A Precious Gift

Carrie dropped the butter knife she’d been using, and Lisa stooped to pick it up. When she tried to straighten, she wobbled.

Brian saw her losing her balance and he went to her quickly, helping her. “What’s wrong?”

“Just felt dizzy.” Her face had flushed and Brian didn’t like that.

“When did you last eat?” he asked.

“Around noon.” Her voice trailed off as she sagged against him.

Without thinking about it twice, he lifted her into his arms. “I’m taking her to her room.”

Looking scared, Lisa held on tightly. Suddenly Brian didn’t see the two-colored hair, the earrings, the tattoos. He saw a young girl whose world was swirling around her and she couldn’t seem to stop it.

The guest bedroom on the first floor was decorated in yellow and white and pink. A hand-quilted comforter in those colors lay across the bed while a white dust ruffle peeked out from under it. The yellow armchair in the corner of the room was a comfortable one and Brian could see that was where Lisa had apparently spent most of her time, since there was a romance novel and a few magazines spread around it. The CD player was still blaring and Carrie went to it, switching it off. She’d managed to grab the sandwich and a glass of milk.

Now as Brian laid Lisa on the bed, Carrie set the food on the nightstand and crouched down beside the teenager.

“Do you have a headache?” she asked as she pulled up Lisa’s jeans—to check her ankles for swelling, Brian guessed.

“No headache. Just a little dizzy.” At the dresser, Carrie opened one of the drawers and pulled out a blood pressure monitor. With a sideways glance at him, she said, “I bought it yesterday. Since Lisa was taken to the emergency room because her blood pressure was too high, I thought we’d better keep track of it.”

After she put the cuff around Lisa’s arm, she waited for the digital readout. A short time later the machine beeped. “It’s slightly elevated. I think you’d better rest for the evening.”

“I’m so bored,” Lisa groaned. “I’ve been reading and looking at magazines since I’ve been here. That’s the only CD I’ve kept and I’m tired of it. This baby is ruining my life!”

Brian sat down on the bed beside Lisa. “I don’t think it’s the baby who’s ruining your life. Circumstances are, and maybe a few wrong decisions on your part.”

Lisa glared at him. “You think you have all the right answers.”

Making an effort not to let her get to him, he replied, “There are a lot of problems to be solved here. You can’t do it all instantly or even overnight. If you want help, we’ll guide you in the right direction. You need to be thinking about what you want to do after your baby’s born. If you give it up for adoption—”

“You bet I’m giving it up for adoption. I don’t want to take care of it all day and all night. I want—”

Tears came into her eyes, and Brian actually felt sorry for her. Maybe this was how Carrie had felt toward the teenager since their first meeting.

“What do you want?” he asked in a low voice.

“What I want can never happen. I want my parents back. I want my body back.”

Carrie spoke softly from the other side of the bed. “I’m sorry about your parents, Lisa. I can only imagine how you feel—absolutely alone with no one to hold on to. But you don’t have to be alone now. We want to help.”

There was a slight rap on the door, and Peggy stepped inside. “Is there something wrong? Is there anything we can do?”

Brian suspected Peggy didn’t want anything to do as much as she wanted to see what was going on. She was the typical social butterfly and he often doubted her sincerity. “We have everything under control. Carrie and I will be out in a couple of minutes. Tell Rob to help himself to some of that cognac on the buffet.”

“The caterer just set out divine liqueurs. We didn’t want to start without you.”

“Go right ahead. We’ll join you shortly.”

With a last look at Lisa, Peggy left the room, high heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

After Carrie stood, she picked up the sandwich on the nightstand and offered it to Lisa. “You’ve got to eat regular meals, too. It will help. I’ll stay here and keep you company while Brian goes back to our guests.”

That wasn’t an option Brian preferred. “I can bring a TV in here from the guest room upstairs. Then you won’t have to stay.”

Carrie’s dark eyes met his. “The TV’s a good idea. But I want to make sure Lisa’s over her dizziness. I’m sure everyone will understand.”

He wasn’t sure they would understand. There was a time when Carrie wouldn’t have considered bailing out of one of his social functions. “Can I talk to you in the hall for a minute?”

Lisa was eating the sandwich and Carrie told her, “I’ll be right back.”

Brian moved away from the door and kept his voice low. “She’s fine, Carrie. I’ll bring down the TV and you can look in on her every once in a while.”

“We made a mistake by not including her in the dinner party.”

“The dinner party is a business function. Why would we include her?”

“Because she’s alone and she’s looking for a place to belong.”

“You belong with our guests,” he said, a firmness shading his voice.

“They’re your guests, Brian. This is your business function. After the cordials, Peggy and Carla will talk about fashion shows while you, Derrick, Ted and Rob plan how you can make your next million. I don’t think my absence from that discussion is going to be a great loss.”

There was a fire in Carrie when she became protective of Lisa. She’d never spoken to him this way before. Part of him was annoyed that she wasn’t living up to her part of her commitment as his wife. Yet another part of him was fascinated by the independent woman she’d apparently kept hidden inside. The huge question was why.

“Tell me something, Carrie. Do you really want to spend time with Lisa? Or do you just want to escape chitchat with the O’Briens and Hammonds?”

