Page 10 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

Cold fear ran up and down his spine. Was she ill? Had she done something illegal? Was she in trouble? Seriously, if she didn’t start to speak in the next five minutes, he might just shake it out of her.

‘Where do I start?’ she asked, her words a rhetorical question. She looked away from him and out of the window, her eyes focused on the vines outside. ‘I’m worried about not having a job when Cole sells up Thorpe Industries. The new owners of the hospitality division might not want to take me on and a severance package only goes so far.’

He’d looked her up online. She had an excellent degree and great experience; he doubted she’d battle to find another job. ‘I need my job. I’ve got expenses and people relying on me,’ she added.

‘Who?’ he asked. He knew she was single, so who was she supporting?

‘I live with three half-sisters,’ she told him. ‘Lex is a year younger than me, and she looks after our two younger sisters. Lex is also studying towards her degree. Our youngest half-sisters are six and eight. Mine is the salary that keeps us afloat.’

Jude rubbed his jaw, taking in her words. He had so many questions and didn’t know where to start. Where were her parents, all their parents? Why was she looking after her half-sisters? ‘Wait, let me get this right—you have three sisters?’

This time her smile reached her eyes. ‘I have four, actually. Storm is our middle sister, but she doesn’t live with us. She’s twenty-four and has a job as an au pair. She, thank God, is financially independent.’

Right. She hadfoursisters. Wow.

He pulled his thoughts back to her initial statement. ‘You should be able to pick up another job, Addi. I can’t see why you wouldn’t.’

She closed her eyes briefly. ‘Do you remember that I told you that I couldn’t be here at two o’clock because I had an appointment with a lawyer?’

Since the conversation had only been this morning, of course he remembered. She’d said it was a personal issue. ‘Yes.’

‘The appointment was regarding custody of my younger sisters. I was informed earlier that my flaky mother wants Snow and Nixi back. After four years away, she wants to take them to live with her in India. She’s been living in Thailand for the past fifteen years. I have to think that there’s a man involved...there’s always a man involved whenever Joelle makes a life-changing decision.’

Right; that was unexpected.

‘I need to find a family lawyer who can help me sue for custody of my sisters. I will not let them be uprooted again and I will not put them through the unstable life Lex and I endured. But to gain custody of them I’d need both a lawyer and a job—a guaranteed source of income to pay for said lawyer.’

‘As I said, you shouldn’t have a problem picking up a good job.’ What was he missing here?

‘I presume you’ve heard about pregnancy discrimination?’

Of course he had. Along with believing in equal pay for women doing the same work as men, he didn’t believe in treating a pregnant employee unfavourably. But why were they talking about pregnancy discrimination?

‘By the time I get round to looking for a new job, when I’m ready to attend interviews, I will be showing. While it’s against the law for my pregnancy to be used as a reason not to hire me, we all know it happens and it’s incredibly difficult to prove, especially if several decent candidates apply for the job.’

But what did that have to do with...? Oh.Right. ‘You’re pregnant?’ he asked, rubbing his chin.

She tipped her head to one side and nodded, her eyebrows raised. ‘I found out this morning.’

He was finding it difficult to connect the dots, to work out why her eyebrows were still raised, why she was looking at him with that ‘come on, catch up’ expression on her face.

Addi looked him in the eye and sucked in a deep breath. ‘I don’t know how it happened, Jude, but you’re the father of my baby.’

CHAPTER FOUR

ITWASDONE. There was no going back now.

Addi slid off her seat, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and placed her hand on the glass, staring past her reflection to look out onto the almost dark garden. The occasional raindrop splattered against the door and the temperature outside had plummeted.

It didn’t feel too toasty in here either.

She’d dumped a lot of information on Jude, and he needed time to think about what she’d said, time to work through the bombshell she’d dropped. She normally never allowed her mouth to run away with her, she always considered her words, but something about Jude Fisher had made her throw caution to the wind and she’d spilt all her drama. She didn’t like it.

Obtaining custody of Nixi and Snow wasn’t his problem, and she’d sort herself out work-wise. All he had to wrap his head around was the fact that he was going to be a father. Whether he played a role in the baby’s life was up to him. She wouldn’t force him to. She’d grown up with a father who’d only contacted her on high days and holidays—and sometimes didn’t even bother to do that—so she knew her baby would be fine with not having a father in her, or his, life. She’d turned out okay, hadn’t she? Kids were resilient, far more so than people imagined.

Behind her, Jude cleared his throat, and Addi turned to look at him, resting her palms flat on the glass behind her. The windows, as she discovered, were actually doors and could slide into one another, opening up the entire house to the elements. Right now, she wished they’d open up so she could fall into the night. She really didn’t want to continue this conversation. She’d eaten, was feeling washed out and she could sleep for a week.

She genuinely didn’t know how she was going to find the energy to drive home.

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