The Pregnancy Plan (17 page)

T
hanksgiving dinner at Megan and Gage’s was pure chaos, but in a good way. Having grown up with just one sister before Paige came to live with them, Ashley had never experienced a family meal that was quite so busy or loud or…fun.

She was immediately entranced by Gage’s four nieces. Although the girls ranged in age from seven to twelve and had very different personalities, each one was charming in her own way. But Ashley enjoyed watching the interaction between Tess and Craig, too, observing the little touches and subtle signals that revealed a deep connection and enduring affection even after four kids. She saw evidence of the same bond between Megan and Gage and knew that her sister had truly lucked out when she’d fallen in love with Gage and married into the Richmond family.

Paige caught her in the kitchen, where she’d escaped on the pretext of wrapping up some of the leftover food but was really trying to fight the melancholic mood that had overtaken her.

“What’s wrong?” her cousin asked, because she knew Ashley well enough to know that something was.

Ashley sighed. “I was just thinking about how lucky Megan is, to be with Gage, to be part of his family.”

Paige opened her mouth as if there was something she intended to say, but closed it again without speaking a word.

“Come on, Paige. It’s not like you to hold back if there’s something on your mind.”

“You don’t want to hear it.”

“I do,” Megan said, coming into the kitchen with another armful of dishes.

“I just think that, instead of feeling sorry for herself, Ashley should go after what she wants.”

“I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” Ashley denied.

“Please—I can practically hear the violins.”

“Paige,” Megan admonished gently.

“I don’t mean to be unsympathetic, but I had dinner last night with my friend Olivia—the one with the baby. She invited me over because she didn’t want to celebrate the holiday alone but she has no family of her own, other than the baby, and she’s had no contact with Emma’s father since she told him she was pregnant. She didn’t choose to be raising her child alone, but that’s how it’s working out.

“You made the decision to cut Cam out of your life, because I know that if it was up to him, he would be here with you right now. So if you’re feeling neglected and alone, it’s your own fault for not recognizing love when it’s staring you right in the eye.” And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen.

“Well, that was quite a speech,” Ashley said, as surprised as she was chastised by her cousin’s outburst.

Megan slid an arm around hers sister’s shoulder. “I think Olivia’s really struggled with the adjustment from career
woman to single mom, and it infuriates Paige that the father is doing nothing to help.”

“Because it reminds her of her own father.”

“Probably,” her sister agreed.

“But she’s right,” Ashley realized. “And the truth is, I
don’t
want to have this baby alone.”

“I don’t know why any woman in her right mind would,” Megan said.

“But I’m scared,” she admitted. “Cam and I have already screwed up our relationship twice. What if we try to make this work and screw it up again? Then we’re not the only ones who get hurt—Maddie and her sister or brother will suffer, too.”

“But what if you don’t screw it up?”

And Ashley realized she’d been so focused on the potential negatives, she hadn’t let herself fully consider the possibilities.

If she and Cam decided to work on their relationship and managed to succeed, then they could be a family. She would have everything she’d always wanted.

To say that Cameron was surprised when Ashley showed up at his door long after the turkey had been cleared away on Thanksgiving night would have been a colossal understatement. After their disastrous confrontation when he found out about her pregnancy, and his subsequent conversation with his father, he hadn’t made any effort to see her or talk to her. He’d been clear about what he wanted, now it was up to Ashley to decide what she wanted.

As he put on a pot of decaf coffee, he wondered if her appearance at his door meant that she’d made a decision. But she didn’t say anything until the coffee was made and he’d poured them each a cup.

“I thought Danica was in town.”

Her mention of his ex-wife was another surprise, and definitely not a topic he wanted to discuss again.

“Yes, she is,” he agreed.

“Is she here?”

“No, she’s staying at a hotel downtown. We decided that would be a better arrangement from here on in.”

“Oh.”

“Did you come here to see me or her?”

“You,” she said immediately. “And Maddie.”