After only a moment’s hesitation, Carrie spoke softly. “If Lisa lets us adopt her child, in a way she’ll become family. It’s important for me to get to know her. It’s important for her to feel that she’s not a stray we just dragged in. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that family has to come before business?”

What he saw was that Carrie was changing. With adopting a baby, their lives would change. He’d never had to be flexible. Since he was a kid, he’d been determined to make something of himself as his father hadn’t. He’d set his course and stayed on it. Right was right, wrong was wrong and success made a man’s life worthwhile. Even when Carrie had entered the picture, his life hadn’t taken any radical turns. She’d fit in. She’d gone along. He was beginning to realize their marriage had always been about what he wanted, not what Carrie wanted. Is that why she’d always held back a part of herself? Was she afraid to let her independence and self-assurance emerge in the wake of his more substantial goals?

Figuring all of that into the equation, he said, “I’ll make your excuses. But I’m also going to go upstairs and get that TV. If Lisa decides to turn silent on you, she can watch it and you can come back out and say good-night. Fair enough?”

“Fair enough,” Carrie murmured.

When Brian headed for the stairs, he felt his wife’s gaze on him and he realized he’d give that million dollars Carrie had mentioned to know exactly what she was thinking.

Early the next morning, Brian slipped out of bed, pulled on jogging shorts and went to the exercise room in the basement to work out. Last night, Carrie had never returned to their guests. She’d still been in Lisa’s room when he’d bid them good-night. Afterward, he’d worked in his office until he’d heard her exit the teenager’s room. When they’d gone up to bed together, there had been a strain between them and they’d stayed on separate sides of the bed. He hadn’t reached for her and she hadn’t turned to him. He wasn’t sure what was happening. He just knew something was.

He thought about what Derrick had said. It came out of the blue. Maybe that wasn’t so unusual. Maybe husbands and wives never did really know what the other was thinking.

After an extralong workout on the Nautilus and a one-sided match with the punching bag, Brian showered downstairs and dressed in sweats he kept there. When he went up to the kitchen, Carrie was beating eggs with a whisk.

“Would you like scrambled eggs?” she asked. “Lisa isn’t up, but I’m hoping when she smells the bacon and toast, she’ll join us.”

Carrie hadn’t dressed yet. She wore an ice-blue silk robe over a matching nightgown. As always, she looked feminine and elegant, so beautiful his chest hurt just looking at her.

“Breakfast for two would be nice, too,” he offered, tired of the discord between them.

When Carrie’s gaze met his, she sighed. “I didn’t mean to let you down last night. But Lisa and I began talking and I thought that was more important. She’s afraid, Brian. Afraid of the pain of labor and delivery, afraid of what’s going to happen afterward, afraid she’s never going to be able to afford an apartment or get a job.”

He didn’t want this conversation to be about Lisa but rather about them. Throughout the night he’d tossed and turned over all of it. “I understand why you want to help Lisa. You want her baby.”

“It’s more than that! I’m not just trying to win her over. I care about her.”

He could see that she did and wondered how she could care so easily. “All right, you care. I just don’t want you to get hurt while you’re caring.”

“This is one time when I’m going to take the risk and maybe you’ll have to, too.”

Although he tolerated risks every day he did business, he’d never had to tolerate them in his personal life. “Do you have something particular in mind?”

She flushed. “Yes. I’m taking Lisa to an obstetrician tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Grieb will probably do a sonogram. I thought maybe you’d like to come along and see the baby we might be adopting.”

He knew exactly what Carrie was doing. She wanted to make this baby a reality. Their reality. “What time is the appointment?”

“Three o’clock.”

He knew his appointments tomorrow were stacked back to back because of being out of town last week. “I’ll do my best to clear my calendar, and I’ll try to meet you there.”

This appointment was important to Carrie, and he suddenly understood how it might be terrifically important to him, too.

Four

Carrie and Lisa had just taken seats in the obstetrician’s office when Carrie’s cell phone buzzed. Smiling at Lisa, she said, “I’ll be right back,” and went around the corner from the reception area where the coat closet was located.

“Hello?” She recognized the number on her caller ID as the exchange of the hospital.

“Carrie? It’s Nancy. Can you talk?”

Nancy Allen was one of the nicest people Carrie knew. Always considerate, she genuinely cared about others, especially children. Carrie had discovered she was the nurse who had called the caseworker from Children’s Connection to help Lisa when the teenager had been brought into the E.R.

“Hi, Nancy. What’s up?”

“I know you took Lisa Sanders home with you and you probably have your hands full. But I wondered if you’re busy tomorrow morning? Sherry Winslow, who’s supposed to read to kids in Peds, caught a flu bug and can’t come. Are you available?”

Somehow Nancy always heard about everything. Lots of people had seen Lisa leave the adoption agency with Carrie. “I’m at the obstetrician’s office with Lisa now. Let me see how her checkup goes. If everything’s okay, I’ll be glad to read to the kids tomorrow.”

“That would be great. How’s Lisa doing?”

“As well as can be expected, I guess. I’ve spent some time with her. She’s really missing her parents and needs a listening ear to help her through this.”

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