Page 27 of Miracles and Marriage (Making a Family #5)

He jammed the phone in his pocket and walked down the hall. He’d head for the cottage first thing in the morning. Chloe didn’t call the shots in his marriage.

Shortly after nine, Cal received a call from Zoe.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Better. Chloe fixed me some clam chowder. It’s so good, with crackers. She said you called. How did your trip go?”

“Fine. I’m coming there in the morning.”

“I was afraid of that, so I called tonight. Don’t come, Cal.”

“What’s going on, Zoe?”

“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know, but I’m not pregnant, and am too tired to fight the inevitable any longer.”

He felt a sick dread.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m calling my doctor in the morning and scheduling a time to see her to give her the okay to schedule the operation.”

“We haven’t had our baby yet,” he said. “You can’t stop after only trying for such a short time.”

“I need to…this is not getting better.”

“Chloe said this time wasn’t as bad as some of the others.”

“Some times are barely noticeable, others I can scarcely live through the pain. None of it’s going to get better. This way you can get on with your life and I can get on with mine.”

“How do you mean?”

“A quick divorce, no one the wiser. We don’t even have to tell anyone ever.”

“That’s it? Hide it away pretend it never happened? We are married.”

“Only because that’s your condition to this entire situation. I was willing to try without that legal tie. Now we break it.”

“What if I don’t want to break it?”

“Cal.”

He wasn’t sure if he heard a sound. There was a pause, then Zoe spoke again.

“You’ll find someone who can give you dozens of babies. Only make sure you get married first, no more Suzannes.”

“I tried that this go round.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She disconnected.

Cal put on warm clothes, packed a couple of things and headed out. He wasn’t going to sever ties with Zoe on a weekend she was feeling down because of cramps. They’d hardly tried. He wanted more.

He wanted Zoe.

The entire town of Seagrass Point was dark. No lights shone anywhere. The cottage was in darkness as well. But he could still find his way. He walked up the path to the door and knocked. Then pounded. If both were asleep, they’d need more than a gentle knock.

Chloe flicked on the porch light as she opened the door.

For a moment she stared at him.

“I never thought you’d come. She said she told you it was over.”

“It’s not over.”

Cal stepped inside to convince his wife of that very fact.

“That’s the last of the blood work. We’ll get the tests results and move right along,” Dr. Wright said. “I’ve got the OR scheduled for next Tuesday. I know it’s a hard decision, but the relief from the pain will be well worth it.”

Zoe nodded. She was afraid to speak for fear she’d start crying again. She’d cried more in the last week than any time before in her entire life.

Cal had tried to talk her into giving them a few more months. She’d been steadfast in refusing. Chloe even suggested another month or two might bring Cal around to caring for her.

Zoe didn’t believe anything would change. Cal almost broke her heart when he showed up in the middle of the night at the cottage. He’d been very persuasive, in an analytical, logical way. She should have appreciated it more than she had. Normally she loved analytical, logical presentations.

If he’d only said one word of something personal.

Anything to give her a hint she meant more to him on a personal level and not some surrogate mother for his child.

But he hadn’t. She couldn’t have expected him to do so.

He’d been clear on the terms, as had she at the onset.

It wasn’t his fault she’d fallen in love with him.

When she left the doctor’s office, she almost bumped into Cal.

He took her arm and walked her through the vast lobby of the high-rise building. Once outside, he started left.

“There’s a café down here. We can have a cup of coffee and talk.”

“Cal, we talked at the cottage. It’s all been said. How did you know I was here?”

“Emily found out for me. And I have not said all I need to say.”

She could barely keep up with his rapid pace.

“What’s the rush?” she asked, glad when he paused by a coffeehouse and held the door for her. Midafternoon wasn’t a crowded time. He placed their orders and they took a table near the front windows.

“I’m putting the house in Richmond up for sale,” he said.

“You are? Why? I thought you were going to fix it up and then rent it out.”

He took a sip of his coffee. If Zoe didn’t know better, she’d suspect he was stalling.

