âIâm scared of what the future holds.â
Lauren reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. That made it twice this morning that sheâd touched him. Twice that such benign contact had zapped Gavin with all the force of a lightning bolt.
âIf it were just me,â she said, âI wouldnât worry so much. But with the baby?â She shook her head and her eyes turned bright.
âYouâre going to be fine. Both of you are going to be fine.â He turned his hand over so that he could hold hers. She looked radiant. Sitting across from him, wearing a pair of shorts that showed off her trim legs, she looked lovely andâ¦sexy.
Gavin swallowed. Was it okay to think of a pregnant woman as sexy?
Especially this pregnant woman?
Dear Reader,
I firmly believe that good things can come out of bad situations. Lauren discovers this when she decides to leave a loveless marriage to make a better life for herself and her unborn child.
I loved watching Lauren Seville develop her backbone page after page. Of course, Gavin OâDonnell recognizes her strength long before she does. In fact, itâs one of the reasons he falls in love with her.
I hope you enjoy Lauren and Gavinâs story. And may you, too, find a silver lining in all your dark clouds.
Best wishes,
Jackie Braun
LAUREN Seville pulled her car to the side of the road and stepped out. The summer day was gorgeous, the sky impossibly blue and bright with sunshine. Standing in front of a picturesque pasture in rural Connecticut, she breathed in the mingled scents of wildflowers and listened as the birds chirped and chattered overhead. Then she bent at the waist and retched into the weeds.
The day might be gorgeous, but her life was as unsettled as her stomach at the moment. She was pregnant.
Long agoâlong before sheâd met and married investment broker Holden Seville and had embarked on a career as the Wife of a Very Important Manâdoctors had informed Lauren that she would never conceive. Now, four years into a marriage that had proved as sterile as sheâd believed herself to be, she had.
She straightened and stroked her still-flat stomach through the lightweight fabric of her sundress. The news, received just two weeks earlier, still filled her with elation, awe and a sense of anticipation. She was nearly three months into what she considered a miracle.
Her husband did not share her joy about the baby. In fact, quite the opposite.
âI donât want children.â
She could still hear the cold dismissal in his tone, but his words were hardly a news flash. Heâd made that fact perfectly clear when heâd proposed marriage one year to the day after their first date. Children were disruptive, messy and, most of all, needy, heâd said. They were an improper fit for the career-and-cocktails lifestyle Holden enjoyed and planned to continue enjoying.
Lauren didnât share his view, but she hadnât argued it at the time. Why bother when the point was moot? Or it had been.
A fresh wave of nausea had her bending over a second time.
âOh, God,â she moaned afterward, staggering back a few steps to lean against the passenger side of her car.
How foolish sheâd been to hope that her husbandâs rigid opinion would soften now that the deed was done. It still came as a painful shock to discover that he wanted it undone.
âEnd your pregnancy,â heâd told her. Your pregnancy. As if Lauren was solely responsible for her state. As if he had no tieâby blood or otherwiseâto the new life growing inside of her.
Heâd finished his ultimatum with: âIf you donât, Iâll end our marriage.â
So, a mere twenty-four hours after refusing, Lauren found herself standing alone on the side of a country road gazing at a pasture, feeling queasy, exhausted and longing for the comfort of the king-size bed in their Manhattan apartment. She would go back eventually. Sheâd left with nothing but her purse and painful disillusionment. But she wasnât going to return until she had formulated a plan. When she faced Holden again she would do so with dignity, with her hormone-fueled emotions under check. This time she would offer him a few terms and conditions of her own.
âHey, are you all right?â
The deep voice startled Lauren. She swung around in time to see a man jogging toward her from the farmhouse just down the road. Good Lord. Had he seenâ¦everything? Embarrassment turned her cheeks hot and she couldnât quite meet his gaze.