“You’re on pain medication,” Claire said.

“I’d pass on it for a vodka tonic. At least I would if it was four, or even three. What time is it?”

“About nine-thirty in the morning.”

Nicole groaned. “I have hours to wait.” She hobbled over to the sofa and collapsed. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Claire settled across from her. “Me, too. Whatever happens, I want us to stay close. We should have before.”

Nicole’s face scrunched up.

Claire smiled. “What are you holding back?”

“I want to jump into my ‘you left me’ routine, but I won’t. You were six. No one gave you a choice. I missed you more than I could say.”

“I missed you, too. We’d never been apart. I felt like someone cut off my arm. I was so lonely. That never went away.”

“Me, too, though I was busy. Jesse was born a few months after they took you away. She changed everything.”

For Nicole, Claire thought. Not for her. She learned about her new sister from her grandmother and saw a few pictures.

“I wanted to call more,” Claire admitted. “But we didn’t have the money back then. I’m sure it was expensive, plus with the time difference.” Later, when she’d been able to make her own decisions about calling, Nicole hadn’t wanted to talk to her.

Her sister sighed. “Okay, I was very annoyed with you and unforgiving.”

Wow—an apology from Nicole? “I believe the word you’re looking for is bitch.”

“Maybe.”

“There’s no maybe, honey. You were the queen bitch.”

“I’ll accept being in the royal court, but I won’t accept being the actual queen.”

“Works for me.”

They smiled at each other. Claire risked the moment by asking, “What are you going to do about Jesse?”

“I haven’t got a clue. I want her to be different and that isn’t going to happen. I want her to accept responsibility. Another chance for me to be disappointed. I wish she’d grow up, which makes me zero for three.” She pulled a throw pillow to her stomach and wrapped her arms around it.

“I don’t know what to do about the charges. One side of me says to drop them. She’s family, blah, blah, blah. Another part of me wants her to understand that there have to be consequences for what she’s done. Your thoughts?”

“I don’t know,” Claire admitted. “I agree with you. She is family and she has totally messed up. I’m the wrong person to ask.”

“You’re as right as I am. Which is part of the problem. I’m in such a weird position,” Nicole admitted. “I’m as much her mother as her sister. I never know what role to play or what I should be doing. I can’t help thinking I really messed up somewhere for her to have done what she did.”

“No,” Claire told her. “You’re not at fault. Nicole, you’re only six years older than her. You are her sister and not her mother. You did the best you could.”

“I don’t think it was good enough. That’s my guilty secret. Want to share yours?”

Claire hesitated. Nicole’s eyes widened.

“You have one?”

“Maybe. I’m in love with Wyatt.”

Nicole looked stunned. “The sex was that good?”

That made Claire laugh. “It’s not about sex.”

“It’s always about sex. Especially for you. Wyatt is your first. It makes sense you’d feel something for him. Are you sure it’s love?”

“I’m not sure of anything anymore. I know I’ve never had these feelings before. I know I want to spend every minute with him and not just while he’s in a good mood. I want to learn about him, plan a future. I want to get so tangled up with him that neither of us knows where we start individually or where we end as a couple.” She paused. “Does that make me a stalker?”

“Not unless you start spray-painting that on his garage wall. Wow. You really have fallen for him. Does he know?”

“No. I realized this morning when he was talking to me about the other men in my life.”

“What other men?”

“The ones that are supposed to follow him. He says he’s just my vacation fling or something. That we have nothing in common.”

“Wyatt does always resist getting involved.”

Not words Claire wanted to hear, but ones she needed to accept. “You told me and he told me. No relationships. He’s convinced he’s bad at them. What does he say? That he comes from a long line of men who pick the wrong woman?”

“Something like that,” Nicole admitted. “But it’s just what he says. It doesn’t have to be what he believes.”

“You’re his friend,” Claire said. “What do you think?”

Nicole hesitated for a second. “That he’s so used to hiding that he has no idea what he wants.”

“The politically correct answer. You’re sweet to try to make me feel better.”

“Wyatt could change. People change.”

They could, but they didn’t all that often. “Do you really believe, in your gut, that Wyatt could fall in love with me?”

“Yes,” Nicole said firmly.

Claire didn’t believe her for a second, but the fact that her sister would be so supportive was enough. At least for right now.

“MRS. OLIVE SAYS the counselor will talk to Daddy and me,” Amy said, so excited that she was difficult to understand. “I’m going to need…” She paused to finger spell at the speed of light.

“Slower, please,” Claire signed. “You’re going to need what?”“T-h-e-r-a-p-y.”

“Oh, like what Nicole is getting for her leg but for you it will be your ear and your brain.”

“Uh-huh.” Amy grinned. “Daddy says we’ll do my bad ear. It’s a comp…Compy something.”

“Compromise.”

She nodded again. “After the counselor, we’ll meet with the doctor.”

Amy climbed out of the car and ran up to the front door of Nicole’s house, where she would wait until Wyatt came by to pick her up.

Amy hurried over to the sofa to greet Nicole, then signed about her impending surgery.

“Are you happy with just one ear?” Nicole asked. “One and not two?”

“Uh-huh. I need to wait until there’s better ways for me to hear with the other ear. I’ll still be able to hear good with the one implant.”

She spoke with a combination of signing and speaking.

“You’re very mature,” Claire told her.

Amy dimpled.

“Go in the kitchen,” Nicole told her. “There’s a surprise.”

