揗en!?Haley huffed, but at the same time, she vowed that no matter what gender her baby was, the rules would be the same.
揧ep,?Jessica agreed.
揌ey, you don抰 have man problems like us,?Haley argued.
揃ut I have down through the years,?Jessica argued back.
揝uch as??Risa asked.
揝uch as she抯 got feelings for Wade, but she thinks she can抰 do anything about them because they are partners in business,?Haley said, needing for them to talk about that to give her a while longer before she admitted that she was pregnant.
Jessica gasped. 揥hy would you say that??
揃ecause it抯 the truth,?Risa answered. 揥e can all see it, but you have to decide what you抮e going to do about it. We can抰 make that decision for you.?
揋ot any suggestions??Jessica抯 face turned a faint shade of red. 揑 thought I抎 hidden all those feelings fairly well.?
揥e抮e here if you want to talk about it,?Haley said, 揵ut don抰 let something good slip through your fingers.?
Mary Nell pointed a finger toward Jessica. 揥e thought you and Haley were the smart ones who didn抰 get married or tangled up with a guy that just wanted you for the paycheck you brought home.?
Haley held up both palms. 揇on抰 go grouping me in with smart people. I抳e made my share of mistakes.?
揙h, yeah??Jessica said. 揘ame one.?
揑 had a fling a while back.?Haley stopped and took a drink of her tea. 揑 met him at a church social, and he wasn抰 wearing a wedding ring, so . . .?
揇id you find out he was married??Jessica asked. 揑 flirted with a guy in Ireland at the bar where I heard the fiddle music. He tried to pass himself off as single, but I saw the white line where his wedding band should have been and told him to get lost.?
揘ope, but I抳e decided that guys should have to wear an engagement ring just like a woman does,?Haley answered.
揟hen he was engaged??Mary Nell asked.
揙h, yeah, he was, and he didn抰 tell me until a few days before his wedding was to take place. He said I was his last fling before he had to settle down to the white picket fence and the van full of kids and soccer equipment that would come later.?Haley抯 tone had a razor-sharp edge even in her own ears. 揂nd to top it all off, he was marrying one of the teachers at my school. I抎 even helped her pick out her wedding cake, but she referred to her fianc?as Mark, and the guy I met used his middle name, Andrew.?
揌oly crap!?Jessica gasped. 揧ou actually helped her pick out her wedding cake, but you had never met the man she was going to marry? How did that happen??
揝he had all these pictures of wedding cakes in the teachers?lounge and asked my opinion. We talked about how many guests she was going to have, and how much each cake would feed, and her colors, and then together we chose a cake,?Haley explained. 揥e weren抰 friends梛ust barely acquaintances. I remember thinking at the time that she must have needed an outside opinion.?
揟hat抯 one strange coincidence,?Jessica said.
揙h, there抯 more. Mark Andrew Roberts has been hired as the new principal in the school where I work,?she said. 揌e lived south of Montgomery, and she had never brought him to the school to meet any of the teachers.?
揇oes he know that you are the counselor there??Risa asked.
揌e does now, but in his opinion, what we did was between two consenting adults and shouldn抰 affect either of our jobs. It won抰 affect mine because I will be sending in my letter of resignation tomorrow morning,?Haley said and took a deep breath. Admitting the next part was going to be tougher than telling them about her fling with an engaged man.
揘o! You can抰 let him have that power over you,?Mary Nell declared. 揑f you want to stay in Riverbend, we抣l all have a celebration if you do, but don抰 let that lousy rascal have power over you.?
揅all me selfish, but I抦 glad you抮e staying here,?Risa said.
揗e too,?Jessica added.
Haley turned to focus on Mary Nell. 揟ruth is that I抦 taking all the power from him. I just found out last night how my biological mother, my sister in real life, must have felt when she found out she was pregnant. Only she was fifteen, and I抦 thirty-eight. I抦 sure the feeling is the same in both instances. I抦 pregnant.?
Total silence filled the room. To Haley, it seemed as if the ice in the tea glasses even stopped melting for fear of making a noise. The music in the backyard ceased, and the air in the kitchen was suddenly too heavy to breathe.
The twins came through the back door, laid their instruments on the cabinet, and stopped in their tracks.
揥hat抯 going on in here??Lily asked.
揟here抯 tension like we felt at Granny Stella抯 house,?Daisy whispered.
揑抦 sorry,?Risa said. 揑t抯 not tension. It抯 confusion. Haley, would you tell them??