Having Jay's Baby (Having His Baby #2) by Fran Louise

Author:Fran Louise [Louise, Fran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jay

The house was deathly quiet when I got back. I’m not sure what I’d been expecting: wailing children and dinner on the stove? I looked around at the half-dark, wondering where Stella was. I’d spent a hell of a morning trying to settle Elizabeth, and had finally left her at her hotel before lunch. She’d been exhausted and ready to sleep off the overnight trip from New York. She hadn’t called, so I presumed she’d slept through the whole day. She’d probably been sedated; she’d self-medicated through smaller crises than this one.

I cracked my neck and considered the verdict from this morning. I still didn’t know what it meant. I couldn’t get information fast enough, but I was useless here in Washington. Even having spent the entire day with Fueller, I was still blundering around on the sidelines of the investigation. I needed to know what Harry had offered them; if he hadn’t already, he was sure to start talking in return for a reduced sentence.

And what about the information the feds had obviously collected from the bugs in my apartment? I knew on a rational level that I had nothing to worry about, but rationality was, unfortunately, a luxury I couldn’t afford right now. The truth was, I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t know how—if—Elizabeth was implicated, nor did I know to what extent my father had been involved in sketchier areas of Harry’s dealings. Ultimately, I didn’t know for sure if they’d offered me up as a scapegoat.

Ante familia nihil venit … my ass.

Nonetheless, all of this had to wait. I’d promised Stella I’d be here; I’d insisted she, and Nina, stay in this house. I owed it to them to be present. Elizabeth and her family would have to wait.

I wandered down the hallway, trying to shed the day’s anxieties. The disquiet, pulsing in me like muscle cramp, slowly died down as I approached the kitchen. In its place I could feel a rising sense of anticipation. It solidified into something much more complex as I stepped into the kitchen and found Stella, sitting alone at the table.

I guessed Nina was in bed. I was, surprisingly, disappointed. I’d expected to be too tired to deal with an infant, but it occurred to me that Nina’s perfumed innocence would be the perfect antidote to such a complicated day. Unsettled, I took in the surroundings, looking for differences. The room was clean and tidy, a few items of baby paraphernalia dotted here and there along with the scent of sterilising fluid. It smelled like a family home for possibly the first time in its century-long existence; not exactly pleasant, but oddly comforting.

Stella smiled but she didn’t get up, or speak. The clean lines of her features looked ghostly in the dim light from the laptop in front of her. I soaked in the sight, realising I’d been looking forward to seeing her, too.

“Hey,” I said, softly. I set my keys and the phone down on the island.

“Hey,” she said.

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