Baby Comes First (4 page)

Her defensiveness surprised him. When had he
fallen into the habit of cross-examining everyone? Maybe Margaret
was right and he had forgotten how to have a civil
conversation.

He made an effort to use a more even voice.
“I’m not complaining,
per se
,” he said carefully. “I’m
concerned about Ms. Hansen. Is she having health problems?”

The director looked at him for a few seconds
in surprise. “No. As far as I know, her pregnancy is progressing
normally. She’s about ....” She clicked her mouse to access
Hannah’s file, and continued. “She’s almost seven months
along.”

Pregnant?

Ms. Hansen was pregnant? Luke hoped that his
years of trial work helped to mask his surprise, but the
information stunned him. Margaret was right. He was oblivious. The
woman he worked with on a daily basis was seven months pregnant and
he hadn’t noticed? He’d made such a habit of looking only at her
face, he’d seen nothing else. “I didn’t know she was married.”

“She’s not.”

His eyebrows rose. Ms. Hansen living with
someone? That might be the norm these days, but he’d thought better
of her.

But of course all of this was irrelevant. He
asked, “Do you know how long she’s planning to take for maternity
leave?”

“Oh, you’re concerned about how long she’ll
be gone.” The director clicked her mouse again. “I assume she’ll
take six weeks.”

Six weeks and then back to work again? Luke
felt sorry for her new baby. He might be old fashioned, but he
thought a baby should have a mother at home to take care of it. But
maybe Ms. Hansen was one of those women who thought their career
was more important, and that babies were mere inconveniences.

Then he remembered the way she had tenderly
held Ms. Gardner’s baby and dismissed the idea. She didn’t think a
baby was an inconvenience. She’d be a good mother.

He left the Human Resources office, deep in
thought.

CHAPTER THREE

Hannah could tell that something was
different the moment she got back to the office. The door to Mr.
Jamison’s office was open, rather than closed, and he walked out to
greet her as she reached her desk.

“How was your doctor’s appointment?” he
asked.

“Fine,” she said warily, wondering what had
changed him. In all the months that she’d worked for him, he had
never asked her a personal question. She put her purse in her
bottom desk drawer and thanked Katie who had taken over for
her.

Katie scurried away, obviously grateful for
the chance to escape, leaving them alone together.

Mr. Jamison stood by the corner of her desk,
as if wanting to speak to her.

“Do you have work for me?” she asked after a
moment of silence.

“No, nothing urgent. Just that appellate
brief I’m drafting.”

She waited. It wasn’t like him to be at a
loss for words. Usually he spoke a mile a minute, giving her
multiple directions at once.

He cleared his throat. “When exactly are you
due?”

Hannah blinked, surprised by his question.
But since she’d told everyone else who asked, she answered calmly,
“November twenty sixth, give or take a few days.”

He nodded. “I see. Is your boyfriend excited
about the baby?”

“Boyfriend?”

“Perhaps I’m using the wrong term. Your
lover? The father of the baby -- Is he excited?”

Hannah felt like pinching herself, because
this conversation was too bizarre. She must be having a nightmare.
But no matter how much she wished she could wake up into a more
rational world, she knew she wasn’t dreaming. “Why this sudden
interest in my pregnancy?” she asked, avoiding his question.

He smiled, watching her intently. “I’m just
trying to be friendly, to learn a little more about you.”

Hannah had never noticed how personable Mr.
Jamison could be, if he tried. Perhaps that was because he had
never bothered to be pleasant with her. He had always treated her
more like a piece of office machinery. As long as she did her job,
he paid little attention to her.

But this must be how he connected with
jurors, persuading them to side with his client. “I appreciate the
gesture, Mr. Jamison,” she said coolly. “But I’d rather not talk
about it.” She sat down at her desk and stared at her computer
screen, hoping he would take the not-so-subtle hint and leave.
After a moment of silence, she glanced up and saw that he was still
there, watching her.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “He’s left
you, hasn’t he?”

