LITMIR.BIZ

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the menu. Lexi smiled at the waitress. ‘Usual coffee—skinny latte with sugar-free caramel and …’ she smiled over at the cake counter ‘… I’ll have the raspberry and cream sponge, please.’

      ‘And I’ll have a cappuccino and a piece of the carrot cake, please.’

      Lexi smiled as Carrie adjusted herself in the chair. ‘Ooh, you’re eating today. You never normally eat mid-morning.’

      Carrie fumbled in her bag and pulled a white envelope out and pushed it across the table with a nervous smile.

      Lexi felt her stomach flip over. Keep smiling, she told herself. She already knew what would be in the envelope. This had happened to her too many times already.

      She went onto automatic pilot. She pulled the scan image from the envelope and let out a little gasp of surprise, trying the whole time not to think about how this moment would never be hers. She placed the black and white print out down, easily seeing the shape of the little baby with its curved spine, larger than average head and little limbs pointing upwards. She leaned over the table. ‘Congratulations, Carrie, I’m delighted for you. When is your due date?’

      Carrie’s face flushed with pleasure. ‘Tenth of September. I had my scan last week when I was twelve weeks.’

      ‘And are you keeping okay?’

      Carrie shrugged. ‘I can’t eat first thing in the morning because I feel really lousy. But by now—mid-morning—I’m ravenous.’

      ‘So that’s why the change in eating habits.’

      The waitress appeared and put the coffees and cakes on the table, and Carrie didn’t waste any time in digging in.

      Lexi pressed her lips together. She was happy for her friend. She really was. And she’d been through this a dozen times before. She’d resigned herself years before to the fact she wouldn’t have kids naturally. She kept close ties with the orphanages—adoption would be her way to a future family. And she was looking forward to it—when the time was right.

      But something had happened in the last two weeks, since she’d sat in that kitchen with Iain and looked into his eyes as he’d told her about losing his wife and twins. Her heart had broken for him. It truly had.

      But something else had happened.

      Her confidence and inner strength now had a tiny chip in the armour.

      Iain and his wife had obviously wanted to have a family. Which meant that Iain had wanted a family of his own. Logic told her that even though his wife was gone, eventually his brain would go down that path again. That path of wanting to share his life with a woman who could have his children.

      A path it wasn’t possible for her to go down.

      Carrie was guzzling her cake and coffee. And she did look different. Lexi wondered why she hadn’t noticed. Carrie had a little glow about her, her hair was thick and glossy and there was added sparkle in her eyes.

      Carrie looked up. ‘I wanted to tell you first before I tell anyone else. I know they will be fine about maternity leave and everything, but I just wanted to talk to you first.’

      Lexi reached across the table and squeezed her hand. ‘Thank you. I’m delighted for you—really I am.’ Even though there were a million tiny butterflies taking flight in her stomach. The raspberry and cream sponge was beautiful but she could barely touch it.

      She hated herself right now. She’d never felt more than a fleeting pang before when a friend had told her they were pregnant.

      But what she hated more than anything right now was the remote possibility that because of her budding relationship with Iain, she might be feeling a tiny bit jealous.

      Jealous. What a horrible word.

      ‘What’s going on with Iain McKenzie?’

      ‘What?’ She dropped the fork she’d been holding for the last few minutes.

      Carrie was smiling. ‘Our grumpy Scotsman isn’t quite so grumpy. We’re all wondering what’s happened. Do you know anything?’

      ‘Me? No.’ The words came out too quickly, falling over themselves in their haste.

      Carrie put her fork down. ‘Lexi?’ Her eyebrows were raised.

      Oh, no. Carrie had that look on her face. That you’d-better-tell-me-everything-right-now look.

      Lexi started shaking her head and focusing intently on the raspberry sponge, which all of a sudden she could eat easily. ‘I’ve no idea what’s going on with Iain. I’ve just told you I’ve not been around. I’ve been flying everywhere and barely had a minute to myself.’ She popped a big piece of sponge into her mouth to stop herself saying anything else.

      ‘Whatever you say, Lexi. But it’s a remarkable coincidence that Iain appeared to get a whole lot brighter after your interview.’ She lifted her hand and gave Lexi a wink. ‘But if you say you know nothing, that’s fine with me.’

      The waitress came over and placed the bill on the table and Carrie had it in a flash. She waved it at Lexi. ‘But it’ll cost you!’

      Lexi grabbed the bill and swallowed the big lump of cake in her throat. Everything was still so new with Iain. She didn’t want to tell Carrie that in between flights to here, there and everywhere she’d either been sleeping at Iain’s or he’d been sleeping at her place.

      And if carrot cake was the price of Carrie’s silence, that was good enough for her.

      Lexi knocked on the door of Leo’s office. She was trying to put all thoughts of the last time she’d been in here out of her mind. The thought of ending up with Iain lying on top of her made her blush. She only hoped the colour she felt flooding her cheeks would not be obvious to Leo.

      ‘Come in,’ came the deep voice behind the door.

      She opened it. Leo was sitting behind his desk with the phone cradled between his shoulder and face, while he scribbled furiously in front of him. He gestured to Lexi to come in and sit down in front of his desk.

      She gave him a wide smile and settled into the comfortable chair. Leo had a smile on his face, and it was so nice to see.

      There had been so many changes in him over the last few weeks—all to do with his engagement to Lizzie Birch, the head nurse at the Hunter Clinic. Leo had always been good at his job but his personal life and his relationship with his brother had always seemed rocky. It was so nice to see him with a genuine, permanent smile on his face.

      He put down the phone. ‘Sorry about that, Lexi.’ He shuffled some papers on his desk until he found what he was looking for. A printout of the accounts and charitable donations that Lexi had sent him. He stood up. ‘That’s quite a pile you’ve sent me.’ He looked around his desk. There was barely any of rich wood surface visible. ‘What do you say we go through to the conference room and spread these out?’ He smiled. ‘Lizzie left us some doughnuts for the meeting.’

      Lexi stood back up. ‘Perfect. You get the doughnuts, I’ll get the coffee.’

      She walked through to the conference room and left her papers on the desk, then crossed the corridor to the kitchen and loaded the pods into the machine. Perfect cappuccinos in two minutes flat.

      She could hear voices as she approached the conference room. Its doors were wide open. Her steps slowed as she recognised Ethan’s voice.

      She hesitated. She was reluctant to go and interrupt them, even though she was supposed to be having a meeting with Leo right now. Tension seemed to emanate from both of them as soon as they were in the same room.

      Leo sounded happier today. She could hear his deep voice easily. ‘I wanted to let you know that Lizzie and I have set a date.’

      ‘What? That’s great. Congratulations, Leo. When is it?’ Lexi felt relieved. Ethan did sound happy for his brother. Maybe things had eased between them?

      ‘It’s

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