Mattie replaced the vacuum cleaner in a fog. She was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Never in her life had she heard of Carly freely admitting her wrongdoings. There must be something severely wrong with her, Mattie thought as she walked back to the kitchen. Maybe she should alert Jax incase he needed to take her to the hospital for tests.
She couldn't help but laugh though. It was too funny that it had taken nine years for Carly to admit that Morgan was really that serious about Mattie. Oh well, Mattie thought, drawing the kettle for tea, at least she would be civil should they ever come into contact.
As she turned the burner on high, another knock sounded at the front door. "Just a second!" Mattie called to no one in particular. She knew that the person on the other side of her door couldn't hear her, but it was a formality.
"Okay, okay. I'm coming!" she said, pulling open the door and smiling when she was met with Molly's face. "Hi!"
Molly smiled and pushed past Mattie. "Hi Mattie. Sorry to bother you, but I have a major crisis. Well, I don't have the crisis, but one of our dearest friends do. And I need your help before it is blown out of proportion," she finished, half out of breath.
Mattie grinned and followed Molly into the living room where Molly sat on the arm chair and she on the couch. "Okay, calm down. What is the crisis and who does it involve. It can't be Sarah because I live with her so any major crisis of hers would be very much known here. Also it couldn't be—"
"Lila Rae's pregnant," Molly broke in, cutting off Mattie's next thought.
Mattie stopped short, her mouth wide open. "What?"
"Lila's pregnant. She just found out today."
"Oh My God. Is she freaking out?" Mattie still had difficulty wrapping her mind around the news.
Molly shook her head. "No, she's not. And that's the problem. She's really calm, scary calm."
"What do you mean?" Mattie asked, standing up when she heard the tea kettle whistle. "Hold that thought. Do you want a cup of tea?" she called, walking toward the kitchen.
"Yes, that would be nice!" Molly called.
Moments later, Mattie reappeared with a tray filled with a pale blue teapot and matching cups alongside a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Once she poured the two of them cups and set a cookie out for each of them, she sat down to face Molly again.
"You baked as well as cleaned today?" Molly asked as her eyebrow rose.
Mattie took her seat and tried to frown disapprovingly. "No silly, I stopped by Kelly's on my way home. I visited with Maxie and—the girls—about wedding plans right after work," she replied, mad at herself for nearly mentioning Georgie. She knew that no one had really told the general public about Georgie, so she figured that it was better to withhold that information—even with one of her best friends.
"Oh, well you can't go wrong with Kelly's. Anyway, Lila just went off to her afternoon meeting as if nothing happened. I mean, she just went about her normal day. And she'd just seen the positive test!" Molly replied, taking a sip of her tea.
Mattie nodded, beginning to understand. "Well, it seems that she's in denial. And you know Lila, she would live in denial permanently if she could."
"I know and that's why I'm worried. I mean she didn't even acknowledge that she was pregnant. And I practically had to take the test myself to get her to even pee on the stick. She said that she had morning sickness this morning but it didn't occur to her that maybe she was pregnant until I asked if she was late," Molly replied.
"How late is she?" Mattie asked, her medical training kicking in.
"She didn't say, but I would assume maybe three or four weeks."
"Well, professionally speaking, we need to convince her to come to the hospital so I can do a physical exam and a pregnancy test. The home tests are pretty reliable but there's always a five percent chance of a false positive. So she should get a blood test," Mattie replied.
"Well that's the problem. She didn't even act as if she realized that she was pregnant. So I need your help to convince her," Molly said.
"Okay, but what can we do. I mean, Lila has to make up her own mind. She had to deal with the fact that she is pregnant," Mattie reasoned. She reached for the teapot and refilled both hers and Molly's cups.
"I don't know. But we need to try." Molly glanced at the clock which read four thirty. "She's probably done for the day. Or close to it. Why don't we call her for an intervention?"
Mattie sighed. Why did she let her friends talk her into wild plans? Because she was a good friend, that's why. "Okay, call her up. I'll help you with Lila's reality check."
Molly smiled and clapped her hands. "Wonderful." She reached for her cell phone and dialed Lila's number.
"Hi, Lila? It's Molly. Are you busy tonight? Of course not. Okay, um, Mattie and I want to talk to you. How about we meet you at your apartment in an hour? We'll bring dinner. Okay, okay. See you then. Bye," Molly finished, closing her phone and smiling at Mattie. "Okay, now we have to break Lila."
"I hope that you know what you are doing," Mattie said, standing up and gathering the cups and plates and taking them to the kitchen.
"Oh don't worry. Lila will be perfectly fine. We'll make sure of it," Molly said definitely. She truly hoped that that would be the case. Was she doing the right thing? Was interfering in Lila's life okay? She could only hope so.
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"I don't know what happened," Maxie was saying to Spinelli as she bustled around the kitchen starting dinner. "We were just visiting with Mattie, talking about the wedding preparations—she has no plans, by the way—and when Mattie asked Georgie if she'd ever had someone special, she just froze up and gave another cryptic answer. And then, after Mattie left, Georgie just bolted from the room in tears."
Spinelli sighed and pulled his head from the inside of the refrigerator. He was disappointed to find out that Maxie had failed to buy orange soda this week. Although he mostly given up his Jackal persona, he still retained his love for the carbonated sunshine-colored drink. He settled for bottled water and dropped into the kitchen chair to study his wife.
