LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter One

      December 4

      Megan Lancaster turned onto the beach road the way she’d done hundreds of times before. Light gray clouds and patches of sunlight merged with the blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Swirling, heaving waves washed over white sand. Dozens of seagulls lined the bank. A light breeze danced through clusters of willowy sea oats.

      Everything was the same as it had been so many times before when she’d escaped to the rambling beach house. Yet everything was different.

      She shifted, trying to find a way to get comfortable behind the steering wheel of her new black sedan. It was useless, even though she’d splurged for the luxury model this time. Her bulging stomach prevented any kind of free movement and now she needed to go to the bathroom—again.

      She pulled into a service station and reached for her brown loafers, which she’d shed after the last stop and thrown onto the passenger seat. There was no way she could bend far enough to reach her feet from behind the wheel, so she opened the car door and turned her body so that her legs hung out the open door. The shoes had fit perfectly when she’d shimmied behind the wheel four hours ago when she left her New Orleans town house, but now she had to struggle to force her feet into them. Swelling feet—another side effect of pregnancy that she’d been unprepared for.

      Aching feet and cramped muscles notwithstanding, she waddled to the rest room inside the service station, took care of business, then purchased another bottle of spring-water. She stretched the kinks from her neck and shoulders before getting back into the car and switching on the ignition.

      One more stop before she could climb the steps at Pelican’s Roost and collapse onto the inviting pillowed sofa. She hadn’t been to the beach house in months and the cupboards would be as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s. And the only thing Megan did more often than go to the bathroom these days was eat. With that thought in mind, she reached her hand into the plastic bag on the passenger seat and pulled out a piece of dried fruit to munch on.

      Twenty-three days until the baby was due. Twenty-three days with nothing to do but visit Dr. Brown, who’d already agreed to deliver the baby, and take life easy until she went into labor. With luck, she’d keep a low profile, avoid running into old friends with questions. Avoid having to explain the pregnancy when she wasn’t married, and since her breakup with John over a year ago, wasn’t even in an intimate relationship.

      But she had her story ready, just in case. In fact she’d already shared it with Fenelda Shelby and Sandra Birney, the two women she couldn’t possibly avoid. Both had bought her explanation, a mixture of half truths and basic omissions.

      Fenelda had been the housekeeper at Pelican’s Roost for years, staying on to keep a watch over the house for Megan after her grandmother’s death two years ago. Sandra Eloise Birney-Ramsey the third was her mother’s best friend in Orange Beach and had been a jewel about watching over Megan’s grandmother before her death. She’d never forgive Megan if she found out she was back at the beach house and didn’t let her know. And nothing went on around Orange Beach that Sandra didn’t find out about.

      Driving slowly, Megan noticed another new high-rise condominium, one that had sprung up since her last visit, and a new restaurant as well. The growth in the area had been phenomenal over the last few years as more and more tourists discovered the emerald waters and sugar-white sands along Alabama’s southern coast. The condos, restaurants and shops would all be packed once spring made it’s grand appearance, but December was the off season. Before the snow birds arrived from the north to rent the condos for months at a time and after the summer tourists had returned to work and school.

      Easing her foot onto the brake, she slowed and pulled into the parking lot of one of the new souvenir shops. She needed a pair of sandals to fit her swollen feet. The loafers were so tight that even shopping for basic supplies would seem like an endurance test.

      She parked and pulled her cumbersome frame from beneath the wheel just as two lithe teenage girls exited the store, each with a large bag clasped in her hand. They moved so easily, almost as if they were floating on air, especially when compared to Megan’s awkward stride.

      All because of a baby who grew inside her. The now-familiar feeling washed over her, suffocating her, as if the gray clouds had fallen from the sky and landed on top of her. The feeling was incredible, unidentifiable. A feeling that everything was wrong in a world that up until a month ago had seemed totally right. But the despair never lasted long. A new and precious life was growing inside her.

      She held on to the door of the car for support as the baby gave a few hard kicks before resettling in her womb. Then she put on what her grandmother used to call her “company face” and walked inside the store. With any luck at all, she’d get out without running into anyone she knew.

      “Megan Lancaster, is that you?”

      So much for luck. Penny Drummonds pranced toward her, makeup perfect, hair blond, short and bouncey, her size-six body fitted into a pair of designer jeans and a soft teal sweater. “It is you, and you’re pregnant!”

      “How’d you guess?”

      “Oh, you,” she said as they exchanged hugs. “You’ll have to tell me everything. I didn’t know you were even married. Last I heard, you were a dedicated career woman.”

      “I still am. How about you?”

      “Same old stuff. Taking care of Tom and the kids. You’ll have to come over for a visit. Is your husband with you?”

      “Actually, I don’t have a husband.” It was almost worth the aggravation of running into Penny just to see the look on her face now. There was an awkward silence while Penny removed her foot from her mouth.

      “But you’re having a baby. That’s wonderful.”

      “The baby’s not mine.”

      Penny stared at her as if she wondered when Megan had escaped the loony bin.

      “I’m a surrogate mother.”

      “I see.”

      Megan could tell from her expression that she didn’t. “Another woman’s fertilized egg was implanted in my uterus.”

      Penny put a hand on Megan’s shoulder, her facial expression telegraphing her doubt. “Even if it was yours, Megan, it wouldn’t matter to me. Single women give birth all the time now. When’s it due?”

      “December twenty-seventh.”

      “A Christmas baby. You must be excited.”

      Not the word Megan would have picked, but she chose not to correct Penny. The bell over the door clanged, signaling that another customer had entered the store.

      She and Penny both turned as a man in jeans and a gray sweatshirt stepped inside. He was nice-looking in a rugged sort of way—mid-thirties, light brown hair peeking from under a faded baseball cap, about six feet tall, lean and muscled.

      Penny eyed him appreciatively but waited until he’d rounded a rack of T-shirts before commenting. “He’d make a nice Christmas present. Something to cuddle up with under the tree.”

      “Penny Drummonds, you have not changed a bit since high school.”

      “Sure I have. Now I only look and lust.”

      “I take it he’s not a resident.”

      “I’ve never seen him around here before, and believe me, I would have noticed. He’s probably married with six kids. If not, you should think about reeling him in while you’re here on vacation.”

      Megan patted her protruding stomach. “I don’t

Скачать книгу