Page 20 of Miracles and Marriage (Making a Family #5)

Cal took off his suit coat and laid it across one of the stools in the kitchen.

Hunting through the cupboards and refrigerator, he found the ingredients and pan he needed.

How unobservant had he been not to notice a pattern of her missing work on a monthly basis?

Did she normally suffer through the pain to remain sharp, or had most instances occurred on the weekend when she could take pain meds that made her groggy?

If he hadn’t wanted her to go to Richmond, would he even have known she left early and was in such discomfort? Probably not.

So much for being in tune with his employees.

When the meal was ready, he found a tray and carried the plates into the living room.

“Are you asleep?” he asked.

She shook her head and opened her eyes.

“I wish I could. Sooner or later I’ll be too tired to stay awake. This looks good. Thank you.”

He sat opposite her in one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs. Glancing around the room, he noted the way she decorated. The warmth was not unexpected coming from Zoe. Quite a change from Suzanne’s black and white sleek ultramodern apartment.

He frowned. He didn’t want to be reminded of that woman.

“Mine is good, isn’t yours?” Zoe asked.

He looked at her. “What?”

“You made a face. Isn’t your omelet good?”

“It’s fine.”

He hadn’t even noticed the taste as he ate—too preoccupied with the past. There was nothing he could do now except hope for a better future. One that included a child or children.

“Would your getting pregnant change things for you, so you could get pregnant again?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Probably not as I understand things. I never really thought about it, but in the back of my mind, I guess I always expected to have a bunch of kids. Maybe not as many as Mom and Dad did, but more than one. Now I’d be very grateful for one.”

They ate in silence. When finished, Cal quickly cleaned up over Zoe’s protests. Rejoining her in the living room a short time later, he sat beside her on the sofa.

“You don’t have to stay,” she said.

“I think you need to give more thought to my idea of moving in together. If you don’t get pregnant in the next few weeks, you’ll need help the next time this happens.”

She knew it.

“Cal, I’ve managed for years with this. I can handle it.”

“Except you don’t need to handle it alone anymore. You have a husband now.”

She smiled.

“You take your husbandly duties very seriously. We’re not really married.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Not in the traditional sense, I mean. You’re not responsible for me.”

“I want to take care of my baby’s mother.”

She studied him a moment.

“Would you have married Suzanne if she hadn’t aborted the baby? Did she need taking care of?”

“She wanted marriage without any babies. I wasn’t ready to commit to her. Perhaps subconsciously I knew what kind of woman she is. But, yes, if she’d continued the pregnancy, I probably would have married her.”

He didn’t want to think of what kind of marriage they would have had. Parties every weekend, shopping expenditures spending thousands of dollars, vacations in exotic locales. There’d have been no longtime family sea cottage.

And he suspected Suzanne didn’t deal with family problems well. She’d been convenient for the social scene. But he’d never thought about marriage around her.

He looked at Zoe. He’d never thought about marriage with her, either. But now he admitted to being oddly content. Logically it made sense to move in together. Why didn’t she see that?

“If you’d leave, I could go to bed,” she said.

“Go to bed if you like. I hardly need entertainment.”

She eyed him.

“You brought your laptop?”

“It’s in the car.”

He could see her debating the merits of leaving him and going back to bed.

“Go on, Zoe. I’ll stay for a little while in case you need anything.”

She nodded and rose, heading for the back of the apartment, bent over and walking slow. He hadn’t seen her bedroom and wondered if it was frilly and feminine or more tailored. Should he have carried her back to bed?

He didn’t like not being able to fix things.

He went to his car and got his laptop, letting himself back in the door he’d left unlocked.

The apartment was silent. He walked down the hall and peeped in the room.

She was sleeping. With a glance around to satisfy himself on her room, he returned to the kitchen to make some coffee.

Opening his laptop a few moments later, he began searching the Internet for information on Zoe’s condition.

The next morning Cal woke at first light.

He’d bunked down on the sofa again. He walked down the short hall and peeked into the bedroom.

Last night he’d checked on Zoe a second time before going to sleep.

She’d been sound asleep and he hoped she’d been able to sleep through the night undisturbed.

She was still curled up under the covers, only the top of her head visible. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

Taking a quick shower, he wished he’d thrown a change of clothes in the car. He could go a day without shaving, but he hated putting on the same shirt he’d worn the day before.

