She brought the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mom. What do you need?”
“I’m just checking up on you. How are you feeling?”
Lauren stilled in the taxi seat. There was a calm in her mother’s voice she hadn’t heard in a long while. Instinctively she flinched away from hope. Most likely her mother was headed for a downward spiral instead.
“I’m feeling a lot better these days.” Physically, anyway. Her nerves and heart, however, were in tatters. “In fact, I’m ready to work at full speed again. I’m, uh, heading to New York right now to tend to some business.” She would deal with explaining about the divorce later.
She waited for the sure-to-come advice and demands to spend every minute of every waking hour together. Her hand tightened around the phone.
“That’s fantastic, Lauren. I’m glad you’re doing well.” Jacqueline paused, inhaled a shaky breath on the other end of the line. “Listen, dear, I have a specific reason for calling.”
Lauren’s stomach clenched. Here it came. Although you never knew what that something might be with her mom, except that it usually included high drama, a lot of tears and then lashing out. “I’m listening.”
“This is very difficult for me to say, so please don’t interrupt.”
Lauren restrained a slightly hysterical laugh at the notion of her interrupting when most of the time she could barely get a word in edgewise. “Whenever you’re ready, Mom.”
“I went to see my doctor today. Not my GP, but my other doctor, the one I stopped going to a while back.” Jacqueline’s words picked up speed. “We’ve scheduled some follow-up appointments, as well.”
A rushing sound started in Lauren’s brain. She couldn’t have heard what she thought. But she had. Hope was a scary thing. “That’s good to hear, Mom, really good.”
“Don’t interrupt, dear.”
“Of course.” She shook her head, stunned at this turn of events. “Sorry.”
“He also wrote me a prescription, some new drug on the market, and I’m going to take it. This isn’t easy for me to do or even tell you, but I want to be the best, healthiest grandmother I can. I want to enjoy that baby you’re having.” Her glasses chain rattled on the other end of the phone. From nervous fidgeting? Probably. This was a huge step for Jacqueline, seeking help on her own rather than because her family pushed. “All right, dear, you can speak now.”
Her mother had been in and out of a doctor’s care before. Lauren prayed this new initiative on her mom’s part would lead to a long-term healthy outlook. “I know how tough that was for you, and I’m really proud of you. Thank you for calling to let me know.”
Never before had her mother discussed going to the doctor, and of course privacy was her right. But she’d also expected everyone had to pretend the problem didn’t exist.
That Jacqueline could talk openly about seeking help? Trusting in this new start would take a while to fully set in, but they’d taken a major first step today.
Lauren cleared her throat. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, dear,” her mother whispered, her glasses chain clinking faster.
The line disconnected.
She cradled the phone to her chest, trying to hold on to that tenuous new connection with her mother a little longer. She’d told Jacqueline she was proud of her, but the enormity of it rolled over her even harder now that she had time to process the surprise news.
Then she started to wonder. If her mother could be so brave in setting her life right, in taking control of her own happiness, why couldn’t she? Lauren sat up straighter, the cell phone falling to her lap. She didn’t want to leave San Francisco. She didn’t want to leave Jason. She was his wife, pregnant with his child, and she loved him. Totally and completely.
Why was she running away from the promise of a life together? True, he hadn’t told her he loved her, but had she even bothered to ask? Or told him her feelings?
She stared out the window at the town she was only just beginning to explore. An SUV packed with a family and pulling a boat passed in the other lane, reminding her of Jason’s yacht and all the weekend trips they could take, trips she’d never let herself think about even though Jason had tried to get her to look beyond this week.
The cab passed a restaurant, and she thought of licking maple syrup off Jason’s body. A plant nursery brought visions of him helping with a garden. She saw possibilities everywhere. It was as if the cap had come off a genie bottle once she gave herself permission to think “what if,” and now she couldn’t get the genie back in. She was wishing for a future with Jason all over the place.
