Bundle of Joy by Barbara Bretton Read Free Book Online Page B

sleep won't cure."
    "Go home," said Sam, moving her infant son to her other breast. "Sleep for both of us. I'm afraid my days of sleeping in are over for a while."
    Caroline kissed both her friend and her godson. "Thanks for the advice. I'm going to take you up on it."
    A rush of air conditioning hit her as she exited the elevator and she shivered. The last time she'd been this cold was that night in the storage room with Charlie Donohue but they had found a way to stay warm. Oh yes. The memories sizzled through her as she crossed the lobby, and she struggled to push them back into her subconscious where they belonged. After all, they'd only seen each other once since that night, an awkward meeting the night of Sam's baby shower when they'd said little more than hello.
    What a fool she'd made of herself, all tongue-tied and adolescent, unable to meet his eyes without remembering the feel of his body against hers in vivid and erotic detail. She pushed open the door and exited to the street. A wall of heat pushed in at her, taking her breath away. A wave of dizziness rippled through her and she sank to the steps, clinging to the railing.
    "At least you're in the right place."
    Swallowing hard, she looked up to see Charlie Donohue. "What--what're you doing here?"
    He waved a big bouquet of flowers. "Same thing you are. Come to see the heir apparent."
    The ground seemed to lift at a 45 degree angle.
    "Put your head between your knees."
    "This isn't a plane crash," she said between attacks of nausea.
    "Do it." He put his hand on the back of her neck and pushed her head down. "Now take a few deep breaths."
    "Do I have a choice?" she muttered, then did as he instructed. The world came back into focus. Her stomach resumed its normal position.
    "Better?"
    She nodded. "Much." She met his eyes. "Thank you."
    He bent forward and studied her face. "You look lousy."
    He, however, looked splendid. She rose to her feet. "Thank you again."
    "So what's wrong? Summer cold?"
    "Overwork."
    "You should slow done. Get some more sleep."
    Conversation ground to a halt. What, after all, was there to say? It was patently obvious he had managed to consign the memory of their night together to some dim corner of his mind. Irrationally she wished it had been harder for him to forget her. She'd believed herself too sophisticated, too self-possessed, to turn to jelly in front of a man she barely knew--yet knew intimately.
    "Visiting hours are almost over. If you want to see Sam and the baby, you'd better go."
    "I'll walk you to your car."
    "No." Her vehemence surprised them both. "I mean, thanks for the offer, but I'm fine." She moved away from him, backing toward the parking lot. "Good to see you, Charles."
    "Take care of yourself, Caroline."
    He went his way and she went hers and, once again, it was as if that magical night had never happened.
    Caroline sighed as she climbed behind the steering wheel of her car. "Who knows?" she said as she turned the ignition key. "Maybe it never did."
     
    #
     
    Caroline continued to feel under the weather. Rhonda and Denise, her sales assistants, looked at each other, wide-eyed and confused, each time their boss burst into tears at the drop of a hemline or lost her temper over a wrong number. The weeks passed slowly and for the most part Caroline felt as if she were moving through molasses. Her thoughts were fuzzy, her body exhausted. No matter how much sleep she managed to get, she woke up each morning craving still more.
    At first she was confused by her condition then frightened; but, on the morning of July 31st, as she looked at the big black plus sign, she finally understood. Congratulations! shouted the enclosed brochure. You're pregnant!
    "Congratulations?" she asked the terrified-looking woman in the mirror. No husband. No plans for the future. No thoughts of home and hearth or any of the things important for a baby's upbringing. She didn't know the first thing about breast-feeding or toilet training or how to