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Twenty
Taylor waited until the following week to confirm that she was, in fact, pregnant.
Waiting had not ushered in her period. She didn’t tell Gia—she didn’t tell anyone. She’d gone to the pharmacy, purchased three pregnancy tests and took every one of them. The boxes said to wait two minutes for results, but the pair of “you’re pregnant” lines appeared instantly for her.
Rocked as she was, she’d called in sick Monday and had gone to her doctor to confirm. She even had a due date. November 27.
She supposed calling in sick was the truth. She’d been sick at the idea of seeing Royce again. It was almost unbelievable that a month had passed. Since then, he’d been cordial, stiff lipped and mostly absent. He must’ve taken every off-site meeting or opportunity to leave the building because his office door had been locked, the room dark most of the time. So many huge changes lay like fallen soldiers between them. Jack had retired. Royce had become CEO. Taylor had found out she was expecting a baby.
She didn’t have the luxury of avoidance the way Royce did. In a month or so, her body would reveal the telltale pregnancy bump and everyone would know. Unless she quit her job, there’d be no way to hide it—a moot point since she was keeping the baby.
There were a couple of musts in her life. One, thriving at ThomKnox. Two, keeping her friendships with Brannon and Gia, who were more like family than friends. Taylor wasn’t sure where Royce fit in yet, but she’d made a decision about being a mother and it was only fair to give Royce an opportunity to decide how involved he wanted to be in his child’s life. Which meant she needed to tell him there was a decision to be made.
Sigh. Life was hard.
She’d never been at once so filled with joy and devastation. She missed Royce, but the idea that her family would be starting, granted a lot sooner than she expected, filled her with unmitigated happiness. At the same time, she was sad that her father would never meet his grandchild. And then there was the overall feeling of solitude, since she hadn’t told anyone about the pregnancy.
Telling Royce was the number one item on her agenda today.
She approached his office, surprised to encounter a woman sitting outside of it. She was fifty-something at best guess, her hair and clothing stylish. A smattering of freckles dotted her cheeks, giving her an air of youth, unlike the glasses perched on her nose.
“May I help you?” the woman asked with a stiff smile.
“Hi. I’m Taylor Thompson. You must be Royce’s new assistant?”
“Executive assistant,” she corrected.
“Welcome to ThomKnox.” The woman didn’t respond, so Taylor kept talking. “So, if he’s in, I need to speak with him.”
“He requested not to be bothered, but I can let him know you were here.” She pulled a pen and notepad from a drawer and looked up at Taylor expectantly.
“This is important, so I’m going to have to insist.” Taylor wasn’t in the mood to be delayed. She was tired. She was cranky. She was pregnant. She stepped toward Royce’s office door, but the woman stood to block her path.
“I’m the COO of this company,” Taylor told her.
“I understand, but his instructions were implicit.”
“Not to see me?” Taylor hoped not. That was horrifying.
“Not to see anyone, ma’am.”
“You’re new here,” Taylor responded with a patient smile. “You don’t understand how things work. Royce will want to hear what I have to say and it can’t wait.” When she reached for the door handle, the other woman physically swatted her hand away.
“You will not go in there.” The woman arched a prim blond eyebrow. “Not while I’m stationed here under orders. No matter who you are.”
Red faced, patience lost, Taylor leaned in. “What about if I’m the mother of his unborn child?” she growled. “Can I go in then?”
At that moment, the office door popped open. Royce looked from his new assistant to Taylor, frozen in place.
“Sir?” The woman addressed him.
“At ease, Melinda.” His calm facade returned. He was too good at calling up that blank look when he needed it. “Taylor. Come in.”
That wasn’t how she’d wanted him to find out, but there was no going back now. He shut the door behind her and gestured to the leather sofa in his office. He lowered into the chair across from it rather than sit next to her.
“She’s intense.” Nervous, Taylor smoothed her hands over her skirt.
“I guess I should have been more specific about who to exclude from that request.”
