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“Hello?”
“Ashley?” Her body always trembled at the sound of Cord’s deep voice. “Did I waken you?”
“No. I was up.” Barely.
“I called the furniture store and they’ll be delivering the baby’s things between twelve and three, so I’m going to come home at noon. Later on in the day we’ll drive over to St. Anne’s and get your car.”
She blinked. “That’s right. I forgot. It’s still in the parking lot.”
“I think we can both agree that last evening we had other things on our minds. In case you haven’t been downstairs yet, I asked Katy to do some grocery shopping. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding something good to eat.”
As usual, Cord was thinking of Ashley’s needs. Talk about killing me with kindness.
Unless his routine had changed, Katy was the cleaning lady who came in once a week and did odd jobs when occasion demanded.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Ashley—” He sounded anxious. “Don’t ever hesitate to call me if you need anything. The entire staff has been alerted. They know to put you through to me no matter where I am or what I’m doing.”
Her index finger curled around the phone line. “I’m not ready to have the baby yet, Cord. But I promise that when I start to experience the signs Dr. Noble told me about, you’ll be the first one to know.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he vowed fiercely. “In the meantime, just be careful, darling.” The endearment tugged at her emotions. So did the protective warning.
“I will.”
“Good,” came his response, eloquent with relief. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
The fine went dead.
Bemused by the mixture of gruff tenderness in his tone, she was slow to put the phone back on the hook and didn’t readily respond to the knock on the door.
When it sounded again, she turned. “Is that you, Katy?”
“No. It’s Sheila.”
No wonder Cord was worried. His stepmother hadn’t shown up for work yet. Bracing herself, she told the other woman to come in.
When Ashley saw what Sheila was staring at, she was glad she hadn’t cleaned up the room yet. Cord had eaten the rest of the pizza. The empty carton plus a half-empty bottle of Coke were still on the dresser. The covers and pillows of the bed were in total disarray. To anyone looking, the clothes lying in a heap on the floor were mute evidence of a mutually satisfying night.
Normally Sheila was a cool, collected woman who put every one of her sex at a disadvantage. But this morning, Ashley could see pink blotches on her seemingly flawless skin and her gray eyes looked charged with a strange light.
In as pleasant a voice as she could muster Ashley asked, “Did you take a pill last night? Did it reduce your nausea?”
Sheila’s head reared back. “You think you’re so clever.”
A strange calm had come over Ashley. This moment had been a long time in coming. “I’ve had a good role model in you.”
Sheila’s muffled gasp told Ashley she’d hit a nerve.
“You may be with Cord again, but you’ll never be sure if he and I have been lovers.”
The odd expression on her face, the unattractive twist of her mouth, took Ashley back to those early years at the orphanage when Marsha had baited her mercilessly for the sheer pleasure of watching Ashley suffer.
Marsha had been all bluff, but Ashley had been too naive and vulnerable to see through it. She’d been a child then. Now she was all grown up, and her vision had improved with age.
Pure revelation started flowing through her so hard and fast, she felt giddy. Like a fantastic gift, sure knowledge came to her.
Cord’s truth was the truth!