Hannah gasped. Now she understood how he
could pull information from contrary witnesses on the stand. He had
an uncanny ability to read people’s expressions and make lightning
quick assumptions. But she was not under oath, and she was under no
obligation to tell him anything.

Or was she?
Was it fair to knowingly have
his child without telling him?

Hannah set that traitorous thought aside.
She’d agonized over this issue months before. But he hadn’t
expected to be notified if other people used his sperm, so she
wouldn’t tell him, either.

The easy solution would be to lie, making up
a fictitious lover or boyfriend to satisfy his questions. But she
felt as if she had enough secrets already.

“Mr. Jamison,” she said finally. “Thank you
for your concern, but you don’t need to worry about me. The
pregnancy is going well, and I’m fine.”

“Not ‘we’re fine’, but ‘I’m fine,’” he noted
perceptively. “That leads me to believe that the father of your
baby is not an active part of your life. Does he even know about
the baby?”

Now Hannah was mad. He had no right to cross
examine her, verbally pushing her into a corner. “No, he doesn’t
know about the baby, and he never will,” she said fiercely. “Is
that enough personal information for you, Mr. Jamison, or do you
want more?”

His face grew pale as if he finally realized
how inappropriate his questions had become.

Without waiting for his response, she stood,
and walked past him. “I’m taking the rest of the day off,” she
announced. “If you need help, get a floater.”

#

Luke watched Ms. Hansen leave. She was
magnificent in her anger, back straight and head held high like a
queen. But what the hell was wrong with him? She’d said she didn’t
want to talk about it, and he’d ignored her wishes, continuing to
interrogate her.

What had he been thinking? He went back into
his office and slammed the door, but it did no good.

He started pacing.

The problem was, he hadn’t been thinking. The
revelation that she was pregnant had rocked him, and he’d been
seeking further information to make sense of it.

And he’d offended her. Would she come back
tomorrow?

Considering the way her blue eyes had flashed
with fury, he couldn’t guarantee it.

She’d be perfectly within her rights to make
a complaint against him and to seek a different position in the law
firm.

The last thing he wanted was a new
secretary.

He wanted to keep Hannah.

Luke raked his fingers into his hair and
closed his eyes with frustration. Sometimes he was an idiot, a bull
in the china shop as Gloria had called him.

He’d have to make amends somehow, to
apologize. But how?

#

Hannah glanced at the digital alarm clock
beside her bed. It was past three o’clock in the morning, and she
couldn’t sleep, but she couldn’t blame it on the gyrations of her
child, for the baby lay peaceful in her womb, barely stirring.

She stared at the ceiling, mentally going
over the events of the day before. She had felt wonderfully
powerful as she walked out on Luke Jamison, but in hindsight, she
knew she’d been foolish.

She should have answered his questions as
simply and honestly as she could, without the hormonal melodrama.
By storming out, she’d merely given him reason to think she was
hiding something. She had piqued his interest, and he would ask
more questions.

Either that, or he’d fire her for leaving her
post. Knowing Mr. Jamison, she didn’t think he’d do that, but he
could.

Perhaps that would be best. Or she could
quit. She could show up tomorrow with a resignation letter. That
might be cowardly, but it would be a lot easier than returning to
her desk, having to face him again.

Hannah rolled on her side and punched her
pillow, trying to get comfortable. She couldn’t afford to quit. She
had some savings, but it wasn’t enough to pay for medical insurance
and living expenses until the baby was born and she was ready to go
back to work.

What a mess she’d made. Perhaps she should
have adopted a child instead of trying to create her own. But she
couldn’t turn back the clock.

The baby stirred, and she rubbed her stomach.
“Sorry,” she murmured. “I love you, sweetie, and somehow I’ll make
this situation work.”

#

The next morning, Hannah was five minutes
late to work and expected to hear a lecture from Mr. Jamison, but
surprisingly, he wasn’t there, and she didn’t see any note listing
his whereabouts. He walked into the office fifteen minutes later,
carrying a large vase filled with a dozen yellow roses.