She’d only given their relationship one simple week. No time at all in the big scheme of things. Running away was a cowardly thing to do. How ironic to spend all her life trying not to be her mother, yet now, she knew, she had a thing or two to learn about bravery from Jacqueline.
Starting today.
Lauren tapped on the plastic partition between her and the cabbie. “Excuse me? Could you turn around, please? I don’t want to go to the airport, after all. I need you to drive me to Powell Street. The Maddox Building.”
Standing in the MC boardroom at the head of the table, Jason thought of that “damage control” speech Brock had spelled out.And he couldn’t give it.
If he wanted to win his wife back, it had to start now, even when she wasn’t around to hear what he was saying. “Mr. Prentice, while I value having you as a client, there’s nothing more important than Lauren and our baby. I would rather pass your account to someone else in the firm than let anything come between me and my wife.”
Walter Prentice rocked back in the red leather chair, his eyes narrowed, inscrutable. “Do you realize, Reagert, that I might very well take you up on that offer of another ad exec? I don’t much like people misrepresenting themselves.”
A gasp sounded from across the room. Jason pivoted fast and found…
…Lauren standing in the open doorway.
Chairs squeaked around the table as the MC executive staff jockeyed for a better view. Surprise rocked Jason all the way to his Testoni loafers, followed by caution. Then he saw Lauren’s eyes filled with determination.
“Mr. Prentice.” She strode into the room confidently, sliding her hand in the crook of Jason’s elbow. “I can assure you that Jason and I are in one hundred percent agreement.”
Prentice’s chest puffed full of bluster. “Are you planning to lure this bright young star away from MC and back to New York?”
“I have no intention of taking Jason away.” She tucked herself closer to his side. “Mr. Prentice, my marriage is rock solid. Nothing will budge me from San Francisco or from Jason’s side.”
She sounded as though she meant it. If this was some kind of act to pay him back for insisting on the fake engagement in the first place…Then he looked into Lauren’s eyes.
And he saw love staring right back at him. Relief rocked him so hard he damn near forgot about the other people in the room until Gavin coughed helpfully, tuning him in again to Walter Prentice.
“What about all these rumors I’m hearing about a marriage of convenience?” Prentice’s face creased in disapproval. “Mrs. Reagert, did you really take a half-million dollars to pose as his wife?”
Jason wanted to tell the old guy it was none of his business, but Lauren squeezed his arm lightly in restraint. “Mr. Prentice, apparently it’s no secret my business had a rough patch, and Jason was willing to do anything, absolutely anything, to help me. Just as I’m willing to do anything to help him. We’re that devoted to each other’s happiness.”
All eyes moved back to Prentice. Everyone seemed to be holding their collective breath, too, because the room went completely silent while the clothing magnate mulled over Lauren’s declaration.
Finally, Prentice threw back his head and laughed, the sound booming around the room along with all those hefty exhales.
Jason’s included. Lauren was pulling this off. He’d been prepared to go to the mat for her, only to have her step in to fight for him. God, she was magnificent!
Prentice slapped Jason on the back, holding on to his shoulder with a paternal air. “I like people who live out my motto Family Is Everything. You’re a couple made to be an advertisement for that.”
The stunned look on Brock’s face was priceless. No doubt he hadn’t expected Prentice to be swayed that easily. Especially given Brock’s personal motto had always been Company First.
“Maddox,” Prentice barked, “give the newlyweds the rest of the week off. My orders. Surely there’s some busywork for my account that the rest of your people can handle while these two start their marriage off right.”
Everyone around the office table applauded and whooped agreement. Brock even clapped, albeit slowly. Lauren blushed but, man, was she ever smiling.
He rushed her out of the boardroom and into his office, slamming the door closed and locked behind them. Lauren’s laughter filled the room, mixing up with his as he hauled her into his arms. He kissed her and she kissed him, no hesitation, no distance, just all-out passion and connection and relief. Knee-buckling relief that she wasn’t leaving him.