“She’s in bed already.”

Ashley nodded. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”

“It’s not, really, but she had a busy day.”

“Lots of turkey?”

“And too much pumpkin pie.”

She nodded again, and he wondered if she felt half as awkward as he did. He wished he could go back a few months—even a few weeks—and change the way he’d handled things. Maybe then they’d still be together, looking forward to a future together.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said—the last time we talked,” Ashley told him. “And I realized that I needed to clear up some of your misconceptions.”

She wrapped her hands around the mug, stared into it. “When you found out I was pregnant, you accused me of only wanting a baby. But the truth is, after you came back to town, I never wanted
a
child so much as I wanted
your
child.”

Her words, even more than the fact that she’d shown up at his door, gave him hope that maybe a future together wasn’t completely out of reach, but he remained silent, cautious.

“And even if I hadn’t gotten pregnant, I would have been happy. I
was
happy—with you and Maddie.” She looked up at him now. “And I’ve been miserable without you.”

“We’ve been pretty miserable, too,” he admitted.

Those beautiful violet eyes filled with hope. “So…maybe…we could try again?”

It was what he wanted, what he hadn’t dared let himself hope for when he saw her standing at his door, but as eager as he was to assure her, this time he wasn’t agreeing to anything until he was sure they were on the same page.

“What is it, exactly, that you want to try?” he asked cautiously.

“I want us to be a family,” she told him. “You and me and Maddie and our baby.”

“Can I ask what precipitated this change of heart?” he asked, still cautious.

“I can’t blame you for wondering, and I want to assure you that it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I could lose my job, because—”

“What do you mean, you could lose your job?”

She flushed. “Oh. I thought you knew about that.”

“About what?” He frowned.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, opting not to mention his ex-wife’s role in things. “My point is, deciding I wanted to be with you wasn’t a change of heart at all. It just took me a while to acknowledge what was in my heart.”

Which meant, if he was reading between the lines correctly, that she was—finally—admitting that she loved him.

“I would have told you about the baby,” she continued. “I don’t know how or when, but I never intended to keep my pregnancy a secret forever. I want my baby to know his or her father, and to know his or her big sister.”

She pushed back her chair, stood up. “Anyway, that’s what I wanted to tell you.”

He stood up, too, and followed her down the hall. He didn’t want to let her go, not with so much still unresolved between them. But he sensed that they both needed some time to as
similate everything before they moved forward, and he was determined to do better than an impulsive angry proposal the next time he asked Ashley to be his wife.

She paused at the door. “You once asked me if I believed in second chances.”

He nodded. “I remember.”

“Apparently I do believe in them after all.”

“And third chances?” he prompted.

She smiled. “Maybe it’s not the number of chances that matters as much as finally getting it right.”

And as he watched her walk home, he was determined to ensure that this time they
would
get it right.

On Saturday, Maddie called Ashley to invite her to come over to for a movie marathon of
Shrek, Shrek Two
and
Shrek The Third
—her all-time favorite movies. Ashley wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the invitation had come from Cam’s daughter instead of Cam, but she’d missed them both so much that she didn’t hesitate.

They snuggled on the couch—Maddie tucked between her dad and Ashley—and ate popcorn and drank fruit punch. By the time the credits were rolling at the end of the second movie, Maddie was struggling to keep her eyes open.

“And now I think it’s time for someone to brush her teeth and go to bed,” Cam said, lifting his daughter up onto his shoulders and carting her toward the stairs.

“What about the third movie?”

“We can watch that one tomorrow,” he promised her.

“And story time?” Maddie asked, not willing to relinquish that part of her bedtime routine despite her obvious fatigue.

“A short story,” her dad agreed.

“Can Ashley tell me a story tonight?” Maddie turned to look beseechingly in Ashley’s direction.

“Actually,” Cam interrupted, “I had a story in mind for tonight.”

Madeline frowned. “You only read stories from books.”

