Full Circle (11 page)

The sheets rustled, and she stretched. Modestly, she pulled the blanket up to her neck when she realized he was looking at her. She’d also done that after the first time they slept together—because he was a casual friend, someone who didn’t mean anything to her but happened to be there when she needed a man’s touch. The next day, she hadn’t been so comfortable being naked around him.

Last night, he hadn’t stopped to think about the possibility that she might still see him as a temporary fix. Though they’d come a long way, they were nowhere near happily ever after. They probably never would be, but if he’d learned anything from his mother’s passing, it was to enjoy what he had right now.

“Good morning.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “How was your night?”

She blushed. “Before or after I fell asleep?”

“After. I know it was great before.”

“Confident, aren’t we?”

He raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed. A lovely sound. Something he could get used to hearing on a regular basis.

“Hey.” She looked at him, suddenly concerned. “Those condoms we used…they worked, right?”

Ugh. Liam didn’t like that she was thinking of Brett in any way, shape or form when she had just made love with
him
, but given what she’d been through before, he understood her concern. “I would assume so. They didn’t break, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Yeah. Okay, good.”

“Everything all right?”

She nodded. “Everything’s fine. I guess I’m just paranoid.”

He kissed her forehead. “Don’t be. I take responsibility for my actions, Elisa. I’d never leave you alone.”

She bit her lip then smiled and ran a hand through her unruly hair. “Well, never mind all that. I really had a good time last night.”

Her voice grew soft with those last words, and Liam felt a surge of relief that she seemed in good spirits. Discussing pregnancy, she had looked like doom, and it wasn’t something he wanted to think about much, either. Not until he’d found the woman he would spend his life with. Considering her plans, it obviously wouldn’t be Elisa.

His mind dredged up a memory of another woman, one who had pinned an unplanned pregnancy on him. He pushed the thought away. Elisa wasn’t that kind of person…yet she had been awfully concerned about the effectiveness of their protection. He shook his head.
He
was the one being paranoid.

He tossed the blanket away from him and pulled on a pair of shorts. “Breakfast?”

“Surprise me. I’m going to borrow your shower.”

“Go ahead.” She moved to get out of bed, but he held her bare body close. “I’ll try not to join you.”

She grinned and kissed him. “Don’t try too hard.”

Liam watched until she disappeared behind the bathroom door and turned on the water. Though he wanted to raise a family in Windy Flats as much as she wanted to leave, he could imagine her carrying his child. That was a surprising thought. And a dumb one.

Move on. She isn’t interested.

The phone rang, and he tripped over their scattered clothes as he hurried to answer it. “Hello?”

“Hey, dude. Justin.”

“What’s going on, man?” Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He hoped Justin couldn’t sense over the phone line that his sister was showering in the next room.

“I have a favor to ask. I got last-minute notice about a business conference in Austin tomorrow. Can you handle the clinic?”

“Sure. Have fun.”

Justin snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what I’ll do while listening to lectures for six hours.”

They laughed and said goodbye, and Liam went to the kitchen to make breakfast after nixing the idea of getting in the shower with Elisa. He couldn’t push the situation when he didn’t yet know how she would react to being in the office with him after they’d made love—twice—last night. He didn’t know what he would do if Justin found out.

And he had no idea how he would cope with Elisa’s firm intent to leave.

Elisa leaned against the cold tile of Liam’s shower and let the hot water roll down her chest. She moved her fingers over her abdomen, praying she wouldn’t be struck by lightning twice. She’d been the condom’s one percent failure rate the last time she slept with Liam. Surely it couldn’t happen again.

I’d never leave you alone
, he’d said. She believed him. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that she’d kept—was still keeping—an enormous secret. She hadn’t even given him a chance to be responsible for his actions the way he claimed he would be. She couldn’t imagine how much he’d despise her if he found out about his baby. And now that they had been naked with each other, had made love as adults aware of the consequences instead of teenagers under the influence of tequila, his opinion of her was suddenly very important.

