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“I didn’t get thechance.Garret, you’ve gotta fix this and do it quickly. Propose to Joss as planned, put the ring on her finger and make it official so Harry will calm down.”
Darcy caught her breath.Propose? As planned?They werethatinvolved? But Garret had kissedherand—It meant nothing.He’d regretted kissing her, said he was sorry. She was the one who’d thought that maybe it wasn’t such a mistake. That friends could become more.
“When I propose to Joss, it won’t be because Darcy needed a place to stay and Harry’s using it to his advantage to force my hand.”
When,notif.The ache in her back increased and Darcy lifted her hand to rub it. The movement drew Garret’s attention and she smothered a groan, but managed a shaky smile. “Good morning.”
Ethan swung to face her. “How long were you standing there?” His expression softened into one of doctorlike compassion. “You weren’t meant to hear that, Darcy. This isn’t your fault.”
“Don’t. I’m glad I know what’s going on. And I’m sorry for causing you both trouble.”
“You’re no trouble. Everything is fine,” Garret insisted.
“Yeah, once Garret explains the situation to his boss, it will all blow over. It’s the old-fashioned mind-set around here, that’s all.”
“It might be old-fashioned, but I guarantee your family isn’t any happier about this than I am.”
Darcy jumped at the sound of the deep, angry voice, and turned to face the man it belonged to. Garret’s boss? He had three chins, a rounded stomach way bigger than hers and wore a brown suit, overcoat and brown hat with a two-inch band of black piping at the base of the brim. The man regarded her with an uncompromising stare, his gaze sweeping over her and lingering on her belly before shooting back to her face.
“Darcy, this is my boss, Mr. Pierson. Harry, Ms. Darcy Rhodes.”
“I can’t say that I’m happy to make your acquaintance.”
“Harry—”
“I do not appreciate the situation you’ve forced upon Garret or this hospital.”
“She didn’t force anything.” Garret glanced at her, his moss-green eyes soft with regret.
Harold released a loudharrumph.“You’re a brilliant man, Garret. I’d never have guessed you’d fall for some money-hungry bed-hopper’s tricks.”
“That is enough. Harry, I know why you’re upset, but you have no reason to be.”
Ethan moved so that he stood beside her. “I agree. You’re insulting Darcy and Garret both—not to mention Joss—by suggesting something more happened than us simply giving a stranded,pregnantwoman a roof over her head in the midst of a natural disaster. What kind of image would it have set if two of the hospital’s employees had turned their backs on her?”
“Lending a helping hand is one thing, but it did not have to involve her sleeping in the same house—or visiting her every night this past week.”
She should’ve known people were gossiping about them. How could she have forgotten that about small towns? In Miami no one knew or cared what went on with the neighbors unless the police showed up. But Beauty was even smaller than her hometown in Indiana, and everyone had knowneverythinghappening with her mother there. Thank goodness the kiss hadn’t taken place outside the condo door.
The argument continued. People—hospital employees and visitors alike—gawked as they walked by. The pain in her back caused the muscles on her sides to ache, and she rubbed her stomach in rhythmic motions when the latest cramp grew stronger.
No. No, she wasn’t doing this again. It was stress. She had to calm down and the pains would go away. Everything would be fine as soon as she could get away from them all, even Rosetta. She needed to retrieve her things from the condo and find a cheap room somewhere and lick her wounds in private.
Desperate to sit down, she spotted a bench nearby and lowered herself to the seat, earning a frowning look of concern from Garret. “Just resting. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” Ethan murmured. “You’re having contractions again, aren’t you?”
She moved her head calmly back and forth. She was not their problem, not anymore. “I’m fine.” But maybe she should go back upstairs. Things were getting a little…intense.
“Of course she’s fine,” Harry added. “Don’t think a little playacting on her part is going to change the subject, Garret. You owe me and my daughter an explanation and an apology. How dare you treat Jocelyn this way?”
His daughter? Mr. Pierson was Garret’s bossandfuture father-in-law? A pain sharpened.
Oh, yeah, you definitely need to go upstairs.Darcy pushed herself to her feet, hating that she appeared so awkward and huge. Tears pricked her eyes, the norm these days. She wasn’t the type to cry over problems. Why bother when it didn’t make them go away? She was more of a plow-through-until-you-figure-it-out kind of person. That got results and kept her too busy for tears.
Darcy worked to keep the discomfort from showing on her face.Okay.As soon as she could walk, she’d go upstairs. Calmly. Without an audience.
“That’s it. Don’t move.” Ethan jogged to the nearby information desk and grabbed the handles of a wheelchair.
