Chapter 15
Fiona
The weekend was like a fairy tale. Everything about it had been perfect right from the moment I’d told Laird I was pregnant until I woke up on Monday morning.
Unfortunately, I had to get back to the real world. I would have loved to stay at the cabin with Laird, but that would happen in due time. I had to go back to the city and head to work. The first item of business was to talk to Charlene, my boss, about working remotely. Explaining to her what was going on in my life would be somewhat embarrassing. But it had to be done. And I felt bad that it was all very short notice – until Friday morning I hadn’t known everything was going to change. I knew Charlene would have preferred a month’s warning, but I didn’t have a month. And I didn’t want a month, either. I wanted to be with Laird as soon as possible. I wanted this nightmare of being alone and scared and unsure of a life I was supposed to understand, to end.
The idea of moving in with Laird was exciting. I looked forward to building a life with him. He was a stranger, but in the three years I had been with Randy, knowing the man inside and out, I had never felt as connected to him as I felt to Laird. I had never felt like I belonged the way I did now.
“I have to go,” I said to Laird after I showered and dressed in the same clothes I had arrived in. I hadn’t planned on staying over the weekend. I hadn’t expected him to ask me to stay. In reality, I had thought he would chase me away before an hour was up.
“When will you be back?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me like he didn’t want to let me go.
“As soon as possible. I’ll have to work out the week, I’m sure. Charlene won’t let me go as soon as tomorrow. But I can be back by the weekend.”
“I’ll try to hold out until then,” Laird said and kissed me. When he broke the kiss, I was smiling. I didn’t want to leave. My body was already heating up again. I was in a constant state of lust with Laird. But I had to go. I kissed him one more time, a quick peck, before tearing myself away from him and walking to my car. I pulled out of the parking spot and drove out the way I had come up to the cabin. When I looked in my rearview mirror, Laird was leaning against the front doorpost, thumbs hooked in his pocket and one foot crossed over the other, watching me. He was as hot as he was amazing. My Viking.
I still couldn’t believe how perfect everything was and how serious Laird was about me. I couldn’t believe that the crazy love I felt for him was returned. This was the most unlikely love story of all, but it was real.
The fairy tale had become real for me. When Randy had dumped me, I had started doubting that happily-ever-afters existed, but I was living one right now.
The drive to the city wasn’t a very long one. I stopped off at my apartment to have a quick shower and throw on fresh clothes. My hair was still wet when I applied my makeup and climbed back into my car. With it being so short and naturally curly, I could let it air dry.
Because I was later than usual, I missed peak rush-hour traffic and made it to the office in no time at all. When I passed Jamie’s office, she called out to me.
“I thought when you were late that you might not come in,” she said. “How did it go?”
“Oh, Jamie,” I said as emotions suddenly welled up inside me. I stepped into her office and closed the door. “It was better than I could ever have expected. He was amazing. We’re together now, and we’re going to make this work.”
Jamie frowned. “You’re together now? That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?”
“It might be, but we’re having a baby together. That’s a bit sudden, too.”
“I guess so. I guess I’m not sure how well that would work.”
I was irritated. I was telling my friend the good news, that something in my life was looking up, and instead, she was suggesting it wouldn’t work out.
“What else do you think he should do?” I asked. “He’s doing the right thing, and I happen to like him.”
“I think he should step up to the plate and be the baby’s father ‒ but dating him is a different story. I know you like him, but it’s after you guys had sex once.”
“Twice.”
“Whatever. You can’t build a relationship on sex.”
I shook my head. “You’re right, but it’s not about that. Besides, my relationship with Randy was supposed to be about so much more. I did it all right from the start with him and look how that turned out. Maybe convention is bullshit.”
“I want you to be careful. Having a baby is already a big deal. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’ll be fine, Jamie,” I said. “Thanks.”
Jamie wanted to say more, but I didn’t want to hear it. The lump that had risen in my throat was gone now. I had been excited to tell my friend that everything had worked out for the better, but she was so negative about it. I wanted her to be happy for me. For the first time in a long time, things were looking up for me.
If she wasn’t going to give me that, I wasn’t interested. I didn’t understand the way she offered support as a friend sometimes. When Randy had broken up with me, her advice and support had also been different than what I would have liked.
But it didn’t matter. I left her office and marched to my own, adamant that I was making the right choice. I was a grown woman, and I was about to have a child. I was doing the best I could and if I had someone on my side, someone who was willing to be there for me and go through this with me, I was going to take it.
Yes, maybe it was a bit fast. Maybe a relationship based on sex didn’t work. But it was about much more than that with Laird.
I arranged to see Charlene at ten, once she was done with her first meeting. I was nervous, waiting in my office for her to call me. I knew she valued me as an employee, but I was about to ask for something big.
When she called me, I walked to her office and knocked on the door, a nervous tightening in my stomach. I was almost as nervous to talk to her about it as I had been to see Laird about the pregnancy.
“Sit down, Fiona,” Charlene said with a smile when I walked into her office and closed the door behind me. I sat down and folded my hands in my lap.
She leaned forward in her chair. “You wanted to see me?”
I nodded and explained to her what was going on, telling her about the baby.
“Well, that’s quite a shock,” Charlene said. “How do you want to go about work? You know we do allow maternity leave.”
I nodded. “I do, but the father lives in the mountains and the commute back and forth for both of us will be unrealistic. I was hoping I could work remotely, coming into the office say once a week or so but working from home, otherwise.”
Charlene raised her eyebrows before she turned her head to the window and thought about it.
“You know I’m not happy about that,” she said. “But I can’t say no to you. Your clients love you, and you have the biggest client base in the company.”
I hadn’t known that, but it felt great to hear, and maybe it would help my case.
“We’ll have to work out the logistics,” Charlene finally said. “And I’m going to put you on a probation of sorts to see if it works. If it doesn’t, I want you back here.”
I nodded. “I can do that. Thank you, Charlene.”
When I left the office, I felt elated. Everything was working out. It was a sign to me that I was on the right path, that I had made the right choices to keep the baby and be with Laird.
I arrived at my desk and started working. The work flowed, and I was in a good mood despite the waves of nausea that came and went.
Soon after lunch, my phone rang with an unknown number. I hesitated. I didn’t like answering unknown calls to my private cell phone. Usually, clients phoned my office line.
After a moment’s hesitation, I answered.
“Is this Fiona?” a gravelly male voice asked.
“It is,” I said. “Who is this?”
“It’s Jackson.”
“Oh, hello,” I said, relaxing now that I knew it wasn’t a total stranger. But why was Jackson phoning me?
“Is everything alright?”
“No, it’s not,” Jackson said. My stomach turned. I had the dreaded feeling that something was wrong. “I’m on the way to the hospital with Laird. He was in an accident.”
My ears started ringing, and my blood ran cold.
“What can I do?” I asked breathlessly.
“Get down here.”