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Though he felt like he was taking his life in his hands, Harper followed instructions and tracked Hayley down at the checkout counter She was perched on a stool, a garden of container pots and flats around her, ringing out the last customers Her shirt - smock? tunic? he didn&039;t knohat the hell you called ht, bold red

Funny, it was the color that brought her to ssilver hoops in her ears that peeked and swung through her hair when she et area, you could hardly tell she was pregnant Except her eyes looked tired, he thought And her face was a little puffy - ain, ure it was the sort of thing he shouldthat came out of his mouth these days, at least when he was around her, was the wrong thing

He didn&039;t expect their next encounter to go well either

But he&039;d promised to throw himself on the sword for the cause

He waited until she&039;d finished with the custo his loins, he approached the counter

"Hey"

She looked at him, and he couldn&039;t say her expression was particularly welco out of your cave?"

"Finished up for the day Actually my mother just called She asked if I&039;d drive you on home when I finished"

"Well, I&039;m not finished," she said testily "There are at least two ht to close out"

It wasn&039;t the tone she&039;d used to chat up the custo to think it was the tone she reserved just for hi as soon as you could, and to have Bill and Larry finish up and close out"

"What does she want? Why didn&039;t she call me?"

"I don&039;t know I&039;er" And he knehat often happened to thethe last couple of stragglers So he&039;s on it"

She started to lever herself off the stool, and though his hands itched to help her, he iined she&039;d chomp them off at the wrists "I can walk"

"Coave her scowl for scowl "Why do you want to put oing to come down on me like five tons of bricks And after she&039;s done flattening o"

"Fine" The truth was, she didn&039;t knohy she was feeling so mean and spiteful, and tired and achy She was terrified so with her or with the baby, despite all the doctor&039;s assurances to the contrary

The baby would be born sick or deformed, because she&039;d She didn&039;t knohat, but it would be her fault

She snatched her purse and did her best to sail by Harper and out the door

"I&039;ve got another half hour on the clock," she complained and wrenched open the door of his car

"I don&039;t knohat she could want that couldn&039;t wait a half hour"

"I don&039;t know either"

"She hasn&039;t seen that genealogy guy yet"

He got in, started the car "Nope She&039;ll get to it when she gets to it"

"You don&039;t seem all that interested, anyway How cos about the Harper Bride?"

"I guess I will, when I can think of so to say about it"

She smelled vivid, too, especially closed up in the car with hiy The best that could be said about the situation was the drive was short

A in and zipped in front of the house

"You drive a snooty little car like this that fast, you&039;re just begging for a ticket"

"It&039;s not a snooty little car It&039;s a well-built and reliable sports car And I wasn&039;t driving that fast What the hell is it about me that makes you crawl upup your ass; I was o for red" She opened the door, o for the red, the flashy The black&039;s probably why you don&039;t have speeding tickets spilling out of your glove co ticket in two years"

She snorted

"Okay, eighteenfor five damn seconds and coet up"

Like a runner off the starting line, he sprinted around the car He wasn&039;t sure how tothere, red in the face and flashing in the eyes He started to take her hands and tug, but he thought he

So he leaned down, hooked his hands under her armpits, and lifted

Her belly bumped him, and noeat did slide down his back

He felt as in there move - a couple of hard bumps

It wasextraordinary

Then she was brushing hiht She just hadn&039;t been able to shift her center of gravity, or dig down enough to get out of a stupid car Of course, if he hadn&039;t insisted she get in that boy toy in the first place, she wouldn&039;t have been mortified

She wanted to eat a pint of vanilla fudge ice cream and sit in a cool bath For the rest of her natural life

She shoved open the front door, stomped inside

The shouts of Surprise! had her heart ju into her throat, and she nearly lost control of her increasingly tricky bladder

In the parlor pink and blue crepe paper curled in artful swags fro, and fat white balloons danced in the corners Boxes wrapped in pretty paper and streah table The rooirls orked at the nursery, even soular custoirl" Roz strolled over to wrap an arm around Hayley&039;s shoulders "You don&039;t think we&039;d let you have that baby without throwing you a shower, do you?"

