Once Around (36 page)

He pushed away his coffee mug and met her eyes.
"It made a difference to my wife."

She pushed away her teacup.
"It made a difference to my husband, too," she said. "I'm not a doctor or lawyer or CPA. All I ever wanted was to raise a family. He didn't find that very exciting."

"
You can't aim higher than that."

"
Robert thought I could."

"
He was a fool."

"
That's how I feel about your ex-wife."

He gave Jinx another corner of toast.
"I wasn't out giving an estimate today, Molly."

"
No?" Her stomach knotted.
Please,
she thought.
Please don't do this to me . . .
They'd moved too far, too fast, too everything, and he wanted to put some space between them. She read the women's magazines. She watched the talk shows. She knew what was coming.

"
I had an appointment with the owner of a furniture shop in Buck's County."

She sat up straighter.
"And?"

"
They commissioned six pieces: three chairs like the one in the bedroom and three side tables."

She leaped from her seat as quickly as a very pregnant woman could leap and threw her arms around him. He looked s
hy and proud and embarrassed all at once, and the emotions inside her heart were so sweet she almost cried. Her excitement Seemed to unlock something in Rafe, and he began talking about his craft, about the smell of wood and the feel of it beneath his fingers, about the shapes and visions he saw in oak and pine and walnut and mahogany.

He hired himself out on building crews
, did odd jobs, repaired fences and remodeled kitchens as a way to pay bills and buy materials for the work that really mattered, and now it was beginning to pay off.

She poured him a fresh cup of coffee and refilled her teacup from the stoneware pot on the counter. The words spilled from. Rafe like water tumbling over rocks. She wanted to drink them up and make them part of her.

They were so much alike. They held the most important things deep inside. She knew what it meant for him to share these things with her. It was as close to a declaration of love as they had ever come.

He loves you
,
Miriam had said. Maybe she was right.

Maybe she
'd finally come home.

#

The pains started after lunch. At first Jessy thought they were payback for that mayo-heavy tuna salad on rye, but she quickly realized it was something more serious.

She called Spencer at his office.
"Something's wrong," she said, bypassing the amenities. "Please meet me at the emergency room."

He arrived as they were wheeling her in for a sonogram.

"I'm bleeding," she told him as he reached for her hand.

"
Jesus," he murmured. "The baby—?"

"
Still with us," she said. "Heartbeat is still within normal range. We'll know more after they take the pictures.''

"
They're ready, Dr. Wyatt," the orderly interrupted. "We really shouldn't delay this any longer than necessary."

"
I'm coming with you," Spencer said.

Jessy was so surprised she couldn
't speak. He'd shown a marked reluctance when it came to the more physical aspects of pregnancy. She was even more surprised when he held her hand through the procedure. The pains were growing more intense, and she bled through two pads before they wheeled her upstairs to a room on the sixth floor.

"
I can't believe this is happening." She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. "I don't want to lose this baby."

"
You won't," he said. He brushed back her hair from her forehead in a gesture- so tender she almost believed he loved her. Which he didn't. She knew that. She couldn't let herself forget it. He was just being kind, that was all.

"
Your life would be easier," she said. "You could walk away from me and never look back." The rich boy from Greenwich and the poor doctor from Mississippi—it sounded like a Fifties. B-movie, the kind that always had an unhappy ending.

"
Do you see me walking away?"

"
You're here for the baby," she said. "I understand that. I don't mind."

"
Damn it, Jess, I'm here for you."

It was the right thing to say. She appreciated the effort even if she didn
't for one minute believe the words. But as the hours wore on and the doctors waited to see if they could get the bleeding under control, she began to wonder if just maybe there might be more to his words than she'd first thought. He held her hand. He dealt with the doctors and nurses. He made it clear that she was the first priority, that her health and well-being came even before the baby's. She disagreed, but his concern moved her deeply.

"
It's touch and go," Jack Rosenberg told her after he'd evaluated the test results. "If we can stop the contractions and get you through the next twenty-four hours, I think you're home free,"

He explained the situation with a string of medical jargon that she explained to Spencer when Jack left. Spencer turned white.

"Sit down," she said. "You don't look very good."

"
I'm fine," he said. "I'm worried about you,"

"
Don't," she whispered. "Don't be so kind to me. I know you don't love me. You don't have to pretend."

"
I'm not pretending anything, Jess. I care what happens to you."

"
I don't want you to care what happens to me," she said. "I want you to love me."

"
I do," he said quietly.

Hospital noises
, the harsh glare of the bedside lamp—they all vanished. There was only Spencer.

"
Would you say that if I lost the baby?" Her voice was scarcely a whisper. The question frightened her even more than the answer.

"
I'd say we'll have other chances."

"
You're lying."

