The Renegade (The Moorehouse Legacy #3)(61)

Calming him down had taken some time and it had taken even longer before he could tell her what was wrong. He’d been worried that she wouldn’t think he was strong enough to take care of her. Just because he’d balked at the boutique. She’d tried to reassure him, but he’d had none of it.

The next day they’d gone back to Claire’s, and he’d come out of there with a stud in his lobe. Even though he’d trembled all the way through it.

She thought about the will he’d drafted. She was more than taken care of; he’d left her the bulk of his private estate. And he’d set up things so she had total control of the trusts, so she could have whatever she wanted, whenever.

Cass frowned, trying to remember what his last words to her had been. He’d called her before he’d set out with Alex that day of the storm. What had she talked about with him? An upcoming party in the Hamptons. Arrangements for a trip to Rome. But there was something else…

A limerick. He’d given her a limerick. How had it gone?

There once was a man on a boat,

Who had the whole ocean to float,

He went here and there, to find himself something at which to stare,

When all along what he needed was home.



He’d laughed and said he didn’t care that the last word didn’t rhyme because he was taking poetic license. Then he’d hesitated. He’d told her he loved knowing she was home and safe because it gave him such peace. And then they’d ended the phone call with what had turned out to be their last goodbyes.

They had been warm ones, she realized with relief. She’d been touched both by what he’d said and the tentative tone in his voice. He’d known, she realized. He’d known that she was aware of what he was doing. And he’d had regrets.

Tears pooled and fell, but they were not hard to bear this time.

Her chest cavity had been swept clean of anger, the dark emotions leaving a calm acceptance in their wake. And that peace gave her the ability to remember other parts of him, other parts of them.

The fondness. The mutual respect. The caring.

“Oh, Reese. We tried, didn’t we? And we would have remained friends when we’d split. That much I know.”

As the grandfather clock chimed behind her, she wiped her face and went to the guest room she’d started staying in about a year ago. She fell into bed and slept for twelve hours.

Cass woke up hungry, but for some reason all she wanted was eggs. As they were the only thing that appealed, she had seven of them. Fried in butter.

God, how gross, she thought as she finished the last one and considered having an eighth.

Marie, her maid and dear family friend, arrived at ten, and Cassandra chatted with the woman for a while before taking a shower. Under the rush of water, the nausea came back, but then what could she expect considering she’d wiped out a henhouse for breakfast?

As she opened up her walk-in closet and tried to decide what to wear and how to spend the day, she heard a bleating noise from her purse over on the dresser. Her cell phone was ringing.

She dug it out. “Hello?”

Doc John’s voice came across loud and clear. “Congratulations! You’re pregnant.”

Cass took the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Actually thought about shaking the thing a little.

“Hello?” he said in a tinny reverberation. “Can you hear me?”

She put the phone back to the side of her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t be pregnant.”

“You’re going to need to see an obstetrician, and I’d like to call you in a prescription for prenatal vitamins. Also, you have to eat more. Find things you can stomach and start munching. Think high fat, lots of carbs. You need to put on some weight fast.”

“But you don’t understand, I can’t get pregnant. I’m not pregnant.”

“You are.”

Cass thought about the nausea and exhaustion, but couldn’t believe they were tied to a baby. They had to be from some sort of flu. After all, she and Alex had been together only twice, well, three times really. The first of which being only about three weeks ago. So it was way too early for morning sickness—

Wait a minute. There had been that time right before Christmas. Which was like, what, six weeks ago? Except he hadn’t—

“Cassandra? Are you still there?”

“Ah, yes. I think so. I’m not sure.”

He laughed softly. “Do you have any questions for me?”

How much time do you have? she thought.

“I…I’m not up north,” she said, “so don’t bother with the vitamins. I’ll see my doctor today. Uh, thank you.”

As soon as she hung up, Cass called her own internist who said she could come in at twelve-thirty. When she put the phone down, she went back into the bathroom and dropped the towel. Standing naked before the mirror, she smoothed her hand over her belly.

What if…

Her eyesight went blurry.

She’d thought she’d accepted the fact that she couldn’t have children. She honestly had.

But now a door that she’d assumed was locked forever had unexpectedly opened. What was on the other side was…high voltage joy, bright and warm as sunlight.

Okay, now she was really crying.

Were the weepies another sign of pregnancy? she wondered as she sniffled.