She choked out a laugh. “You could say that. You could also say pregnancy.”
Grace froze, both mugs in her hands, eyes wide for a few seconds. Then her made-up face melted into a mask of happiness, her eyes brimming with tears, her voice a high squeak when she spoke. “I get a grandbaby?”
Abandoning the mugs on the kitchen table, she hugged Kimber hard enough to crush ribs. Well. She’d taken that much better than Kimber had expected.
“Sit, sit.” Grace shoved the coffee in front of her. “It’s half-caff. And anyway, doctors say you can safely have a cup a day. Don’t fret.”
Kimber warmed her palms on the mug. Her mother’s house was a chilly, air-conditioned tomb. Menopause.
“Who is he?”
Just a guy I worked down a list of sex acts with.
“Um… well… funny story. Remember Angel Downey? My best friend from high school? I spent a summer at her house the year you and Dad divorced.”
Her mother’s mouth tightened. Amazing how the mention of the divorce hurt her after all these years. More reason to make sure Kimber married only once. “Of course. Lovely family.”
“I’m glad you said that.” Kimber gave her a sheepish smile. “It’s her older brother, Landon.”
“The one who’s engaged to a supermodel?”
“Was,” Kimber corrected. “They weren’t really… engaged. They had an arrangement of sorts.” Ugh. Did that sound horrible? “Anyway, I babysat for his nephew recently and we… well… we hit it off.”
“I’ll say,” her mother quipped, sipping her coffee. “Congratulations. You’ll be a remarkable mother. Especially since you’ll insist on keeping your identity, your job, your independence.” Grace speared her with a look, her brows angling.
Kimber gave her mom a tight smile. It was a speech she’d heard before. How Grace had given up her dreams, goals, and life to be a mother. As much as Kimber loved and appreciated her, there was always a part of her that felt responsible for her mother missing out on the part of her life Kimber had essentially taken.
Grace’s voice went hard, her eyes focused on the table as she lifted her mug. “Whatever you do, Kimber, do not marry this man.”
“His name is Landon,” Kimber said, frustrated her mother had called him this man instead of by his name. “We’re not really at the marriage stage…” Which made her sound like a bit of a trollop, but it was the truth.
“Good.” Her mother’s no-nonsense tone had replaced the gushy grandmotherly one. “You don’t want to lash yourself to him forever because you made a baby together.”
Like I did, her tone implied.
“I see no reason why two parents can’t raise a child apart,” she continued. “You will need breaks. And if the father is sidebar, available to babysit, you’ll have more time to date.”
Kimber winced. That painted a… not fairy-tale-like picture. But she supposed fairy tales didn’t start and end with lists. Arrangements.
Last night wasn’t an arrangement.
Didn’t she know it. Landon had made the sweetest, softest love to her, watching her closely, the most frightening clarity in his eyes. He’d been gentle and perfect and… loving. So loving. Or had she been projecting her love onto him?
Maybe it’s not love. Maybe it’s the idea of love. The romanticism of carrying his child.
“I don’t want to date anyone, Mom,” she grumbled through her confusion. Unless I date Landon. So much for keeping emotional distance. Already, her thoughts were a jumbled, unsorted mass, like the unorganized boxes in her storeroom. She closed her eyes. Maybe there were more to these pregnancy hormones than she’d first thought.
“I want you to understand why it’s important that you don’t tie yourself to him.” Her mother, the jaded wonder, said. “Marriages like these start out with the best of intentions. You do it for the baby. You think you’re in love. You try and hold things together… then one day… you can’t stand looking at the man you vowed to stay with forever. Forever is a very long time.”
Her mother’s eyes were focused on a spot across the room, fuzzy with a memory Kimber was pretty sure she didn’t want to hear about. Grace refocused on her daughter, a diamond-hard glint in her dark eyes. “Don’t waste your best years, sweetheart. You have an amazing career. You can have everything.”
Was her mother really that unhappy with how her life had turned out? Yes, Kimber decided. Under her highly polished veneer, Grace was bitter and sad, and angry. And still in love with Dad. Kimber could only hope the subject of his new wife didn’t come up. She didn’t know if she could take a “Jill the Pill” rant today.