"A baby shower" She could feel the s on her face, even as tears welled up in her eyes

"You confe on and sit down You&039;re allowed one glass of David&039;s ht stuff"

"This is " She saw the chair set in the center of the room, festooned with voile and balloons, like a party throne "I don&039;t knohat to say"

"Then I&039;, Stella&039;s stepmama" She patted Hayley&039;s hand, then her belly "And I never run out of things to say"

"Here you go" Stella stepped over with a glass of punch

"Thanks Thank you soanyone&039;s ever done for ood little cry" Jolene handed her a lace-edged hankie "Then we&039;re going to have us a hell of a ti over impossibly tiny clothes, soft-as-cloud blankets, hand-knit booties, cooing over rattles and toys and stuffed aniames that only women at a baby shower could enjoy, and plenty of punch and cake to sweeten the evening

The knot that had been at the center of Hayley&039;s heart for days loosened

"This was the best tiiddy and exhausted, and stared at the piles of gifts Stella had neatly arranged on the table again "I knoas all about me I liked that part, but evervone had fun, don&039;t you think?"

"Are you kidding?" From her seat on the floor, Stella continued topaper into neat, flat squares "This party rocked"

"Are you going to save all that paper?" Roz asked her

"She&039;ll want it one day, and I&039; what she didn&039;t rip to shreds"

"I couldn&039;t help it I was so juiced up I&039;ve got to get thank-you cards, and try to reave what"

"Iin"

"Of course she did" Roz helped herself to one s "God I&039;m whipped"

"Y&039;all worked so hard It was all so awesoain, Hayley waved both hands "Everyone was - I guess I forgot people could be so good, so generous Man, look at all those wonderful things Oh, that little yelloith the teddy bears on it! TheStella, I just can&039;t thank you enough for the swing"

"I&039;d have been lost without mine"

"It was so sweet of you, both of you, to do this for me I just had no idea I couldn&039;t&039;ve been uess who planned it out," Roz said with a nod at Stella "David started calling her General Rothchild"

"I have to thank him for all the wonderful food I can&039;t believe I ate two pieces of cake I feel like I&039;m ready to explode"

"Don&039;t explode yet, because we&039;re not quite done We need to go up, so you can have ift"

"But the party was - "

"A joint effort," Roz finished "But there&039;s a gift I hope you&039;ll like upstairs"

"I snapped at Harper," Hayley began as they helped her up and started upstairs

"He&039;s been snapped at before"

"But I wish I hadn&039;t He was helping you surprise ave hi up his ass, and that&039;s just what I was doing"

"You&039;ll tell hi, moved passed Stella&039;s room, and Hayley&039;s "Here you are, honey"

She opened the door and led Hayley inside

"Oh, God Oh, my God" Hayley pressed both hands to her mouth as she stared at the room

It was painted a soft, quiet yelloith lace curtains at the s

She knew the crib was antique Nothing was that beautiful, that rich unless it was old and treasured The wood gleanized the layette as one she&039;d dreaazine and had known she could never afford

"The furniture&039;s a loan while you&039;re here I used it for my children, as hty-five years now But the linens are yours, and the changing table Stella added the rug and the lamp And David and Harper, bless their hearts, painted the room, and hauled the furniture down from the attic"

As emotions swamped her, Hayley could only shake her head

"Once we bring your gifts up here, you&039;ll have yourself a lovely nursery" Stella rubbed Hayley&039;s back

"It&039;s so beautiful More than I ever drea ets, thehi sad and scared, and mostly just sorry for myself"

She used her hands to rub the tears from her cheeks "Now today, all this, it just s I love the But it&039;s that you&039;d do this, both of you would do this for us"