“Why?” she repeated.

He looked at her.

“The renovation was my way to do something together—you and me. I don’t fit into your world, but I want to.

I haven’t had much family life ever. It was just me and my uncle.

And over the last ten or twelve years, I’ve been building the business, neglecting my uncle and going along as if life would never change until I was ready. ”

Zoe could relate to a degree. She had loads of family, and lots of interaction, but she’d focused her life on one area. And now it was too late to do much else but continue to focus on that one area.

“He was proud of you. More than one person mentioned that at the wake,” she said.

She studied Cal as he sat beside her. He looked lonely. Could it be? Her heart began to beat faster.

“I thought you were keeping the house,” she said softly.

“I said I thought it might bring you and me together.”

“We are together.”

“No, we’re not. We’re married—there’s a difference.”

Zoe nodded. She and Cal certainly didn’t have the loving relationship her sister and her husband shared. If they did, she’d reach out and take his hand, linking with him so he’d know he wasn’t alone.

But she kept her fists in her lap, lest she give way.

“So if we’re not going to do that together, maybe you’d like to buy a beach cottage.”

Zoe blinked at that. “What?”

“You love the one that’s in your family. Maybe you’d like to have one of your own, nearby, of course, so you could run back and forth when they’re all there. But one that you could go to anytime you wanted.”

She wasn’t sure she was hearing him correctly.

“You’re offering to buy me a cottage?”

“Us.”

“Us? Cal, there is no us.”

“There could be.”

He glanced around impatiently. A group of laughing teenagers entered and the small coffeehouse suddenly seemed overrun.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Zoe grabbed her cup, glad it was the to-go kind, and almost ran to keep up with him.

Cal didn’t speak as they walked toward the Mall. Once on the great expanse, he slowed a little, turned and looked at her.

“I don’t want to end our marriage, Zoe.”

“Cal, I can’t have kids. I was fooling myself, trying one last ditch effort to have a baby. You need a wife who can give you everything you want.”

“That’s you.” He cupped her face in his palms. “I realized our last weekend together that I like spending time with you. Whether we’re looking at driftwood, planning a project or enjoying a concert.

Or just lazing around watching a storm together from the porch.

Or, maybe I’ve known it for longer, and didn’t admit it to myself.

I thought we could keep going like we had been.

I wanted you to move into my place. When I thought about it, it sounded convenient.

But the truth is, I like waking up next to you.

I want more of that. I enjoy watching you move around the kitchen—it’s so womanly, and I’ve not had much of that in my life.

Everything about you fascinates me and enchants me.

I want you in my life. And I mean to keep you right in the center. ”

She started to say something, but he shook his head once.

“Let me finish or I might never get the courage to start again.”

Zoe blinked at that. This man was afraid of nothing.

“When Suzanne aborted our child, it crushed something in me. Which bloomed again when you said you’d have a baby with me.

But the more I get to know you, the more I share your anguish in not having a child.

That’s the difference. I share it with you.

We can adopt, we can lavish attention on your nephews and nieces, or we can forge a strong life just the two of us.

Whatever we want. Only, don’t shut me out. Don’t walk away.”

Zoe couldn’t believe her ears, but her eyes conveyed the truth. His honest appeal couldn’t be faked.

“Did Chloe tell you?” she asked suspiciously.

“Tell me what?”

“That I love you? That’s why I wanted to break things off.

Not because I didn’t want to spend time with you, but because I thought I’d get so deep in love I’d never get out and then when we didn’t have a baby, you’d go on to another woman.

That would kill me. I had to fight for myself, and end it before I couldn’t ever walk away. ”

“Then you really don’t want a divorce?” he asked.

She threw herself into his arms.

“I love you, Cal. I have forever, I think. I tried so hard to resist my sexy boss, but once you said you wanted to have a baby with me, my resistance melted. I fought a good fight, but the result was a foregone conclusion. I love you. Do you really mean it that you don’t want to find a wife who can give you a dozen kids? ”

“I only want you, Zoe. You have shown me how a family can be. I hope your family will let me in. But if not, you will always be enough for me. I love you, sweetheart. I want us to have fifty or sixty years together. Just don’t walk away.”

