reason? Isn’t that what she wanted for him? Someone who could give him the family and son he so badly wanted?
Tony had explained that her name was Stephanie Beckett and she was an undercover DEA agent working on the drug task force. He assured her that she was on temporary assignment and just playing at The Club to let off steam during her down time. But Regan had been concerned that she had more than a professional interest in her husband. She had seen them talking together several times and they made an attractive couple. They were both tall and fit, his dark features complimenting her fair skin and hair. He didn’t even have to bend in half to talk to her like he did with his vertically challenged wife. They had so much in common and would fit together perfectly.
But could she actually do it? Could she actually hand him over to another woman on a silver platter? Many couples had fertility problems. It shouldn’t be the end of the world for her. A little voice inside said, “ Talk to him, dummy.” But that logical, sounding adult voice was drowned out by echoes of her frustrations, low self-esteem and doubt.
“Dammit!” She swore aloud in the office and in an unusual surge of anger, swept the desk free of all the paperwork and watched it land in a jumble across the floor. She sank to her knees on the floor and launched into yet another crying jag. Long minutes later, she looked at the mess she’d made of the office. Disgusted with herself, she grabbed a wad of tissues and scrubbed her face. What was wrong with her? She was cursing and having temper tantrums like a child. She cried at the drop of a hat and was bitchy as hell. And now, her brain was conjuring up alternate realities. What was next? A psychotic trip where she ended up with a tramp stamp or shaved head? Crap, maybe she really was losing her mind and should pay more attention to her shrink.
Suddenly the door to the office opened and Megan walked in. She stopped abruptly in the doorway and stared at her sister’s tear-stained face and the shambles in her office. “What happened? Are you OK, Reg?”
Embarrassed, Regan moved quickly to collect the papers on the floor and began to sort them into some semblance of order. “Yeah, I was just feeling sorry for myself so I decided to have a little pity party for one.”
Megan crouched down to help her gather the papers.
“Sorry, Meg, but Rick has been out of town for a few days and I miss him a lot.” She sat on the floor surrounded by papers and cried harder.
“Oh, honey.” Megan stacked the papers and put them in a neat pile on her desk. She then sat on the floor with Regan and wrapped her arms around her. She was worried. She barely recognized the weeping wreck that was her sister. “Are you taking your meds, Reg?”
Startled, she looked up at her sister suspiciously. They shared the same psychiatrist; had she said something? “How did you know?”
“You told me you were going to see Dr. Windham so I just assumed she put you on antidepressants.” As usual, Megan keyed right in on her sister’s unspoken concern. “Don’t worry honey, she doesn’t talk about other patients. You can trust her.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been taking my meds but can’t tell a difference. Other than the fact that I’ve turned into a Class-A bitch.” She avoided looking at her twin when she told that half-truth. She was taking meds, just not the ones everyone thought she was. “And the mood swings are killing me, I’m a bitch one minute and the next I’m doing an excellent impression of a leaky faucet.”
“You wouldn’t be pregnant would you, hon?”
An unladylike snort erupted from Regan, if she only knew the irony of that question. “Sadly no, they made me take a pregnancy test and go back on birth control since I started the damn pills.” She suspected that her bad temper was a side effect of the hormones and