Maxie wore her age well. Even after nearly twenty years of marriage, she still looked much the same as she had when he'd first met her. And what she'd lost with time, she made up in her quick wit. Some had thought her the inspiration for the blond joke generation, but she had proved to have a keen sense of fashion and business that made those doubtful people believers in her talent.
Although he had always known that she had the ability and ambition to achieve her dreams.
Maxie turned around from the stove and glared at him, bringing him out of his state of musings. "Well, what do you think? Or are you just going to sit there and brood?"
"As I've said before, thirty years is a long time. Georgie had an entire lifetime without you. We don't know what went on in those years. You have to give her time to process. You need to process what has happened. Maxie, you just found out that your sister—the one you believed was dead, the one you saw dead—is alive and has been for the last thirty years. You just need to give her time."
Maxie sighed and walked to the seat across from him. "I wish you weren't right. I just want to forget that I lost thirty years with my sister. But it all comes back to that. The fact that she lived a whole life without me. And I just can't get past it."
He put his hand over hers and she smiled. "I love you Maxie. And Georgie loves you too. In time, she will be able to tell you what happened. But right now we just have to wait. Don't focus on her right now. Just give her time. Focus your attention on your designs and Mattie's wedding. Just give her time," he repeated.
"Oh Spinelli, what would I do without you?" she said, coming around the table to drop a kiss on his lips before walking back to the stove to stir the spaghetti sauce.
"I pray we never have to find out."
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Miranda crept down the stairs into the foyer. She had left Spencer sleeping in the bed upstairs. Even though it was early evening, she knew that Spencer hadn't been getting much sleep lately. Well, neither of them had really. And it wasn't all about the crazy lovemaking. No, they both had been stressed out over the benefit ball. And what a success that ball had been.
Regardless, she needed to get outside. The December sun was setting over the bay as she made her way out the front door and down the swept path toward the stables. Snow covered every available surface, glistening in the pinks and purples of the setting sun. She pulled on the heavy stable door and slipped in. The smell of hay and horses overcame her. That had to be her favorite smell in the whole world.
She smiled and reached in her pocket, drawing out a bright red apple. "Here Geronimo, look what I brought you," she said in that high pitched voice reserved for small children and pets. She held the treat in front of the giant black gelding who craned his neck. "Here, you big oaf, have at it."
"How dare you insult my horse," a voice from the doorway said. Miranda turned around and held her hands up. Spencer strolled into the barn, hands in the pockets of his comfortably worn jeans.
"I was not insulting Geronimo. I was simply bringing him a treat," she replied shortly, a smile tickling her lips.
"Sure, you weren't. Besides, you spoil him. I can almost assure you that he has already gotten many treats today," Spencer said, coming toward her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She smiled and leaned over to rub the silky nose of the horse in question.
"I don't care. He is such a good horse, that I can't resist."
"Obviously," he replied dryly, pushing her against the stall door and covering her lips with his.
As he deepened the kiss, she closed her eyes and tried to gain control. She pushed him back. "No, Spence. We can't do it here. The horse—the horse will react with the smell of it in the air."
He sighed and pulled back. "Okay, well, how about we go back into the house."
Miranda grinned. "Oh—okay. Why don't we? But the desert portion of our evening might have to wait. I'm starving. Do you think that Cook with make our favorites?" she pulled him toward the door and together they walked back up the snowy pathway toward what some would call their future.
But Spencer and Miranda would have simply called it the here and now.
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Lila Rae walked out of Alexis' office in a daze. Truthfully, she had no idea what had gone on during the meeting. She had been out of it the entire time. And she could only hope that she's sounded convincing and that Alexis hadn't noticed.
Walking back down the hallway toward her own office, she pushed the door open and dragged herself across to the desk. A glance at the clock told her that it was three thirty. Even though she really should work for another couple of hours, she knew that there was no way she would be able to actually work.
She dropped into the chair and closed her eyes. She'd never felt worse in her life. She'd felt better earlier, when she hadn't known. But now, she wished there was some deep dark hole that she could crawl in and die.
Damn nosy best friend, Lila thought to herself. If Molly hadn't insisted that she take a test, Lila could have spent more time being none the wiser. But now that she knew, she had to face the music. And strangely enough, that music sounded way to close to a lullaby.
Lila put a hand on her stomach, her still flat stomach. She couldn't imagine that she was actually pregnant. Somewhere inside her, a baby was growing. Her baby. Jake's baby.
She vaguely wondered if toes and fingers had developed. But somewhere in her deep, dark past, she recalled a health lesson on the development of babies. Her baby was probably the size of a grain of rice…or smaller.
Oh God, she would have to tell Jake. Lila couldn't imagine having that conversation with him. Hi, guess what? I'm pregnant with your child. In about seven months, you're going to be a daddy.
Lila shook her head. She did not want to even approach him with that topic. He'd probably run for the hills. What kind of mess had she gotten herself into?
She glanced at the clock on her wall. She figured that Molly had already called in reinforcements and was planning to bring in the troops very soon. That was how Lila rolled. She was always ready to help a friend in need. Lila decided to just wait for her friends to come before she left for work.
Lila leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. One perk of impending motherhood appeared to be sleepiness. And she was always willing to take a nap. She might as well get a little sleep in while she had the time.
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