She waited a heartbeat then burst out, “Are you kidding? I love you. I don’t want to leave.

And don’t worry about my family. They’ll all love you to bits.

And before you know it you’ll be a favorite uncle.

We have a birthday almost every other week, and holidays are chaotic with everyone at one place or another.

Summers we spend lazy days at the shore with barbecues on the sand. ”

Zoe clung to him, her happiness bubbling over. For a few bright moments, she forgot they’d never have a baby. That their family would forever be small, just the two of them. But with Cal it would be enough.

“We won’t have kids of our own,” she said slowly. “Cal, are you very sure? You said you were the last of your family. That will always be the situation. I’m so sorry.”

“Hush. You will be my family. If we wish, we’ll adopt.

That’s really what my uncle did, took me on when he didn’t have to.

We’ll fill a home with children we choose to be ours.

And we’ll teach them everything about the Callahan and Blackstone families to carry on down the generations.

I love you, Zoe, not some yet to be conceived child, not some fantasy future with everything ending happy.

We’ll face all life’s challenges together. Right?”

She nodded, her heart brimming with love.

“The next step is to tell your parents.”

“Oh-oh. Let’s wait until after the operation, and then suggest we want to get married. We’ll let my mother put on a big wedding and we’ll be the only ones to know our anniversary date is another.”

“Unless Chloe or Gabe spills the beans.”

“They won’t. I love you, Cal.”

“I love you now and forever,” he said, kissing her deeply.

Zoe and Cal slipped away to the sea cottage for the weekend.

They walked along the shore, making plans for the future.

She looked at each dwelling as they passed, considering whether it would be suitable for a home for them, though none were for sale that she knew of.

Still, it was fun to dream of a future—with Cal.

“Are you sure you want to sell the Richmond home?” she asked more than once.

“Don’t you want a home of your own?” he responded, threading his fingers through hers as they walked.

“The beach cottage has been in our family for generations, we’ll be able to use it. So why not have a home in Richmond as well?”

“Because we are more likely to come here than back to Richmond. Once you’ve recovered from the operation, we’ll start looking for a place. If you don’t like my condo, we can buy another primary residence together. But I think here at the shore we will also want a home of our own.”

“Suits me. We need one with a porch that faces the sea, so we can sit there during storms.”

Cal rearranged his schedule for the next week.

He planned to accompany Zoe to the hospital, wait through the operation and then, when she was ready, take her home—to their home—to recover.

They had moved a few of her things on Monday, enough to carry her through the first few days.

Once she was fully recovered, they’d tell her family.

Tuesday they arrived at the hospital early. Dr. Wright was already there doing rounds. Her nurse contacted her and she hurried into the admissions office.

“Zoe, I tried calling you several times over the last few days.”

She looked at Cal.

“Dr. Wright, this is my husband, Jedidiah Callahan. I’m sorry, I wasn’t home. I took a weekend away before today and turned my phone off,” Zoe said, gripping Cal’s hand. “A last mini-vacation before the operation.”

“There won’t be an operation,” Dr. Wright said. “There’s been a complication. Your blood work came back—you’re pregnant.”

Zoe stared at the doctor, barely aware of Cal’s grip tightening on her hand. Had she heard correctly?

Dr. Wright was beaming.

“So we’ll have to postpone this operation for at least nine months. Call my office for an appointment. We need to get you started on prenatal vitamins and supplements.”

“But I just had cramping,” Zoe said.

“You may have had spotting, too. Not uncommon with this condition. We’ll do another round of tests, but I’m sure you’re pregnant. And since I know you were willing to put up with a lot to have this baby, we want to do everything we can to make sure he or she arrives healthy.”

Cal swept her into his arms and lifted her, spinning her around.

“You did it, sweetheart. We’re going to have our baby after all. What more could we want?”

“Twins?” Zoe said, hugging him tightly as they rejoiced in the news.