The Pregnancy Surprise

Chapter Fifteen

Sara had a bad feeling about this meeting Miss Greer had called. The two of them and Valerie sat in the kitchen, drinking tea and eating some cookies Valerie had baked. But despite the informality, Sara knew Miss Greer was going to tell her something she wasn’t ready to hear.

“Miss Greer, you aren’t sick, are you?” Sara blurted out.

“Oh, no, dear, I didn’t mean to worry you. My hip is healing up just fine. But I’m not as young as I used to be, and keeping up with the bed-and-breakfast is getting to be too much for me. I’ve depended on you far too much lately, and you might not always be here if a certain young man has his way.”

“Who, Reece?”

“Who, Reece, she says.” Miss Greer shared a conspiratorial smile with Valerie. “So, anyway, I’ve decided to sell the Sunsetter.”

“Oh, no!”

“Now, Sara, don’t take it that way. My daughter wants me to come live with her, and it would be crazy to say no. Imagine, after all these years with no family, I suddenly have a daughter and grandchildren who want to get to know me.”

Sara struggled not to be selfish. “Of course I understand. But are you sure? You’ve lived here almost your whole life.”

“I’ve run this business for sixty-odd years. I’d like to retire and enjoy whatever time I have left.”

Sara could have argued that it would be cold in Michigan, that Miss Greer would miss Port Clara’s balmy weather. But if Miss Greer wanted to be with her newfound family, who was Sara to argue?

“Then I’ll wish you the best of luck in your new life. Can I come visit? I’ve never been to Michigan.”

Miss Greer finally smiled. “I’m counting on it. You’ll bring Reece, and the grandchildren, too.”

“Grandchildren?” Sara squeaked. Did Miss Greer know something? Was Sara’s pregnancy oozing from her pores?

But Miss Greer moved on. “There’s something else we need to discuss.”

What now? Sara didn’t know if she could take any more bad news.

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather see own the Sunsetter than you. Would you be interested in buying it? I would sell it to you on very friendly terms.”

“Oh! Gee, I never thought of myself owning real estate.” Owning a home seemed so permanent. Yet she had called this place home for more than ten years. And now that she had another life to think about-a child who would require space and a yard to play in, maybe a dog…

“I don’t know that I could swing it,” she admitted. “I don’t have any money for a down payment, and if I did…well, I really need a new car.” She had no idea how much the B and B was worth, but she imagined it to be far out of her reach.

“Why don’t we talk to my banker?”

“I’ll think about it.” But she was pretty sure she already knew her answer. She loved the Sunsetter. She knew every nook and cranny, every cabbage rose on the living-room curtains, every squeaky floorboard, every inch of the oak molding. But now that she’d lived here with Reece, shared meals with him in the kitchen and dining room, made love to him in his room and hers, she couldn’t stay here.

She still half expected to run into him every time she rounded a corner. And though she had eradicated every scrap of his existence from his room, the smell of the soap they’d used here for years now reminded her of him.

The entire B and B had become a painful reminder of the fact he’d chosen his work over her. She’d been toying with the idea of leaving, starting something new. Only Miss Greer’s dependence on her had stopped her. Now that she knew Valerie and her mother would be taking care of Miss Greer, Sara could make her own plans.

Sara tidied up the kitchen, then stepped out to the front porch to pick up the mail. There was a strange envelope addressed to her, from the Princess Cruise Line.

She almost tossed it, thinking it was junk mail. But then she remembered that she had applied for a chef’s job there months ago. She tore it open and read the letter.

Holy cow. They wanted her. The job was probably low on the galley totem pole-she had nothing prestigious in her references. But on a cruise ship! It was something she’d always wanted to try.

Besides, anything beat waiting around here, thinking about Reece. The salary wasn’t half-bad, and she would have health insurance. Maybe a job on a cruise ship was only a stopgap measure, but it would give her some time to think and plan.

She called the personnel director and told them she would accept the position. He instructed her to report for work the following Monday.

REECE’S PALMS FELT clammy as he boarded a plane at LaGuardia. He would fly to Dallas, where he would catch another plane to Corpus Christi. Max would meet him there and drive him to Port Clara. Then he would freshen up at Max’s condo and head for the Sunsetter.

His damp hands had nothing to do with the engagement ring in his pocket. He’d never been more sure of a decision in his life. As crazy at it was, he and Sara were meant to be together. Their life together would not be without adjustments, to be sure, but it would certainly never be boring.