He was leaving the bathroom when he heard the front door open. Stepping into the living room almost at the same time as Zoe’s twin did, Cal knew Chloe hadn’t suspected he was in residence.

“Oh, you startled me,” Chloe said when she spied him. “What are you doing here?”

“Zoe’s not feeling well,” he said easily.

“I know. She called me yesterday and left a message on my machine. I didn’t get it until late. I thought I’d come by to fix her breakfast.”

Start as you mean to go on had been the adage his uncle Hal had been fond of. Good advice.

“We can make it together. I was just heading to the kitchen,” he said.

Cal saw no reason to leave just because Chloe had arrived.

“How’s Zoe?” she asked.

“Slept through the night, I think.”

Chloe looked so much like Zoe Cal was continually fascinated. They even wore their hair in the same style. Didn’t most twins try to look different from each other? Or were they so used to the similarity they didn’t notice it?

“Sleep’s the best thing. I’ll help with breakfast and you and I can get to know each other better,” she said, taking off her jacket.

Cal felt a spark of amusement at her challenge. He had no siblings but recognized the loyalty of a family bond when he saw it.

“Sounds like a plan.”

By the time pancakes and sausages had been prepared, Cal knew Chloe a bit better. She seemed easier to get along with than Zoe, but maybe she was on her best behavior. Also, he wasn’t married to her and trying to get her to give in to his idea of sharing an apartment.

When the food was ready, Chloe went to check on her sister. She returned a moment later.

“She’s awake and hungry, which is good. Sometimes she doesn’t eat for two or three days.”

He took a plate and piled pancakes and sausage on it.

“She’s hungry, but not that much,” Chloe said with a smile, taking off a couple of pancakes and one link of sausage.

“You look like Zoe when you do that,” he commented.

“I prefer to think she looks like me,” she replied, lifting the tray and heading for her sister’s room.

When she returned a short time later, Cal had finished his coffee.

“I’m heading home to change and get a few things. Will you stay with her until I get back?”

“You don’t need to come back, I’ll stay the weekend. Gabe is away.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I pick up a few things,” he said, deliberately leaving his laptop on the table and heading out a few moments later.

Chloe prepared a cup of coffee and wandered back to her sister’s room. Zoe had eaten half the food and was curled up staring out the window.

“That man is determined to act the role of husband,” Chloe said, sitting carefully on the foot of the bed.

“Cal? Is he still here?”

“No, he left. But he’s coming back. And I’m not sure I’d try to keep him out when he does.”

Zoe made a face.

“He gets this strong sense of responsibility. I told him I could manage on my own. I thought he was going to Richmond this weekend to start winding up his uncle’s affairs.”

Zoe told Chloe about Cal’s uncle and a brief history of his childhood.

“Sounds like you’re his family now,” Chloe mused.

“Just until I have a baby. If I can’t conceive, then he’ll look elsewhere.”

Chloe took a sip of her coffee.

“So conceive.”

Zoe laughed softly.

“As if it were that easy.”

Her expression changed.

“What if I can’t?”

“Then you’ll deal with it. Don’t give up before trying. You’ve only been on this quest a few weeks.

“I’m in so much pain I don’t know how many more months I can take before I have to give in for that operation,” Zoe said. “That’s depressing. Change the subject. Tell me about your latest listing. Give me something else to think about.”

“It’s a fabulous house, simply beautiful from the outside and fantastic on the inside,” Chloe began. She talked about other homes she’d been showing to clients. When she saw Zoe had fallen back asleep, she slipped from the bedroom.

Cal packed a small bag with essentials and included a couple of pairs of casual pants, several shirts. He swung by a florist’s and picked out a bouquet of mums in fall colors. They should brighten Zoe up a bit. He’d get her chocolate as well, but had a feeling she was too ill to enjoy them.

He shook his head with the thought. He acted like he was courting

One last stop when he swung by the office on the way back to Zoe’s apartment. Picking up some files, he’d keep them in reserve in case he had time to work while she rested. He knew she didn’t want him there, but something compelled him.

Chloe opened the door to his knock.

“Pretty flowers. I told her you’d be back. She’s asleep. It’s the best thing for her. I think there are vases beneath the sink. I’d stay, but you have things under control. I put my number by the phone in the kitchen in case you need to get in touch with me.”