Page 9 of His Unexpected Heir

Blinking away tears, she focused on Macie’s words as well as her tone. “Why are you whispering?”

Macie laughed, her voice still soft. “I don’t know. It just feels as if speaking too loudly will jinx this amazing win.”

Astra couldn’t remember which contract Macie was talking about. Astra was the creative side of the equation while Macie maintained the business end. The woman had a knack for computer programming, which she applied to just about every aspect of Astra’s business. Astra knew Macie wasn’t fond of the party side of the business, but what the woman could do with a computer was nothing less than magic!

“I need more information,” Astra prompted, rubbing her forehead. She felt a headache coming on and wasn’t sure how to ease the pain. Could she take ibuprofen? Was that allowed during pregnancy? And how far along was she? Astra had been pushing herself pretty hard lately, fighting against sadness at missing Antonio’s calls. He’d called her at odd hours and Astra now suspected that he’d purposely called her at times when he knew she wouldn’t be awake enough to answer the phone. It was a good way for him to ease a guilty conscience by telling himself, and his friends, that he’d tried to call her but she’d never answered.

And now she was pregnant. Pregnant!

“Are you even listening to me?” Macie asked, breaking into Astra’s contemplation of her new reality.

Blinking and valiantly trying to focus, Astra cleared her throat and said, “Um…no. Sorry. Could you repeat that?”

Macie laughed. “Never fear. I’ll just send over the contracts. You’re going to love this gig since it will be a long term project. And the money is great! I’ve already started entering the data into my computer program that will evaluate the potential vendors that you might need for this contract.”

“I’m sure it…” she stopped, reviewing Macie’s words in her head. “Wait. Did you say that this next contract is in Spain?”

“Yes! The client wants us to throw a series of parties and events throughout the summer months with a big carnival, sort of ‘end of summer’ blast. I’ve already signed the contracts and my computer is spitting out possible vendors. I’m going to write some new code that will help us better evaluate them. We don’t want another issue like what happened in Venice last month.” She laughed at the memory. “I sent the contracts to your email so you can read through the details. But the pay is about twice as much as your normal fee, plus, I know that you’ve been feeling under the weather for the past few months. Accepting this contract will give you a chance to take a bit of a break. The two month contract will require only one event per week and they all seem to be relatively low key with the details of the events up to your discretion.”

Astra felt as if she might choke. Work in Spain? What if she ran into Antonio? What would she do? What could she say? And how did one handle a casual interchange when one ran into a previous lover on the sidewalk?

It took her several moments to remember that Spain was a large, diverse country. The possibility of running into Antonio on the street, or anywhere else, was slim.

With that in mind, her heart slowed to almost normal levels. “I’m going to my computer now to read through the documents.”

“You’re going to love this one!” Macie promised and Astra could hear her friend and brilliant assistant typing away on her keyboard, obviously still tweaking whatever computer program she was working on. Macie was brilliant at using a computer to organize…everything. Schedules, vendors, time tables…just about anything relating to business, Macie could create a program for it. The woman had streamlined Astra’s business so that everything needed for any event was delivered and organized.

“What if I…” she paused, logging onto her computer, and lost the thought. Instead, she saw the email from Macie and clicked on the link, opening up the contract and started reading. “Can you cancel?”

“Why would we? It’s a great contract, a way to let your imagination run wild, plus the fee has already been paid up front. We’ll get expenses of course, plus room and board. We’ll be staying in a castle! Isn’t that great? An actual castle!”

Astra silently groaned as she read through the contract. It really was a great opportunity and she relaxed slightly as she finished reading the initial paragraph. It wasn’t signed by Antonio – so that was a relief. She didn’t want to show up on Antonio’s doorstep after months of him avoiding her. Wouldn’t that seem pathetic?!

Closing her eyes again, she tried to get control of herself.

“Let me look over the details and I’ll start working on ideas.”

“Sounds great!” Macie replied, then paused. “As soon as you get some good ideas, send them my way and I’ll enter them into my database and I’ll get you possible vendors and a timetable.” She paused for a moment, then asked, “You’re not…baking anything, are you?”

Astra’s eyes opened and she blinked at the toilet in front of her, baffled. “Not at the moment. Why?”

Macie sighed with relief. “I don’t know. Just…needed to ask.”

Astra didn’t understand that comment, but she told Macie that she’d call her back after she had some ideas.

For a long moment, Astra sat on the floor, trying to figure out what she was going to do. She was pregnant. Thinking back, she realized that she must be…maybe four months along. She’d been so sad about not seeing Antonio again, feeling rejected, angry, and resentful, that she’d pushed herself harder than normal.

Obviously, she’d been pushing herself too hard if she hadn’t noticed a lack of a period for four months!

Rubbing her forehead, she tried to figure out a plan. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to her. She couldn’t really think of a plan because she was too focused on trying to figure out what she was going to do about her pregnancy.

However, the idea of baking something sounded like a good idea. Heading into the kitchen, she pulled out the ingredients for…Astra tapped on her phone and came up with a recipe. “Chocolate chip cookies!” she exclaimed. “Perfect!”

While she sifted flour, baking powder, sugar, measured butter and vanilla and the other ingredients, Astra let her mind wander. Baking had always soothed her. She wasn’t very good at it, but did that really matter?

Did she want to keep this baby? She checked the recipe, then remembered an article she’d read that talked about a donut shop in Portland, Maine that added potatoes to the batter to make the donuts moist. Astra had a potato. The last time she’d made cookies, they’d come out hard as a rock! Why not try a potato?

That was an instant yes. As she grated the potato, then dumped it into the batter and mixed everything up, she considered the pros and cons. A baby would be…difficult. But also amazing. She could…how would she raise a baby while traveling the world?

---