Also, if she were to get pregnant by some freak accident, she would, for the second time, be bound to Windy Flats. And for the same reason.

Maybe she should just give up sex.

She took a breath. She was overreacting. Her nerves were on overdrive due to the emotional event she’d just experienced for the first time in ages. Focus on the positive. She caressed her skin and imagined the way Liam held her closely, gently—

Oh no.

She found a rough patch on her skin and looked down in horror.

Her c-section scar. She’d completely forgotten about it.

Her heart pounded. What if Liam had seen it last night?

She thought hard. No. If he had seen it, he must have thought it was from some other kind of surgery, but she didn’t think he had. He’d never had his eyes that low. They hadn’t gone quite that far. And she was sure he hadn’t felt it, because his fingers on it certainly would have gotten her attention.

Disappointment washed over her along with the water. They couldn’t spend any more time in his bed—or hers, or anywhere, for that matter. She couldn’t risk him seeing the proof that she’d delivered their child, that she had failed to carry their daughter safely and hadn’t lost her in the first trimester like everyone except Justin, Laura and her parents believed.

And she had invited him into the shower! Had she lost her mind? Quickly, she shut off the water and grabbed a towel. She’d had an amazing night with him, but her naked body was something he could never see again.

By two o’clock on Monday afternoon, Elisa had gotten nothing done. Liam must have figured out how to put out some sort of electromagnetic field, because it pulled at her during every moment she spent in the same building with him. Certainly it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that over the weekend, he had delighted her body in ways reminiscent of something out of a romance novel. It had nothing to do with his masterful hands, talented mouth and perfect moves.

Nope, that wasn’t it at all.

Luckily, the clinic had been quiet all day and she hadn’t been forced to concentrate on work too much. In fact, there had been two cancellations and no walk-ins. She couldn’t remember the last time business had been so slow. Even Mrs. Dale had failed to make her regularly scheduled appearance.

Liam, to her relief, had spent most of the day in the back, taking care of the pets in the kennel and checking the inventory. By keeping his distance, he kept their affair out of the office and she was grateful for that. Thank goodness Justin would be in the city all day. He would have heart failure if he found out she’d slept with the new doctor. Then again, maybe he would encourage their relationship, thinking it would keep her in Windy Flats.

Which it wouldn’t. She and Liam didn’t have a relationship, and one night of hot sex wasn’t enough to distract her from her goals.

But it
was
enough to distract her from work, because she jumped a mile when the phone rang.

“Windy Flats Veterinary Clinic, how may I help you?”

“Elisa, it’s Laura.”

Her stomach twisted into a hundred knots. The tone of Laura’s voice made it clear something was wrong.

Elisa spoke quietly. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Justin won’t answer his phone. I need help. I need—can you come—”

Laura couldn’t seem to catch her breath long enough to finish, and Elisa didn’t wait to hear it. Her friend was panicking, and panicking pregnant women didn’t usually bring good news.

“I’m on my way.” She hung up the phone and grabbed her purse just as Liam entered the waiting room.

“Laura called and she needs help,” she blurted. “Can you take care of things here on your own?”

His brow furrowed with concern. “Absolutely. Go.”

“I’ll call you when I know something.”

Elisa sped to her brother’s house. When she got there, Laura was on her hands and knees on the kitchen floor, her face splotched with tears. Elisa bent close to her.

“Oh my God, what happened?”

“I don’t know. It hurts. I think I should call the doctor.” Laura swallowed and tried to take slow breaths, but her voice was frail and she shook with nerves.

“Damn right you need to call the doctor. No,
I’ll
call the doctor. You just sit down and breathe. Where are Kevin and Jack?”

Elisa helped her to a sitting position, and Laura leaned her head against a cabinet door. “They’re playing at a friend’s house. They should be back in about an hour. The doctor’s number is on the fridge.”

After speaking briefly with a nurse, Elisa placed a call to Liam asking him to close early and come to the house to watch the boys while she took Laura to her appointment. Then she returned to the kitchen.