"
Not about this, Jess. You're the last thing I think about at night and you're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. When you look at me with those brown eyes of yours, I think I can conquer the world. I don't know if that's love. I only know that I've never felt this way before and I don't want it to end."

"
Yes," she said.

His eyes met hers.
"Yes?"

She nodded.
"Yes."

"
You won't be sorry, Jess. We can make this work."

And because she wanted to very much
, she almost believed him.

#

Jessy was released from the hospital on Wednesday morning with a clean bill of health.

"
And you're sure she's okay?" Molly asked Spencer, who had called her at Rafe's to give her good news.

"
She and the baby are both fine." He sounded exhausted but elated. "I have some more news."

"
Personal or professional?"

"
Both," he said. "Which do you want first?"

"
Professional," she said without delay. "Let's get it out of the way."

"
Robert wants a meeting with you this afternoon."

"
You know my feelings about that."

"
I think you should consider it, Molly. He's willing to make some concessions."

"
Forget it," she said. "I'm not interested."

"
You don't know what you're letting yourself in for," Spencer said. "If he decides to play hardball, the first thing his attorney will zero in on is Rafe. I don't think you want that to happen."

"
I'm not doing anything wrong," she said. "I'm not the one who walked out and straight into the arms of another woman."

"
That's all true," he said, "but it won't sound that way after the other side gets through with, it."

"
It's the day before Thanksgiving," she said. "What kind of idiot would suggest a meeting today?"

"
I'm not going to touch that one," Spencer said, "but I do recommend that you let me schedule something with him for next week."

"
We'll talk about it tomorrow. You and Jessy will be able to have dinner with us at Miriam's, won't you?"

"
That's the second thing I wanted to talk with you about," he said. "Jess and I are getting married tomorrow and we want you there."

#

The next twenty-four hours were like outtakes from an old Marx Brothers movie. Molly called Miriam to tender Jessy's regrets, and the second the old woman heard the reason she popped up with an offer that amazed everyone involved.

"
They can get married in my house," Miriam said in a tone that brooked no disagreement.

"
But you don't even know them," Molly protested. "That's asking much too much of you."

"
I'll decide what's too much, missy. If you can't offer hospitality to strangers on Thanksgiving, when can you?"

Molly could find no argument for that. She set about making phone calls to florists and bakeries
, trying to find somebody who could deliver on the shortest notice possible. A bakery in Flemington said they could help out and volunteered to send someone over with a cake meant for a canceled day-after-Thanksgiving wedding.

She called Jessy and was surprised to hear how nervous the woman sounded. This was
everything she'd ever wanted, and she sounded as if she was scheduled to appear before a firing squad. Spencer was the one who sounded relaxed and happy. None of it made the slightest bit of sense, but she didn't have time to worry about it. There were too many other things she needed to get done.

Like finding out whether or not the fridge in the main house was big enough to hold a chocolate mousse cake.

She grabbed her sweater and dashed out the door. She was halfway across the gravel drive when she heard the sound of a car crunching its way toward her. It was either the bakery or Rafe. She turned around and almost fainted dead away when she realized she was looking at Robert behind the wheel of a slate gray Saab with New York plates.

He looked at her and didn
't smile, which was fine with her. She wasn't in the mood to smile at him. She hadn't laid eyes on him since the day he walked out. She waited, expecting to feel a rush of anger or warmth or something, but instead she felt as if she were looking at a stranger.

That was her husband climbing out of that fancy car. She
'd lost her virginity to him. She was carrying his baby. You'd think she would feel something, wouldn't you, some small burst of emotion. Any emotion.

"
You're looking well, Molly," he said as he approached. "Pregnancy agrees with you."

"
Oh," she said sweetly, "you noticed. You missed a trimester or two, Robert. I guess even you can't ignore the changes." She met his eyes. "So how did you find me?"

"
People talk. I listen. It wasn't hard." He held out his hands, palms forward. "Believe it or not, I didn't come here to fight.''

"
So why are you here?" As if she didn't know. "I already told you I don't have time for a meeting."

"
Diandra and I are leaving tonight for the Caribbean."

"
How wonderful," she said. "Thanksgiving on the sand." '

He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and withdrew an airlines folder.
"I bought you a ticket," he said. "Two tickets really. I reserved a suite overlooking the water. You can even bring your boyfriend. This whole thing could be over by Sunday."

"
Forget it," she said. "Not interested."

"
There's no chance for us,' he said. "I thought you knew that."

"
You just don't get it, do you?" she asked. "We're not playing by your rules any .longer, Robert. I have a say in things now, too, and I say I'm not going to the Caribbean.'

"
The divorce is inevitable, Molly. It's going to happen. Why not let it happen sooner rather than later?"

"
The baby," she said simply. "You gave up all rights to the baby the day you walked out the door."

"
You can't cut me out of the child's life."