“And you still let her leave? How could you be so stupid?” Aria threw her hands up in the air and muttered something rapidly in her native tongue.
“Letting her go was for the best.” Landon wanted to run from the doubt seeping into him. “She wouldn’t listen to reason. We’ve both worked too hard to lose everything now.”
“I agree with my fiancée,” Lucien said. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
Landon was starting to get annoyed at being called an idiot. He couldn’t believe these were his friends.Traitors.
“Please close the door on your way out,” he said politely and lay back down.
21
Tara pampered her for the first few days, letting her sleep and cry all day. But Aubrey knew the pampering was over when Tara plopped a trayful of food in front of her.
“Eat. It’s your favorite, chickenjook.You know myjookis magic. One bowl of this stuff and you’ll keep on going like the Energizer Bunny. And when you’re done eating, call my mom and thank her for teaching me how to cook Korean food.”
The steaming bowl of porridge brought more tears to Aubrey’s eyes. Aubrey was touched by Tara’s kindness, but she shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Do you want me to bring you a straw so you can drink the damn thing?” Tara said with a steely light in her eyes. “You’d better eat and get your strength back, because I sure as hell am not going to carry you to your ob-gyn appointment.”
Aubrey’s face blanched at Tara’s words. “What? How? I didn’t have a chance to tell you.”
“You were so emotional the last few times we talked, and you’ve been throwing up at least twice a day since I brought you home. And honestly, your grapefruit-sized boobs are hardto ignore. So unless you got a boob job in Bosque Verde, my guess is you’re pregnant.” Tara’s expression softened. “I don’t know what happened between you and Landon, but you need to pull yourself together. You need to eat for the little munchkin’s sake.”
Pressing her lips together in a determined line, Aubrey nodded and dug into the chickenjook.The first bite was all it took to remind her she was starving. After two bowls of the piping-hot porridge, they made their way to the doctor’s office.
The doctor said she was about twelve weeks along and a month overdue for her first ultrasound. As he performed the exam, he explained what they were seeing and hearing. Like the baby’s heartbeat. It thundered from the speaker like a thoroughbred mustang, and Aubrey choked back a sob.
“It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard,” she whispered, too reverent to speak any louder. She spread her fingers on her tummy and listened to the life inside her.
“Bree, your jelly bean sounds like a choo-choo train,” Tara said, her voice husky from tears. “Her whole tiny body is pulsing with her heart.”
“I know. I can’t stop staring.” Aubrey traced her fingers over Jelly Bean’s image. “I’m a mom, Tara. I have a little person growing inside me.”
“A little girl,” her friend corrected. “I bet you she’s a girl.”
“Well, your next ultrasound is at the four-month mark,” said the doctor. “Would you like to know the sex of the baby then?”
“Yes. Yes, please.” Aubrey thought her heart was going to burst. For a moment, she wished Landon could’ve been there, laughing and crying beside her. The pain of his absence stole her breath until she looked at her baby again.
She felt weightless with joy and paralyzed with fear. Who wouldn’t be anxious about being a single mother? But shecould do this. Aubrey couldn’t wait to share her dreams with her child. They would make mistakes together, learn together, and laugh together. They would live to the fullest together.Me and you, Jelly Bean, are going to be a family.
“Is she real?” Aubrey said through her tears. “I can’t believe she’s really inside of me.”
“She’s so beautiful,” Tara sighed, choking up with emotion again.
The doctor waited with a polite smile on his face for them to stop blubbering. He probably saw a lot of blubbering in his line of work. “Is this the first baby for the two of you?”
They paused mid-bawl and gaped at the doctor and then turned back to look at each other. When Tara wiggled her eyebrows at her, Aubrey burst out laughing.
Before the good doctor sent for their straitjackets, Tara grinned at him. “While that’s really flattering, I’m just standing in for the baby daddy.”
Hearing the worddaddyalmost pushed Aubrey into another sobbing fit, but she pressed her lips together.
Don’t you worry, Jelly Bean. No more crying for Mama. I’m here for you, love.
Aubrey wouldn’t have noticed the passing of time if it weren’t for her growing belly. At five months, she was showing a respectable baby bump that her loose dresses couldn’t hide anymore. Jelly Bean was doing fabulously, and Aubrey was a proud mama.
Thanks to the reality show renovation team Aria had rallied for her, the bigger, badder Comfort Zone was customer-ready literally two weeks after Aubrey came home. She freed herselffrom the blackhole of heartbreak after her first ultrasound, and threw herself into Comfort Zone’s big comeback. Tireless in her generosity, Aria continued to support the reopening by posting about Comfort Zone’s makeover and renovation progress on her blog.