The sight of her sister-in-law—her best friend—sitting on the floor, her hands protectively covering her round belly, shot a barrage of images through Elisa’s mind, a miserable slideshow of the worst day of her life when
she
had been on the floor in tears of pain. Though nine years had passed, she could feel the contractions as if they’d hit her yesterday. She put her hand to her stomach, then her mouth, then fisted her hands and tried to stay calm. Laura needed her.

She took a deep breath. “Your doctor wants to see you, and we need to leave right away. Do you feel good enough to make the drive?”

“I think so.” Laura took her hand and struggled to stand up, then abruptly sat back down. “Oh God. Oh no.”

She started sobbing. “Oh no,” she repeated. “Not now!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“My water broke!”

“What?”

Laura lifted her maternity shirt, and they both inspected her pants. Sure enough, a wet spot was making its way across the fabric.

“But you’re not due until—”

“August thirty-first.”

Christ.
It was the sixth of July.

“I have to get in touch with Justin!” Laura punched the buttons on her cordless phone. Still no answer. “What am I going to do?”

“We’ll keep calling him. His conference is in Austin, and so is the hospital—he’ll make it. Don’t worry. You have to calm down so we can go—”

“Calm down? This baby isn’t due for another eight weeks! Ow!” she screamed, doubling over and holding her stomach.

Elisa bit her lip and held Laura’s hand, trying to hide her own concern. A doctor might have been able to delay the contractions, but no one could reverse the fact that Laura’s water had broken. She was having that baby today, and with nearly two more months to go in her pregnancy, Elisa didn’t want to consider what that could mean.

“Listen to me, I had the same pain when I went into active labor. We need to go right now.”

“I need to talk to Justin,” Laura groaned. She pushed up to her knees and stared down at the floor. “Oh God. Oh God…”

“I’ll be right back.” Elisa touched her friend’s arm and then, so she wouldn’t scare her, bolted into the living room and called 911 from the phone in there.

When she closed her eyes, she could see the bright lights over her head in the operating room. She’d been in so much pain, and there had been so many faces surrounding her, but she hadn’t recognized any of them.

“Liam,”
she’d said, as consciousness faded.
“I need to talk to Liam.”

A nurse had shushed her.
“Your family’s in the waiting room, honey. Try to relax.”

The baby’s father,
she’d tried to say, but no words would come out.
He’s the baby’s father. I need him. Liam…

“Elisa, can you hear me?”

She looked around, groggy, hoping to see Liam and hear him tell her everything was all right. But he was still at school and hadn’t talked to her in months. That wasn’t his voice. It was her obstetrician. She was in a recovery room.

She wasn’t pregnant anymore.

Elisa gulped for air, panic rising inside her at the memory of what came next, of holding her tiny, silent baby girl but not taking her home. She had to relax. She’d been only twenty weeks along. That was different. At thirty-two weeks, Laura’s baby had a much better chance of survival.

But first they had to get to the hospital. She ran back to the kitchen and prayed the ambulance would arrive soon.

“Try to keep breathing,” Elisa said quietly as she sat on the floor next to Laura. “One…two…”

“That doesn’t work worth a damn, you know that!”

“It will distract you from the pain.”

“I’ve had two babies, I already know all this.”

“You don’t know about going early and being scared out of your mind. Please let me help you.”

Laura squeezed Elisa’s hand and lowered her voice, calmer now that the contraction had passed. “I’m sorry, honey. Your one was probably worse than all three of mine. Have you told Liam yet?”

“He’s coming over to watch the boys when they get back from their friend’s house. He should be here soon.”

“Not about me, about
your
baby. Have you told him it was his?”

“Oh, Laura! No, and why are you thinking about that? We need to focus on you.”

“I’d rather focus on anything else right now except the fact that this baby has decided to come two months early.”

The sound of an approaching siren coincided with Laura’s next shout of pain. Elisa ran outside and directed the paramedics into the kitchen.

“She’s only thirty-two weeks.” She grabbed the first paramedic by the arm and led him to Laura’s hunched-over figure.