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‘A little, yes,’ Carrie answered, without taking her eyes off her notes.
‘This is beautiful,’ Prue said, admiring the cake sketch Carrie had just finished. ‘A wedding cake?’
‘Yes, I got the order yesterday.’ Picking up the smoothie, she took a small sip and was relieved when her stomach didn’t instantly heave. ‘This is delicious. Thank you.’ Reaching for the small bag next to it, she froze when she saw its contents.
A pregnancy test.
Swallowing her shock, but unable to quieten her quickening heart, she lifted her gaze to her mother. Prue was watching her with shrewd eyes, but her expression offered no hint as to what she was thinking.
‘How did you know?’
Carrie just about managed to force the question past the tennis-ball-sized lump lodged in her throat.
Prue smiled. ‘Because I’m your mother. And that stomach bug you’ve been suffering from has lingered a little too long for me to believe it reallyisa stomach bug.’
When Carrie made neither a move nor a sound in response, she sighed and retrieved the test from the bag herself, holding it in the air.
‘Are you really going to keep me in suspense?’
Carrie trembled as the truth forced its way to her lips. ‘I don’t need to take the test. I’ve already done one.’
Her mother moved closer. ‘And...?’
Carrie took a fortifying breath, fearful of the look she was about to see in her mother’s eyes, and even more terrified of the reality it would become once she said the words aloud.
‘It was positive. All four of them were. I’m pregnant.’
In the next second her mother’s arms were around her, holding her tightly. ‘Sweetheart, are you okay? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’
‘I’m fine. I think. Actually, I don’t know.’
She sighed, her thoughts and emotions far too jumbled for her to be anywhere close to identifying them.
‘Have you given any thought to what you want to do?’
Carrie nodded, meeting her mother’s eyes. ‘I’m having the baby.’
Prue beamed. ‘I’ll help in any way I can. The bakery, doctors’ appointments—whatever you need.’
‘Thanks. But I’m not that far in my thinking yet.’
She was still trying to process the fact that she was pregnant and that it was not happening the way she’d always imagined it would—mainly because the father was a man she’d never anticipated seeing again.
Her mother must have read the struggle in her expression, for she moved beside her, hugging her again. ‘It’ll be okay, Carrie. You’ll figure this out. You’re not on your own. And, speaking of that...have you told the father?’
‘Not yet.’ There was no question in Carrie’s mind that she would tell Damon, but she knew she would also have to divulge who she was, and she didn’t expect either revelation to be met with delight. ‘It’s a little complicated.’
‘Carrie, I understand the world we live in, and that some relationships happen quickly and are not always long term. I’m not going to judge you for having something casual. And you’re certainly entitled to your privacy. So if you’re not comfortable telling me, that is fine, but I really think you need to tellhim.’
‘It’s not so much the nature of the relationship that makes telling him difficult. At least not only that,’ she amended, thinking that one night together hardly amounted to a ‘relationship’, even if that one night had felt more fulfilling and substantial than any other day of her life. ‘It’s who he is.’
Alarm darkened Prue’s face and Carrie could practically see all the horrifying options flying through her head.
The last thing she wanted to do was worry her mother further, so she took a deep breath. ‘The father is Damon Meyer.’
‘Damon Meyer? The son of Jacob Meyer?’
‘Yes.’
