Riverbend Reunion(50)

“Got any suggestions?” Jessica’s face turned a faint shade of red. “I thought I’d hidden all those feelings fairly well.”

“We’re here if you want to talk about it,” Haley said, “but don’t let something good slip through your fingers.”

Mary Nell pointed a finger toward Jessica. “We thought you and Haley were the smart ones who didn’t get married or tangled up with a guy that just wanted you for the paycheck you brought home.”

Haley held up both palms. “Don’t go grouping me in with smart people. I’ve made my share of mistakes.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jessica said. “Name one.”

“I had a fling a while back.” Haley stopped and took a drink of her tea. “I met him at a church social, and he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, so . . .”

“Did you find out he was married?” Jessica asked. “I flirted with a guy in Ireland at the bar where I heard the fiddle music. He tried to pass himself off as single, but I saw the white line where his wedding band should have been and told him to get lost.”

“Nope, but I’ve decided that guys should have to wear an engagement ring just like a woman does,” Haley answered.

“Then he was engaged?” Mary Nell asked.

“Oh, yeah, he was, and he didn’t tell me until a few days before his wedding was to take place. He said I was his last fling before he had to settle down to the white picket fence and the van full of kids and soccer equipment that would come later.” Haley’s tone had a razor-sharp edge even in her own ears. “And to top it all off, he was marrying one of the teachers at my school. I’d even helped her pick out her wedding cake, but she referred to her fiancé as Mark, and the guy I met used his middle name, Andrew.”

“Holy crap!” Jessica gasped. “You actually helped her pick out her wedding cake, but you had never met the man she was going to marry? How did that happen?”

“She had all these pictures of wedding cakes in the teachers’ lounge and asked my opinion. We talked about how many guests she was going to have, and how much each cake would feed, and her colors, and then together we chose a cake,” Haley explained. “We weren’t friends—just barely acquaintances. I remember thinking at the time that she must have needed an outside opinion.”

“That’s one strange coincidence,” Jessica said.

“Oh, there’s more. Mark Andrew Roberts has been hired as the new principal in the school where I work,” she said. “He lived south of Montgomery, and she had never brought him to the school to meet any of the teachers.”

“Does he know that you are the counselor there?” Risa asked.

“He does now, but in his opinion, what we did was between two consenting adults and shouldn’t affect either of our jobs. It won’t affect mine because I will be sending in my letter of resignation tomorrow morning,” Haley said and took a deep breath. Admitting the next part was going to be tougher than telling them about her fling with an engaged man.

“No! You can’t let him have that power over you,” Mary Nell declared. “If you want to stay in Riverbend, we’ll all have a celebration if you do, but don’t let that lousy rascal have power over you.”

“Call me selfish, but I’m glad you’re staying here,” Risa said.

“Me too,” Jessica added.

Haley turned to focus on Mary Nell. “Truth is that I’m taking all the power from him. I just found out last night how my biological mother, my sister in real life, must have felt when she found out she was pregnant. Only she was fifteen, and I’m thirty-eight. I’m sure the feeling is the same in both instances. I’m pregnant.”

Total silence filled the room. To Haley, it seemed as if the ice in the tea glasses even stopped melting for fear of making a noise. The music in the backyard ceased, and the air in the kitchen was suddenly too heavy to breathe.

The twins came through the back door, laid their instruments on the cabinet, and stopped in their tracks.

“What’s going on in here?” Lily asked.

“There’s tension like we felt at Granny Stella’s house,” Daisy whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Risa said. “It’s not tension. It’s confusion. Haley, would you tell them?”

“It’s about a baby,” Haley said. “I’m going to have a baby, and we were discussing whether I should tell the father. I was about to say that someday I will be honest and tell my baby why there’s no father in the picture.”

“Congratulations,” Daisy said. “Do we get to still live here?”

“Of course,” Haley answered. “I might even need a babysitter on the nights when I work at the bar.”

“I love babies,” Lily said. “I’ll take the job anytime you need me.”

Jessica rounded the table and bent to hug Haley. “We’re here for you. Anything you need, you just remember that we’re going to be the best aunts in the whole universe to this baby.”

“But, Haley, don’t you think you should tell the father?” Mary Nell joined them, making it a three-way hug.

“No, I do not. I’ve thought about it a lot, and he doesn’t deserve to know,” Haley answered.