"You&039;re not alone, Hayley" Roz laid a hand on Hayley&039;s belly "Neither one of you"

"I know that I think, well, I think, we&039;d have been okay on our own I&039;d&039;ve worked hard to ain I never expected to have people care about me and the baby like this I&039;ve been stupid"

"No," Stella told her "Just pregnant"

With a half laugh, Hayley blinked back the rest of the tears "I guess that accounts for a lot of it I won&039;t be able to use that excuse too er And I&039;ll never, I&039;ll just never be able to thank you, or tell you, or repay you Never"

"Oh, I think na the baby after us will clear the decks," Roz said casually "Especially if it&039;s a boy Rosalind Stella ht be a little hard for hiht"

"Hey, I was thinking Stella Rosalind"

Roz arched a brow at Stella &039;This is one of those rare cases when it pays to be the oldest"

That night, Hayley tiptoed into the nursery Just to touch, to s her belly

"I&039;m sorry I&039;ve been so nasty lately I&039;ht now You&039;ve got two fairy godmothers, baby The best women I&039;ve ever known I may not be able to pay them back for all they&039;ve done for us, not in so either of them could ask that I wouldn&039;t do I feel safe here It was stupid of et that We&039;re a team, you and me I shouldn&039;t&039;ve been afraid of you Or for you"

She closed her eyes and rocked "I want to hold you in my arms so much they hurt I want to dress you in one of those cute little outfits and hold you, and smell you, and rock you in this chair Oh, God, I hope I knohat I&039;ooseflesh on her ar her eyes; it was pity She stared at the woman who stood beside the crib

Her hair was down tonight, golden blond and wildly tangled She wore a white nightgown, muddy at the hem And there was a look of - Hayley would have said madness - in her eyes

"You didn&039;t have anyone to help you, did you?" Her hands tre her belly, kept her eyes on the figure, kept talking

"Maybe you didn&039;t have anyone to be there with you when you were afraid like I&039;ve been I guess I one crazy, too, all onhappened tohappened to take me away from hiuess I understand, a little"

At her words, Hayley heard a keening sound, a sound that

Then she was alone

On Monday, Hayley sat perched on her stool once nored it When she had to call for a relief clerk so she could waddle to the bathrooain, she made a joke out of it

Her bladder felt squeezed down to the size of a pea

On the way back, she detoured outside, not only to stretch her legs and back but to see Stella

"Is it okay if I take ize" She&039;d spent allthe er "He wasn&039;t anywhere to be found on Sunday, but he&039;s probably back in his cave now"

"Go ahead Oh, I just ran into Roz She called that professor Dr Carnegie? She has an appointment to see hiress in that area"

Then she narrowed her eyes on Hayley&039;s face "I tell you what, one of us is going with you to your doctor&039;s appoint anymore"

"I still fit behind the wheel" Barely

"That may be, but either Roz or I will take you And I&039;o part-tiht as well put me in the loony bin as take work away froht up to the end Besides, I&039; Harper is walking"

"Walk," Stella agreed "Don&039;t lift Anything"

"Nag, nag, nag" But she said it with a laugh as she started toward the grafting house

Outside the greenhouse she paused She&039;d practiced what she wanted to say She thought it best to think it all through He&039;d accept her apology His ht, and froood heart But she wanted, very much, for him to understand she&039;d just been in some sort of mood

She opened the door She loved the smell in here Experimentation, possibilities One day, she hoped either Harper or Roz would teach her so

She could see him down at the end, huddled over his work He had his headphones on and was tapping one foot to whatever beat played in his ears

God, he was so cute If she&039;d ed, she&039;d have hit on him, or worked it around so he&039;d hit on her All that dark, messed-up hair, the clean line of jaw, the dreamy eyes And those artistic hands

She&039;d bet he had half a dozen girls dangling on a string, and another half dozen waiting in line for a chance

She started doard hih to pull up short when his head snapped up, and he swung around to her