He set the vase down on her desk. “How
lovely,” she said. “Do you want me to send these to someone?”

He frowned. “No, they’re for you.”

“For me?” Her voice sounded high.

“Yes. I’m very sorry I upset you yesterday.
My questions were completely out of line, and I apologize.”

Luke Jamison apologizing?
She knew how
rare that was. “I’m sorry, too,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t
have lost my temper.”

He nodded as if accepting her apology, and
then stood silent, as if not knowing what to say next.

Hannah reached out to touch one of the
velvety petals. Other than a dozen red roses for her sixteenth
birthday from her father, she had never received a dozen roses
before.

“Do you like them?” He sounded uncertain.

“How could anyone not like them? They are so
big and beautiful.” She took a deep breath. “And they smell
divine.”

“My wife used to say that the only way to
apologize to a woman was with flowers or diamonds.”

“You can bring me diamonds next time,” Hannah
said wryly, and at the startled expression on his face, she added
quickly, “I’m kidding. These are beautiful. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like them,” he said stiffly,
and walked back to his office.

That was an odd conversation, Hannah thought
with amusement. Luke Jamison giving her flowers? It was completely
out of character, but it showed that underneath that gruff
exterior, he was human, after all.

Too bad he didn’t have much of a sense of
humor.

With a sigh, she returned to the document she
was typing.

When Hannah went to the break room to warm up
a frozen dinner for lunch, she met Ms. Dulane, who was pouring
herself a cup of coffee.

“I hear you’re taming the beast,” Ms. Dulane
said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The yellow roses. I think everyone at
Thompson, Baker, and Meyers knew about it within twenty minutes of
his walking through the front door.”

Hannah froze. She should have known that the
office grapevine would be intrigued. Mr. Jamison and his work
habits were a favorite topic of conversation already. How much did
her co-workers know, and how much did they guess? Had anyone heard
their argument the day before? Hannah said, “Mr. Jamison and I had
a difference of opinion yesterday. The conversation got a little
heated, and the roses were his apology.”

“A dozen roses? That must have been some
difference of opinion,” the director mused. “Mr. Jamison has never
given any of his secretaries flowers before. Not even on
Secretary’s day.”

Hannah felt the baby kick and automatically
put her hand on her stomach.

“Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?” Ms.
Dulane asked.

Hannah was grateful that the conversation had
shifted to a safer topic. “No, I had an ultrasound a few months
ago, but I asked the technician not to tell me. I want to be
surprised.”

“That makes it a little difficult buying
gifts for the office baby shower, but I guess we could have the
shower after the baby’s born.”

Hannah was hoping not to be with the firm
after the baby was born, but she’d cross that bridge later. She
smiled. “That’s a great idea.”

#

For the next few days, Mr. Jamison seemed to
be avoiding her. He filled his days with meetings and went out of
town for a deposition that he normally would have scheduled at the
office. But Hannah didn’t mind. She appreciated the reprieve. She
wanted them to get back to their prior calm, emotionless work
relationship.

She thought they had succeeded, until he
called her into his office to give her his travel expense receipts.
She put the receipts in the appropriate envelope to be scanned
later. “Will that be all?” she asked.

“No, there’s one more thing.”

She waited.

“I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going
to respect your privacy, but the more I thought about it, the more
I realized that I couldn’t keep silent.”

Hannah steeled herself.

He continued, “I don’t think it is fair for
you to have a baby without the father knowing.”

She took a deep breath to steady herself. She
didn’t want to give Mr. Jamison any more information than he had
already. “He doesn’t need to know. This child is completely my
responsibility.”

“Just because the woman ends up pregnant,
that doesn’t mean it’s her fault,” he said reasonably. “Both
parents should be held equally responsible.”

In the normal course of events, he was right.
But hers was a special case. “Since you don’t understand all the
particulars, you are in no position to judge.”

He continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “You
need to give the man a chance to honor his responsibility.”