No, his nervousness had more to do with the fact that he hated airplanes almost as much as he hated boats.

The first flight was fine, but the short hop across Texas was a nightmare, with the plane alternately bucking and swooping until Reece’s head swam. He’d never been so grateful to be on solid ground as when they finally landed in Corpus.

Until he discovered the airline had lost his luggage.

“I never check luggage for this very reason,” said Max, who’d met him at the baggage claim. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat. They’ll send your luggage along when they find it.”

“I’m too nervous to eat. Damn, I really want to change clothes before I see Sara.”

“You look fine,” Max said unconvincingly.

Reece decided not to worry. Surely she wouldn’t let a few wrinkles in his clothes bother her. “Let’s just go straight to the Sunsetter.”

“You want to call and warn her you’re on your way?” Max asked as they headed for his ’Vette, parked illegally at the curb.

“I’ve been trying to call her. She doesn’t answer.” Which made him even more nervous. Was she screening her calls and refusing to answer his? She often forgot to charge her phone, so he tried not to let it bother him.

“Have you even talked to her since you left?”

“No. I wanted to burn all my bridges before I talked to her.”

“So if she dumps you, you won’t be tempted to go back to your old job?”

“Something like that.” Although it was more a case of wanting to present his resignation and relocation as a done deal. How could she refuse a man who had changed his whole life, turned down a vice presidency, all for her?

He still worried she would do just that. He hadn’t felt good about their last meeting. The closer he got to his destination, the more apprehensive he felt, though he didn’t notice any chest pains or shortness of breath.

When Max pulled his car up to the curb in front of the B and B, Reece had his first concrete sign that something was very wrong. A For Sale sign had been stuck in the front yard.

Max turned off the engine. “Wonder what that’s about?”

Reece was damn well going to find out. He jumped out of the low-slung car and jogged to the porch and up the steps. He nearly broke his finger ringing the doorbell.

Valerie answered, but she didn’t look pleased to see him there. In fact she looked almost…horrified.

“Reece! Oh, dear…”

“What? Did something happen? Did someone die?”

“Uh, no, nothing like that. Come in, please. Hi, Max.”

“Where’s Sara?” Reece demanded none too politely. But he was not in a polite mood.

“Maybe you better talk to my grandmother. Sara’s fine, don’t look so stricken. But she’s not here.”

Miss Greer was already making her way out, limping laboriously with the aid of a walker. She, too, appeared distraught at seeing him. “Oh, Reece. I knew Sara had gotten everything wrong.”

“Where is she?”

Miss Greer all but wrung her hands. “She’s gone. She took a job working in the kitchen on a cruise ship.”

“Where? What cruise ship?”

Miss Greer paused, thinking, then shook her head. “I can’t remember. Valerie?”

“It was the Princess line,” Valerie supplied. “Out of Los Angeles. She said she would be working the Baja cruise. But I can’t remember the name of the ship.”

“I’ll find it.”

“You’re going after her?” Max asked.

“Of course I’m going after her!”

“Whoa.”

“You’d better hurry,” Valerie said. “The ship leaves tomorrow afternoon.”

Reece turned to Max. “Take me back to the airport.”

Max groaned. “Can’t you just call her? Doesn’t she have a cell phone?”

“She never turns the damn thing on.” He would keep trying to reach her. But meanwhile, he would get to where she was as fast as humanly possible. He headed for the door.

“Reece.” It was Miss Greer.

“Yes?”

“She thought you didn’t return her feelings. If you don’t…if you aren’t serious, please don’t chase after her. You’ll only cause her more pain.”

“I’m as serious as…” He’d started to say as serious as a heart attack. But he didn’t joke about that kind of thing anymore. “I want to marry her. Is that serious enough?”

Miss Greer smiled. “You’ll make a wonderful husband.”

THE CORPUS CHRISTI AIRPORT was starting to feel like home to Reece, he’d spent so much time there lately. He managed to get the last seat on the last flight for L.A. that night, and he would have to change planes in El Paso. But with any luck he would make it to the cruise ship in time.

Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side. His flight was delayed due to weather-again!-and by the time he arrived in El Paso he’d missed the connection. The next plane for L.A. wouldn’t leave until morning and, though technically he would still make it in time, he didn’t want to trust his fate to weather and the whims of airline schedules.

