Read Baby On The Way for Free Online Page B

doing fine—everything’s fine.”
    “Good. Then it won’t matter if I make sure.” Ignoring her stuttering protest, he raised his hand for quiet, listening as a car drove up. “That has to be Chris. I’ll tell her to park in the garage and we’ll unload in the morning. You need to get to bed.”
    “Wait! We haven’t settled this yet,” Libby said on a panicky note.
    “Yes, we have, so don’t waste any more time arguing,” he said, striding to the door. With his hand on the knob, he turned to look back, his blue eyes gleaming. “You might as well face it, Libby. Once again, you’ve been caught.”

5
    E ven the next morning the memory of Del saying the words—with that mockingly satisfied tone in his voice—had the power to infuriate Libby all over again.
    ‘I have not been caught,” she firmly told the small brown teddy bear sitting innocently on the mahogany dresser in her bedroom.
    Teddy regarded her blankly with black, shoe-button eyes and Libby admitted, “At least not by him. By the baby, now that’s a different story.”
    Yes, she’d definitely been caught by the baby. The realization continually amazed her. How could she love anyone as intensely as she loved this unknown small person nestled beneath her heart?
    When she had first suspected she was pregnant, panic had welled up inside her. Alone in her tiny bathroom, nervously fumbling through the directions on the home pregnancy kit, she’d never felt so scared in her life. She didn’t want a child; she was just starting to get her own life on track. She’d been accepted at Southern Oregon State to finish up her master’s degree and she’d found a part-time job at the department store to help meet her expenses. Yet when that little indicatorstick had turned pink, a tide of joy had lifted inside her, filling her with a deep satisfaction that hadn’t changed from that moment on.
    No, not morning sickness, financial worries—not even problems with Delcould make her regret this baby.
    Reaching out, she idly sifted the soft fur on Teddy’s belly through her fingers, admitting, “I may not have started off right, but I plan on being the best mother there ever was. I told Del I’m handling everything just fine, but he won’t listen to me.”
    Her mouth twisted wryly. Which was ironic, now that she thought about it. It was because he had listened so intently, his eyes fastened on her face in the candlelight while she revealed feelings she’d never shared with anyone before, that had made her feel so close to him during that long-ago snowstorm.
    What an illusion. You’d think, coming from her mother’s house where no one was ever what they appeared to be, that she would have been smarter. And yet she still hadn’t learned. Even last night, she’d been in danger of falling for him all over again. How could she have thought, even for one brief second, that there might be something more behind his proposal than obligation? Held tight in his arms, feeling so secure resting against him, she’d almost expected him to say he—cared about her.
    She picked up Teddy and gave him a gentle shake. “It’s not me he’s concerned about—or even the baby. He just wants to placate his conscience before he takes off again. Well, I have no intention of obliging him. I’m completely over him, I tell you. He’s nothing more to me than my landlady’s brother—”
    Libby paused, a soft knock interrupting her. A second later Christine popped her head inside the door, her dark hair tumbling around her mischievous face. “Hello, is this a private conversation or can anyone join in?” She returned Libby’s smile before her gaze fell on Teddy. Her blue eyes lit up. “Oh, what a darling! Where did you get him?” she asked, coming closer to admire the small bear.
    “Dorrie Jean brought him over yesterday.” Libby
    relinquished the stuffed toy to her friend and sat down on an old wooden rocker in a corner of the room. With a small sigh, she picked up