Amy raced in that direction. When she’d left, Nicole said, “I agree. She’s very together. I wouldn’t have been at her age.”

“Me, either.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Of the two of us, you have the best shot at the title of mature child. You were practically living on your own as you studied and toured the world.”

“I couldn’t have handled what she’s doing. Amy has backbone. I would have listened to the adults around me and done what they told me to.”

“If only that were still true,” Nicole said with a sniff.

Claire laughed.

Amy burst back into the room. “You made cookies! Can I have one?”

“Of course,” Claire said. “My first attempt at baking. Be kind.”

“They’ll be fine,” Nicole told her. “Baking is in your blood.”

“I hope so.”

“As long as you didn’t use too much salt.”

Claire remembered the unfortunate incident the first day she’d gone to the bakery. “We’re not going to mention that.”

“Aren’t we?”

“No.”

Claire led Amy back into the kitchen and served her a couple of cookies, along with a glass of milk. She sat across from her at the table and listened to the details of her day.

As the girl spoke and signed and laughed, Claire realized something. She didn’t just love Wyatt. She loved his daughter, too. Leaving them both behind, not to mention Nicole and even Jesse, was going do more than hurt. It was going to break her heart.

CLAIRE HOVERED impatiently, dancing from foot to foot, counting to herself. She’d used three different tests at the same time and then lined them up on the bathroom counter on a paper towel. Now came the hard part—waiting.

The sticks offered her nothing at first, then one by one they changed and gave her the same message. She shrieked and ran into Nicole’s bedroom.Her sister was still in bed. It was barely after six, so Nicole being asleep wasn’t a huge surprise. But Claire didn’t care. It was only in deference to her sister’s still-healing knee that she didn’t jump on the mattress. But she did yell.

“Get up! Get up. You have to be awake so I can tell you myself.”

She pulled back the drapes and opened the blinds. Sunlight spilled into the room.

Nicole sat up and blinked at her. “What’s your problem? It’s early.” She glanced at the clock. “Dear God, I’m going to have to kill you.”

Claire didn’t care. She spun in a circle, her happiness giving her speed and momentum. She couldn’t possibly be expected to contain all the happiness bubbling up inside of her.

“I’m pregnant,” she announced. “I peed on three different sticks in three different tests and I’m pregnant. I’m having a baby. Isn’t that the best?”

Nicole’s mouth dropped open. “Since when?”

“This morning. Oh. I guess technically since that first night Wyatt and I, you know. I’m so happy. I’ve always wanted children. I never thought I could get pregnant so easily. I thought I’d have to work for it more. This is going to change everything. I get to be a mom and start a family.” She stopped spinning and planted her feet until the room stopped moving, too.

Nicole laughed. “Too bad no one can harness that energy.”

“I know. You’ll be an aunt. I hope I have a girl. Is it okay to hope that? Except a boy would be great. I definitely want a boy.”

“I know you haven’t been drinking, but you are totally out of it.”

“I’m happy! I’ve always wanted kids but that seemed impossible, like I would never be that normal.” Claire laughed. “I should have gotten pregnant years ago.”

“Apparently.”

Claire settled on the edge of the bed and grinned. “You’re worried. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Just about Wyatt.”

The man who was probably not going to be so happy about this, Claire thought, bubbling too much to have anything break her mood.

“He’ll come around or he won’t. Either way, I’ll deal.”

“Good for you,” Nicole told her. “He may surprise us both. And if he doesn’t, I’ll break his kneecaps. I happen to know that can be really painful.”

Claire leaned forward and hugged her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Even if I am a little bitter.”

Claire pulled back. “Why?”

“Because I always wanted a family, too. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful Drew and I never got around to the kid thing. But a baby would be nice.”

She sounded wistful as she spoke.

“So go get pregnant,” Claire told her. “It’s easy.”

Nicole laughed. “So I’ve heard. I appreciate the advice, but I think I’ll wait a bit. Things are a little complicated right now. But I’m happy for you.”

“Me, too!” Claire sighed. “I’m also terrified, but in a good way. I’m filled with possibilities and anticipation.”

“What are you going to do about your career?”

“I don’t know.” While thoughts of Wyatt being unhappy didn’t affect her mood, a sharp longing to play again seemed to shave off a couple of layers of happiness.

“I miss it,” Claire admitted. “More and more. Can I do both?”

“Why not? Aren’t you rich? Can’t you hire help if you need it.”

“Sure.”

“Honey, then I say go for it.”

Claire laughed again. “I will.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CLAIRE CALLED AHEAD to make sure Wyatt was at his office, then drove over before he could head out to a job site. She spent the thirty-minute trip alternating between total happiness and a gnawing worry about what he was going to say.

In a perfect world he would be as excited about the baby as she was. She wasn’t going to hold her breath for that, though. She figured the best she could hope for was neutrality.She walked into the building and was directed back to his private office. Wyatt hung up the phone as she entered, smiled and moved toward her.

“An unexpected pleasure,” he told her, pulling her close and kissing her. “The best kind.”

His mouth was warm on hers, making her tummy clench in anticipation. Blood moved faster and the instant desire made her want to throw herself at him.

She pulled back, laughing. “How do you do that? Turn me on with just a kiss?”

“I’m gifted.”

He was more than that. He was everything she’d ever wanted. Strong, yet gentle. Caring, determined, even stubborn. She loved so much about him, including how much he loved his daughter. Would he be willing to give their child the same amount of caring?