“That’s usually true,” he admitted. “But I’ve been working on one that I thought you might like to hear.”

“A made-up story? Is it any good?”

Cam’s smile was wry. “I’ll let you and Ashley be the judges of that.”

So Ashley lowered herself onto the floor beside Maddie’s bed while the little girl snuggled down under her covers.

“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…”

Cam began his story in traditional fashion and proceeded to spin a fantastical tale about a beautiful princess who had fallen in love at a very young age with a handsome prince. And though the prince loved her, too, he had been given the gift of a magical sword and he wanted to travel the world and slay dragons, because he believed his desires and ambitions were far more important than a girl who had nothing to offer but all of the love in her heart.

“So the prince said goodbye to the princess and set out with his magic sword. And over the next twelve years, he slew more dragons than he’d ever imagined one man could slay, and he met many people and made many friends, but still there was an empty place in his heart. One of his friends was a very wise old man named Linus.”

“Linus?” Maddie wrinkled her nose.

Cam scowled at the interruption. “What’s wrong with Linus?”

“A fairy tale needs a fairy,” she told him. “Preferably one with sparkly wings.”

“Who’s telling this story?”

“You are, Daddy, but—”

“One of those friends,” he said again, “was a fairy named Linus—”

Maddie giggled.

“—who said to the prince, ‘You have wealth and fame beyond your wildest dreams, but there is no love in your life.’”

“‘That’s not true,’ the prince denied. ‘I love Oscar, my loyal pet monkey, and I love all of my friends, and I especially love strawberry sundaes.’

“The sparkle-winged fairy shook his head. ‘There is a different kind of love—the kind that a man feels for the woman who is his soul mate, the one who will stand by him and grow old with him—as he will stand by and grow old with her—until the stars fall from the sky. Have you never experienced this kind of love?’

“The prince was silent for a minute, remembering.

“‘Once,’ he finally said. ‘A very long time ago.’

“‘And did she love you?’ Linus asked.

“‘She said she did,’ he recalled. ‘But I thought she was too young to know what was in her heart, and I was too young to trust in my own.’

“‘You are older now,’ his friend pointed out.

“And so the prince strapped on his sword, tucked his monkey under his arm, and turned toward home. When he finally arrived back in the village, he was amazed to find that his feelings for the princess were even stronger now than they’d been so many years before.

“So the prince got down on one knee,” Cam continued the story, but he was looking at Ashley while he spoke, and the intensity of his gaze stole all of the breath from her lungs. “And he took the princess’s hand in his, vowed to love her forever and ever, and finally asked if she would do him the honor of becoming his bride.”

“What did she say?” Madeline demanded when he fell silent again. “Did the princess agree to marry him?”

“What do you think?” Cam asked Ashley. “Would she accept his proposal?”

He wasn’t asking about the fictional story, he was asking about their future. He was laying it all on the line right here in front of his daughter, showing that Maddie was part of the package that included his heart, his family, their future.

She had to swallow before she could speak, but then she assured him, “I think, if the prince really did love the princess enough to actually ask the question, she would most likely say yes.”

“And then they would live happily-ever-after,” Madeline announced.

“And then they would live happily-ever-after,” her father agreed.

Maddie beamed. “That was a really good story.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Cam told her.

“Will you tell me about Oscar tomorrow night?”

“Oscar?” He looked at her blankly.

“A pet monkey named Oscar should really have a story of his own.”

“I’ll have to think on that,” Cam said, and kissed his daughter—first one cheek, then the other, then the tip of her nose.

Maddie giggled. “’Night, Daddy.”

“Go straight to sleep now.”

“Wait.”

He paused.

“Can I have a drink of water? Please?”

“Didn’t you have a drink before you got into bed?”

She nodded. “But I’m thirsty again.”

“A quick drink,” he reluctantly agreed. “Then no more stalling.”

While Cam went to get her drink, Ashley pulled the covers up under Maddie’s chin.