He would rent a car, that was it. But the first rental car place he tried was out of cars.

“How can you be out of cars?”

The uncaring woman behind the counter shrugged. “It happens. Big convention of manufactured housing salesmen cleaned us out. I doubt you’ll find a rental car anywhere at the airport.”

“Where ya headin’?” asked a scruffy-looking man who’d been eavesdropping.

“L.A.”

“I’m goin’ that direction. I’ll take you with me if you’ll buy the gas.”

“Deal.”

Reece’s new best friend was named Red, and Red’s car looked like it was held together with rubber bands and duct tape. Red wasn’t exactly a scintillating conversationalist, and his taste in music-some kind of heavy metal-threatened to give Reece a migraine. But Red drove fast, and that was all that mattered.

Halfway across the desert, he pulled off the highway onto a side road.

Reece roused himself from a half-sleep. “Why are we stopping?”

“This is as far as I’m going.”

“What?”

“I’m sure you can get a ride from here.”

Oh, God. He’d never hitchhiked in his life. He looked at his watch. “Is there an airport near here?”

“If there was, I’d have flown instead of driving.”

Fine. He’d hitchhike. “Thanks for getting me this far,” he said grudgingly as he got out.

Hitchhiking wasn’t as easy as it looked. For one thing, at four in the morning the traffic on this road wasn’t exactly brisk. When cars did come along, they sped past without sparing him a glance, and could he blame them? He would never pick up a hitchhiker.

At dawn the growl of half-a-dozen motorcycle engines approached from behind, and Reece didn’t bother sticking his thumb out. But one of the bikers pulled up beside him anyway.

“Need a ride, stranger?”

The biker was a woman. A big woman. A couple of her friends had stopped, too.

“Um…” He looked at his watch. Hell, why not? “Sure. Thanks.”

The woman gave him her extra helmet. “Lucky you don’t have luggage.”

“Yes, I…” Oh, hell. He’d left his small duffel in the scruffy man’s trunk. He’d been so focused on being stranded he’d forgotten all about the bag.

At least he still had his wallet. He climbed on behind the woman, wondering if he’d lost his mind as well as his heart.

“Hold on tight, handsome.” And off they went. Reece grabbed on to the woman’s thick middle at the last moment. The only saving grace was, with the loud engines and the wind, conversation was impossible.

Biker woman and her friends took him all the way to Los Angeles, but not before riding through a rainstorm that soaked Reece through the skin, turning the road grime sticking to him into mud. The sun was high in the sky by the time he reached Long Beach and the L.A. Harbor, looking and feeling like a degenerate.

Twenty minutes of searching and asking, and he finally found the Sapphire Princess, bound for Baja. Thank God, it hadn’t left yet. A glass-enclosed building led to the gangway, and that was where he hit another roadblock. He couldn’t board without a ticket.

“But I’ll be getting right back off again. I just need to find someone.”

“Yeah, right,” said the unsmiling ticket-taker, who could have played a bouncer in a rough bar.

“Then where can I buy a ticket?”

The bouncer looked Reece up and down, obviously doubting he belonged on a luxury cruise ship. “Easiest way would be to find a computer terminal, order online and print out your boarding pass. But we close the gangway for good in twenty minutes.”

Reece tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. Why, oh, why did Sara not answer her cell phone?

But then he spied an Internet café-right there at the harbor.

IT DIDN’T TAKE Sara long to unpack-it never did. Her quarters on the Sapphire Princess were distinctly unglamorous, a closet-size room with a tiny bunk, a tiny dresser and a tiny sink with a tiny mirror. Honestly, the cabin had been designed for Thumbelina, and the bathroom was down the hall.

This was quite a comedown from her quarters at the Sunsetter B and B, and it didn’t even have a porthole.

But she wouldn’t spend much time here. She would be busy. She was expected to work long hours, which was fine with her. The harder she worked, the less time she had to think about Reece.

One problem, though. All through her first shift she’d suffered from morning sickness. Even now she was queasy, and though she longed for a nap after her shift cutting up fruit for a buffet, she needed fresh air worse than sleep.

She now had an inkling of why Reece didn’t like boats.

She was about to head for the deck when someone knocked at her door. Curious, she opened it and found Reece Remington standing there. Only it wasn’t the Reece Remington she was accustomed to. This one wore wrinkled, disheveled, filthy clothes, uncombed hair and a day’s growth of beard.

