“I’m pretty sure Elaine wants us to be friends, and this is her idea of a bonding moment,” Libby said.

“Until you, I was enough. She loved just me, and we were best friends. She used to call us the Two Amigos.”

“And now you’re one of the Three Musketeers.”

“Exactly. It sucks.”

Libby moved closer to the bed but remained standing. “I’ve no desire to get between you two. I had a great mother.” She drew in a breath. “And a great father.”

Lofton sat forward and threw up again. Libby pressed her hand to her stomach and hurried away from the bed.

“I’ll get a nurse,” Colton said.

Libby sat in a chair across the room and put her head in her hands. Her own stomach tumbled several times. “What the hell were you drinking?”

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Scotch. Dad’s going to be pissed when he realizes I went through his bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue.”

“At least you have good taste.” Libby counted slowly, drawing in a breath until her stomach settled.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lofton asked.

“A little pregnant.”

“What?”

The nurse appeared, checked Lofton’s vitals, and replaced the plastic basin. When the nurse left, Libby noticed more bruises on Lofton’s arms. “You’re lucky you aren’t dead.”

“You don’t get to lecture me,” Lofton said. “That’s for Dad and Mom.”

How could she go from no family to petulant little sister and a bun in the oven in five weeks? “No, but Elaine will. You scared her to death,” Libby said. “You’re smarter than that. And you told me yourself she is fragile.”

“I get that. Believe me. I’m about to get arrested, and that’s going to fly with the new boss like a lead balloon.”

Libby had no words of comfort to add. “What were you doing at Woodmont anyway?”

“I was getting ready for Mom and Dad’s renewal of vows ceremony. It’s in two weeks.”

“Why throw rocks at the greenhouse?”

“I started thinking about the party and how one day I wouldn’t have access to the land, because it would be yours. I certainly wasn’t going to burn down Woodmont.”

“Smart decision.”

Lofton closed her eyes. “I always thought Woodmont would be mine.”

“Then take it. I don’t need it.”

“Mom says you get it. I think she’s trying to assuage her guilt.”

In Elaine’s rush to make things right, she had hurt Lofton deeply. “Then I’ll give it to you.”

“I don’t want it from you.” She sat up and looked at Libby with bloodshot eyes smudged with mascara. “I want it from Mom.”

“Since when do we get everything we want in this world? Do you want the house or not?”

“She won’t go for it. She wants you to have it.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

Lofton groaned and shoved back a tangle of blonde hair. “Don’t talk to her. I don’t need you pleading my case.”

“What if we go halves on it? Both of Elaine’s daughters will own Woodmont.”

“I don’t even know you. And now you’re going to give Mom her first grandchild.”

Libby rose, drawing a deep breath, hoping it would calm her stomach. “Stop whining, Lofton. You sound like you’re five.”

“I do not.”

“Do too” rattled in her head but was silenced by the sound of footsteps approaching the door. The curtain whisked back, and Elaine and Ted stood there looking frazzled and terrified.

Elaine held up her phone. “You didn’t answer.”

“Sorry,” Libby said.

“Always answer your calls. You have no idea how many worst-case scenarios have run through my mind.” Elaine sounded like an anxious mother doing her best not to scold her adult child.

“I totally understand. Won’t happen again.” Libby stepped toward the door, grateful to turn her baby sister back over to their worried mother.

Elaine smoothed back Lofton’s hair and kissed her on the forehead. “God, I’m so grateful you’re alive.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” Lofton’s voice sounded small and a little contrite.

Elaine turned to Libby. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing.”

“I’ll talk to you soon?”

“Absolutely.”

Libby and Colton stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind them. “Got to love family.”

“Elaine will be in there awhile. I’ve texted Ginger, and she’s waiting to see you.”

Tightness banded around her chest. “I say we wait five or six months. Don’t want to get the hopes up.”

He guided her toward the elevator and pressed the down button. They stepped off on the first floor, where Ginger was waiting. She took the pair into an examination room.

“Libby,” she said. “How are you doing?”

“I might be a little pregnant, but it likely won’t last.”

Ginger looked past her to Colton, her expression questioning. “That’s not what Colton said.”

“I’ve already lost three pregnancies.” As much as she wanted to hope for this baby, she did not dare.

“Well, why don’t we run a few quick tests and see what’s going on,” Ginger said. “Every pregnancy is different, and there’s no predicting what will happen. One step at a time.”

“I want to hear what Ginger has to say,” Colton said.

Ginger regarded her brother a long moment as an amused smile lightened her expression. “Do you mind if Colton stays?”

“Sure. Why not?”

 

The examination took only a few minutes, with Libby lying on a gurney while Colton sat in a chair next to her. Afterward, Ginger wrote up some notes on her tablet and then turned her attention back to Libby. “Libby, you’re indeed pregnant.”

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She stared at the tiled ceiling, trying to push back the feeling of happiness and hope.

“We have a great doctor on staff who handles high-risk pregnancies,” Ginger said.

Colton rose and stood beside her. He had a determined “we will get through this” look that she thought was sweet but naive.

“Don’t do that,” she said.

“What?”

“Think we’re going to get through this.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Libby, it’s a long road ahead,” Ginger interjected. “You’re not alone in this.”

Libby would do whatever was necessary for this pregnancy except hope. She would not make lists of the things a newborn needed nor look at any blue, pink, or yellow paint swatches.

Colton’s phone pinged with a text. “Elaine is just outside and wants to see you.”

“Sure. Send her in.”

The curtains pushed back, and Elaine crossed to her bed. She did not smooth back her hair or kiss her on the forehead like she had with Lofton. But she was here. And she looked worried.

“What’s going on with you?” Elaine asked.