“Are you alright?”

Jerked out of thought by Jake’s mother Kaycee turned her wide startled eyes to her unaware of how pale she had become.

“What? Yes… no… I…” she said unable to form a coherent thought.

“You look a little pale dear,” his mother said kindly and Kaycee struggled to summon a smile as she took slow breaths.

“I’m suddenly feeling ill, would you mind if I used your bathroom?” Kaycee asked as a sense of nausea filled her.

“Of course, up the stairs second left.”

Kaycee turned and followed the directions as she struggled to keep her breakfast down and her mind continued to focus on just one thing.

Pregnant!

She knew of course that it wasn’t likely. She had only known Jake three days and even though she had been a virgin Kaycee knew that it took weeks before you could even tell let alone be feeling any symptoms. And yet just the fact that she knew they hadn’t been using protection was enough to panic her.

Reaching the bathroom after what felt like forever Kaycee closed the door carefully behind her and collapsed back against it. Her heart was hammering in her chest so hard she thought it might burst out and all because his mother had mentioned babies.

“You are not pregnant!” she said firmly as she crossed to stand in front of her reflection noting the paleness of her skin and the way her eyes now looked like giant green pools on her small face.

But you could be, her reflection mocked and she narrowed her eyes at herself.

“It’s only been three days, you can’t get pregnant that quick!” Kaycee told herself firmly trying hard to believe it.

You could be carrying his baby right now

“That’s ridiculous, I would know!” Kaycee told herself even as one hand crept to her belly as though trying to protect the imaginary life inside her.

Would you?

“Shit!”

Kaycee knew she was being ridiculous thinking like this but she couldn’t help herself. She had always been the one to see the bad outcomes in life. She had a negative outlook on life her father had always said and he was right. It didn’t matter how likely it was that she wouldn’t be pregnant; Kaycee would focus on the one small chance that she was. It had been the same growing up, like when she had been learning to ride a bike and had been convinced that she would fall off and hurt herself. Her stepmother had insisted she was being foolish while her father said she was more likely to slip in the shower than seriously hurt herself on her bike. Yet Kaycee hadn’t been able to think of any other outcome than her getting hurt. She might have been convinced that she was imagining things had she not been knocked off her bike the following week by a car and broken her arm in two places.

“This is not like the bike. You are not pregnant!” she told herself squeezing her eyes tightly shut as though that would block it out.

“Kaycee?”

Crap! Here she was telling herself not to be so damn negative and Jake was standing right outside, probably listening to every word.

“Coming!” she called in a strangled voice that did not sound like her own.

Hurrying over to the door she drew a deep breath then drew back the lock and opened it to find Jake staring down at her with a concerned look on his handsome face that had butterflies floating in her stomach.

“Are you okay? Mom said you’d had a funny turn,” he said tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears.

“I’m fine, just felt sick all of a sudden. But I’m fine now,” Kaycee explained while she kept a cautious eye on his face wondering if he had heard her conversation with herself but his expression didn’t change and he didn’t seem to be acting any different.

“Are you sure you’re alright now?” he asked and she nodded.

“Absolutely!” Kaycee assured him with a bright smile that she hoped would make him forget the whole thing.

Jake stayed there a moment or two longer as he examined her face as though searching for the lie in her words but when he didn’t find anything he pulled her close against him with a sigh.

“If you don’t feel you can make it through lunch with my parents we can go now,” he said and Kaycee hesitated. On the one hand she really did need time to make sense of everything including her feelings about Jake and the possibility of a baby, but on the other she didn’t want to disappoint his parents who really did seem like nice people.

“I’ll be fine and besides your mother hardly gets to see you as it is,” she told him firmly and Jake gave a short laugh as he bent his dark head and captured her lips in a brief kiss that teased of things to come.

“Then we should get back down there. I wouldn’t want to be accused of neglecting my poor mother,” Jake said as he pulled away and Kaycee smiled back at him.

The rest of the day went quickly and Kaycee found that Jake’s parents really were amazing people. His father, Harry, while obscenely rich hated having to put the hours in to stay that way and was looking forward to the day he could hand the reigns over to his son. He much preferred spending time with his wife and travelling the world helping those less fortunate though the cottage was home and he wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Jake’s mother, Helen, loved gardening and spent as much time as she could in hers although that time was rare since she was involved in so many charities that Kaycee lost count though the way Helen spoke about them it was clear that each one was dear to her heart. She too couldn’t wait for her husband to retire so they could finally spend some time on just them.

Strangely enough even with all the talk of Jake one day taking control of the family business there was no mention of the deal he and his father had made. There was also no mention of their surprise wedding or any talk about her future as Jake’s wife. It was very disconcerting as Kaycee had been expecting to fend off talk of the wedding all night but she decided that Jake’s parents were just too polite to bring it up and so she too kept quiet about it and was actually disappointed when the night drew to a close. Although Jake didn’t seem to feel the same as he rushed her out the door barely giving her time to say goodbye.

Jake breathed a sigh of relief once they were finally in the car. Tonight had been torture for him. He had taken Kaycee there so his parents could meet the woman he was going to be spending his life with and she had charmed them as much as she had him.

When he had sent her out in to the garden with her mother Jake had taken the opportunity to tell his father he could stick his ultimatum as there was no way that Jake would marry simply to get the company. He didn’t mention that he was already married. Kaycee had been right earlier that if he told her father then they had nothing because he was only using her. He didn’t care about the company any more. He only wanted his wife!

Despite telling his father that he didn’t want the company if it meant being forced in to marriage it didn’t stop his parents from dropping hints all through dinner about retiring and handing the reigns over to him. All accompanied by pointed looks at Kaycee who they had already hinted would be perfect for him. It had taken all his strength not to tell them the truth but he wanted to share the news with them when Kaycee was ready and when they knew where they were and what they felt.

He had never been so glad to get away from his parent’s house and he was determined that the next time he spoke to them he would know exactly what this marriage of his was and how Kaycee felt about it.

It was time they had a good talk and sorted things out, once and for all!