Her jaw dropped and her heart pounded crazily. “Reece? What are you doing here?”

“I’m trying not to be sick.”

Join the club.

But then he smiled. “I can’t believe I found you.” He steadied himself against the doorway. “Is the boat moving?”

It was. And her stomach was pitching right along with it. “Follow me. Up on deck.” Otherwise, things were going to get very unpleasant.

Once she could breathe the fresh air and see the sky, she felt better. She stood at the railing, oblivious to the hubbub around her as the Sapphire Princess pulled away from the dock.

“Are you seasick?” asked Reece, standing right beside her, his hands gripping the railing just as hers were.

“Unfortunately. Never expected this.”

He reached into his pocket and handed her a small bottle. “Take some Dramamine. It helps a little.”

“Maybe later.” After she read the label and found out whether pregnant ladies could take it.

Finally the reality of the situation sank in. Reece was here. He’d followed her here. “Did you buy a ticket?” she asked.

“I had to. But I’d have done anything to get to you. I couldn’t stand to be apart from you another minute.”

Was he really saying this? Was she dreaming?

He grasped her shoulders and swiveled her around to face him. “Sara, I’m so sorry I gave you the wrong impression.”

Her eyes filled with tears, remembering their last conversation at the hospital. “You acted like you were trying to get rid of me.”

“I was, but just for the moment. I didn’t want you to know what was really wrong with me.”

“What is wrong?” Oh, God, was he dying? Was her baby going to grow up without a father?

“Nothing, now.” He smiled. “Sara, I love you so much. It took me two planes, three cars and a motorcycle to get here so I could tell you that. I quit my job. They offered me the vice presidency, can you imagine? And I quit. Because I don’t want to live like that anymore. I want to live in Port Clara with you.”

“But I don’t live there anymore!” she wailed, because she was so overwhelmed she didn’t know which way was up. He loved her. He’d clearly been through some kind of hell to get here, judging from the looks of things. He’d gotten on a cruise ship for her, and he hated boats.

“Then I’ll go wherever you go,” he declared. “If you want to live on a cruise ship, then I will, too. I’ll learn to eat strange food and I’ll try new things. I promise I will. And I’ll love you forever if you’ll marry me.”

He reached into his sad-looking, shrunken jacket and pulled something out. Then he took her left hand and slid a ring onto her third finger. “Sara Kaufman, will you marry me?”

That just made her cry harder, and he drew her to him and wrapped his arms around her. “Sara, please.”

Miss Greer must have told him. At the last minute, Sara had confessed to both Valerie and her grandmother about the baby. Sara couldn’t explain Reece’s odd behavior any other way.

“I’m sorry I’m crying so much, ruining a perfectly good moment,” she said, gathering herself together. “It’s my hormones. I’d always heard that pregnant ladies are weepy, but-”

Reece grasped her shoulders and pushed her away, just far enough that he could look into her face. “Pregnant ladies?”

“You…you didn’t know?”

“How would I know something like that? I’m not psychic. So are you?”

She nodded.

“Oh, baby!” He kissed her then, like he meant it, and for the first time Sara really understood what Allie meant when she said two people could become one.

She hugged Reece hard. “You’re okay with that?”

“Okay? I think it’s great.”

“But it’s so…unplanned.”

He stroked her tear-damp cheek with his knuckles. “I’m learning to roll with the punches.” His gaze flickered to the rapidly receding shoreline. “Holy cow, we’re stuck on this ship, aren’t we.”

“Yup. For a whole week.” She grinned impishly at him.

“Could be worse.”

“Could be a whole lot worse.”

“Does this ship have some place I can buy some clothes? And a toothbrush?”

“Let me get this straight. You rode a motorcycle across the country…with no toothbrush?”

“I left my bag in the trunk of a 1964 Nova, somewhere in the desert.”

With a grin Sara hooked her arm through his. “You can buy anything you need on this boat, including enough seasick medicine for an army. I’ll show you around.”

They started walking, but Reece stopped abruptly. “Sara, did you say yes? To the proposal, I mean.”

She held out her hand to admire her engagement ring. The enormous marquis diamond winked in the sun. “Of course I’ll marry you. I’ll learn how to cook food you love, and I’ll even open a retirement account.”

She turned to face him, serious now. “I love you, Reece.”

She knew their relationship would always provide challenges. But Sara loved a challenge.