Page 4 of Mistaken Intention

I didn’t need to ask her why she’d called me anymore. If her father wasn’t being supportive of her, it made sense she might turn to me instead.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I can’t tell Drew. What if he thinks I did it on purpose?”

“Why on earth would he think that?”

“Because he’s a multi-millionaire.”

I sat up, confusion tangling my brain. “He is?”

“Yeah.”

“But I thought he was a photographer.”

“He is. But only because he loves doing it so much. He doesn’t need the money. Everyone in the industry knows that.”

I wasn’t in the ‘industry’. It excused my ignorance, although it made slightly less sense of her father’s attitude. I’d have understood it better if Drew had been a no-hoper, but a multi-millionaire? Surely, as the father to his grandchild, that ought to have been acceptable?

“What difference does it make, though?” I asked. “Why would Drew think you’d got pregnant on purpose?”

“He might assume I’d done it to trap him into marriage, or at the very least, to get money from him.”

The thought of the two of them getting married sent chills down my spine and made my eyes sting with unshed tears, but I couldn’t see why they would. Not in this day and age. They didn’t love each other, and just because Lexi was pregnant, didn’t mean marriage was the automatic conclusion to their situation.

“But you’ve just explained it was an accident. And if he was that worried, he could’ve used a condom, couldn’t he?”

There was a slight pause. “To be honest, we were both a little drunk. Contraception wasn’t top of our list of priorities.”

I wasn’t sure I needed that much information. “You need to tell him, Lexi.”

“That I’m pregnant?”

“Yes.”What else?

“How?”

“Just call him up and tell him. He has a right to know.”

I knew I was driving a nail into the coffin of any hope I had of being with Drew myself. I was going to be his child’s aunt. What future was there for us?

None…

“I’m sorry we haven’t been able to see each other since Maisie was born.” Lexi’s words bring me back to reality with a bump and I sit up, still struggling with the whole comfort thing. I pull out the pillow from behind me and throw it to the other end of the couch before settling back again, staring through the window on the far wall, at the apartment block opposite. It’s a rare thing for me to have a day off work, and I’d intended catching up with my laundry, not sitting around talking to my sister, recalling things best forgotten.

“It’s not your fault. I’ve been busy at work.”

“I don’t know how you do it. I could never be a nurse.”

It’s my vocation, so I don’t have an answer. It’s not something I even think about. Besides, it’s not as though I have anything else in my life, so I don’t mind it filling all my time.

“I could never be a model,” I say, rather than justifying my career choices.

“Yes, you could. You’re far prettier than I am… and you’ve got a better figure.”

“Not a model’s figure.”

“Hmm… maybe not.” We both know my curves would be no match on the catwalk for Lexi’s svelte lines. “It’s strange, isn’t it… the last time I saw you face-to-face, I was the size of a house, puffing and panting, giving birth to Maisie.”

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