Page 26 of His Best Mistake

She got up to fetch her phone, thanking God that she’d had the foresight not to delete the correspondence she’d had with Ben/Brad, and handed it over to Cora, who scrolled through the texts and listened to the messages, her eyes widening and her face growing paler with every passing second.

By the time she was done and had handed the phone back, Stella almost felt sorry for her.

“Whatever,” said Cora with a shrug, clearly not about to give in just yet despite the overwhelming evidence, at which point Stella’s sympathy evaporated. “I’m not here to rehash that particular past. I’m here to talk about the present. More specifically, this.” She waved a hand in the direction of Stella’s abdomen.

“What about it?”

“Jack also told me last night he’d asked you to marry him and you turned him down. Apparently you won’t move in with him either.”

“That’s right,” said Stella with a firm nod.

“Why?”

Stella stared at her. Surely it didn’t need explaining? “What do you mean, why?”

“I think he’s insane, obviously, but he’s only trying to do the right thing.”

“I understand that,” she said, “and it’s admirable, really it is, but I don’t need him to do the right thing. We hardly know each other.”

“And what about what he needs?” Cora said bluntly.

“What about it?” she asked, genuinely baffled because Jack didn’t seem to need anything. He seemed as self-sufficient as she was.

Cora stared at her for one long moment, her face hardening and her eyes narrowing. “Wow, you really are a bitch, aren’t you? And to think for a moment there I was actually prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

In the face of Cora’s contempt, Stella felt her own temper surface, because hang on a moment, what was going on here? Yes, she got that she wasn’t Cora’s favourite person in the world, but even so, that seemed a bit much. “That’s really not fair,” she said hotly. “This isn’t the nineteenth century. We don’t have to get married just for the sake of the baby.”

“No, but you could at least try and make the whole thing a bit easier for him.”

Cora’s voice was as sharp as a whip, and anguish flashed in her eyes for a second, and the odd combination made Stella stop. Think. And then wonder if there was maybe something she didn’t know.

“OK,” she said after a moment. “Clearly I’m missing something here. What is it?”

“Only a sensitivity chip.”

“Why would I need a sensitivity chip?”

Cora stared at her in horrified disbelief. “Well, I’d have thought that the fact that Jack’s wife died as a result of complications arising from pregnancy would make you have at least some sympathy for what he must be going through right now, but what the hell would I know?”

The words hit Stella’s brain like bullets, each one practically taking her down. At first she could hardly make sense of them, but then they

sort of shuffled into order, and, oh dear God, his wife? Jack had been married? And she’d died? While pregnant? “When?”

“Four years ago.”

“I had no idea.”

“Really,” said Cora coldly.

“I didn’t. He never said anything. We haven’t exactly had much of a chance to chat.”

“And you haven’t googled him.”

“No.” Well, she had a very little bit initially, but she hadn’t read about that.

“Of course you haven’t,” said Cora. But Stella wasn’t paying her much attention. She was too busy turning inside out at the thought of what Jack must presumably have gone through then and what he might be going through now. The pain. The memories. She could hardly imagine it. This whole situation must be hell on earth. “How can he stand it?”

“I can’t even begin to think,” said Cora. “All I know is that whatever he’s asked you to do he’s probably asked because he’s trying his best to protect you and the baby.”

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