drew a steadying breath and looked at Jade, her decision made. "No, I'm not telling Grey."
"Why not?" she asked gently.
For all her brashness, Jade could be so sensitive at times. Usually the right times. "I don't want Grey to feel obligated to a child he made clear he doesn't want."
Jade digested that, then countered with, "Don't you think he has the right to at least know about the baby?"
She shook her head emphatically. "If Grey knew, he'd feel responsible to marry me, and I refuse to force him to do something he doesn't want to." Just like Grey's mother and father. No way was she going to let Grey's history repeat itself with them. "He had his chance to marry me, and instead he let me walk away."
"You being pregnant might change his mind."
"For all the wrong reasons," she refuted. "He made his feelings on marriage and children very clear. I don't want to be an obligation to Grey, and this baby to be an unwanted burden, one he grows to resent. This isn't an issue that's up for negotiation."
Jade's cobalt blue eyes held understanding. "Well, you don't have much choice but to tell Mom and Dad about this new addition to the family. Not to mention the fact that you won't be marrying the baby's father."
Mariah's temples began to throb at the thought of breaking the news to her very old-fashioned father. Oh, he was going to be thrilled that he was finally going to be a grandpa, and not so happy to learn she was going to be a single mom. "Mom and Dad will learn to adjust. This is the nineties. Women have babies on their own all the time."
They grew quiet, as if Jade sensed there was nothing she could say or do to change Mariah's mind.
And there wasn't.
Slipping her hand inside her robe, Mariah pressed her palm to her still-flat stomach, awed that a little life was growing inside her. There wasn't any doubt that the baby had been conceived at the cabin, and wondered if it had happened the night in front of the fire or the night Grey had told her he loved her.
The night her world had fallen apart.
This baby hadn't been planned by any means, but it had been created out of love. And her child would know love, Mariah thought determinedly. Lots of it. From a caring mom, a neurotic aunt and enthusiastic grandparents.
"Wow, a baby." Jade sighed, a wistful quality to her voice. "Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"
Mariah closed her eyes, envisioning a little girl with Grey's dark hair and golden eyes, then a little boy with similar coloring. "It doesn't matter, as long as it's healthy."
Jade grinned. "If my vote counts for anything, I hope it's a girl."
Mariah groaned, imagining the bond Jade would form with her niece. "And the first words out of her mouth would be, Let's go shopping.'"
"Of course." Jade laughed, her eyes sparkling wickedly. "Whatever it is, a boy or a girl, I plan to spoil this baby rotten."
Mariah wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. "Do I have any say in the matter?"
"Absolutely not." Jade's humor faded into a tender expression. "I still can't believe I'm going to be an aunt."
Grasping her sister's hand, Mariah gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You'll be the best."
"And you're going to be a mom." Her voice was filled with wonder.
Mariah rubbed her belly, already experiencing a fierce protectiveness toward her unborn child. "Yeah, though this isn't the way I'd planned it."
"Some things are better not planned."
Emotion constricted Mariah's throat. "Maybe you're right," she whispered.
"Aren't I always?" she said with her regular dose of sass. Then she grew serious. "I'll be here for you, Mariah, in any way I can."
Mariah reached over and gave her sister a warm hug. Damn. More tears. Would they ever stop? "Thanks, Jade, that means more to me than you'll ever know."
Jade pulled back, frowning. "Hey, what's with all the tears?"
"Damn hormones," Mariah muttered, though she knew hormones had little to do with it. These tears were for Grey and all the joy he was going to miss not being a part of his child's life.
"Wasn't that incredible?" Mariah was still filled with excitement as she and Jade exited her obstetrician's office and walked across the parking lot to her car. She'd just had her five-month checkup and ultrasound, and was thrilled and relieved to find out the baby was healthy.
"Yeah, it was," Jade agreed, smiling. "It's amazing to hear that little heart beat and see the baby actually moving inside you." She gazed at the ultrasound picture the doctor had given Mariah, an X ray that outlined the baby's head and body. In this particular pose, the baby was sucking its thumb. "Too bad the little critter wouldn't open up its legs so we could get a peek."
"Just think what a surprise it'll be when the baby is born." Mariah dug her car keys from her purse. "And you'll be right there in the delivery room when it happens."
"I don't know about this coaching stuff," Jade said as they slipped into the car. "You know the sight of blood makes me queasy."
"You'll be fine." Mariah buckled her seat belt over her rounded, ever-expanding waistline and gave her sister a reassuring pat on the knee. "I'll be the one in pain."
"Grey should have been here today, not me," Jade said quietly.
Mariah sighed, staring out the windshield at nothing in particular. She'd thought the same thing. When she'd seen and felt the baby move within her body she'd been breathless with wonder, and on the heels of that came a twinge of sadness that wrapped around her heart and squeezed tight.
She couldn't help but feel doubts and sometimes guilt for keeping Grey's baby a secret. He was the father of this baby, but her arguments always whittled down to one plain and simple issue. Grey didn't want children. Ever. Oh, she didn't doubt he'd take responsibility for the baby, but she didn't want his acceptance to be one of financial obligation. She wanted it to be borne of unconditional love for the child.
There was no question in her mind that he'd make a good, caring father. She'd told him as much. But the awful, bitter memories of Grey's father's abuse shadowed his confidence. And there was no way she could prove him wrong, not until he was ready to believe in himself, and in his strength and ability to be a better man than his father was. She seriously doubted anything had happened in the past rive months to change his way of thinking.