Thescent of flowers no longer overwhelmed her. She much preferred this phase of pregnancy. She sat in Camila’s shop on a chair behind the counter and cupped a mug of blueberry tea in her hands. Camila thanked her customer and handed over the bouquet of sunflowers tied with an orange ribbon. A second later, the bell jingled on the door announcing the customer’s departure. She spun around and faced Daisy.
“So?”
Daisy gave a faint shrug and took a sip of her tea. “So, I guess I’ll know tomorrow.”
Her cousin pursed her lips and leaned her hip against the glass counter. “Yeah, but what do you think? How do you think that he’s going to take it? I mean, he told you he loved you, right?”
Shaking her head, Daisy laughed an ironic laugh. “You know, I would stand in my bedroom and make-believe Ken Dixon was holding me in his arms and telling me how much he loved me. I was fourteen. Fourteen years later, he did it. He said the words. While holding me in his arms.”
Camila snapped her fingers. “Exactly! You told him the last thing any man wants to hear, and his reaction is to pull you in his arms and tell you he loves you. That means something. You and I both know it.” She straightened and picked up her own mug of tea from the counter and leaned against the wall. “I think we both know what that means.”
“I think it means that he needs to process the information. Because he clearly hadn’t had time to do it.”
“I don’t know why you’re being so down on him. Give him more credit than that. I see good things here.”
She snorted. “You’re not the one who’s pregnant by some married guy.”
Camila pulled the paper off the printer that just came in. “Hey, out of curiosity, are you going to tell the wife?”
Her eyes widened almost painfully. “I beg your pardon?”
“The wife. Are you going to tell her that her husband is a dog who schedules his lovers around her travel schedule?”
She tilted her head and studied Camila’s face, trying to decide if she joked or not. Finally, she said, “No.”
She didn’t elaborate. She didn’t want to tell the wife because she didn’t want to risk Jason punishing her by ripping up that document he’d signed and coming after her baby. As much satisfaction as she’d get watching him squirm and embarrassing him the way he’d embarrassed her, she wouldn’t risk it. She stood and set the tea on the counter. “I appreciate it. I do. I appreciate your optimism. I’ll see you later.”
She had her hand on the door when Camila said her name. “Daisy!”
Daisy turned and looked at her. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“One more thing. You need to let God speak to your heart. Quit hiding out in the nursery. Go to church.”
Fear rippled through her at the thought. What did God have to say to her? Did she even want to listen?
She didn’t reply. Instead, she waved and walked to her car. Before she started it, she met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “You’re a coward, you know that?” One perfectly manicured eyebrow rose. “Oh, yes, I’m talking to you. So, you go into a relationship with that man and let him seduce you, and you weren’t afraid to face God then, were you? Nope. You wait until you’re pregnant when the evidence of your relationship will soon become apparent to anyone paying attention. Kind of like that scarlet letter, but instead of an A, you get a big, bright P. ‘Look, world. She preaches ‘love Jesus’ and sleeps with married men.’”
No longer able to look herself in the eye, she rested her forehead on the stirring wheel. “You’re not just a coward. You’re also a hypocrite.” She let out a long sigh and stared at her reflection again. “You need to be looking God in the eye and having this conversation with Him.”
Trying to shake off the dark mood, she drove to the shopping mall and parked outside of a big baby store. When she walked in, a smile crossed her face. A giant stuffed monkey swung from one of the rafters above. She could barely see the other side of the store. Who knew so many baby items even existed in the world?
While she stood there and tried to get her bearings in the gigantic store, an employee in a bright turquoise vest approached. “Hi there. Can I help you?”
“Um, actually, I would like to create a baby registry, and I would kind of like to peruse newborn furniture and such.”
The older woman smiled. “Absolutely. Come with me.”
She took her to a kiosk with a baby registry sign above it. After getting some information from Daisy, she handed her a scanner. “If you see something you like, just scan it, and the computer will record it in your registry. No limits. Have fun.”
Daisy slipped her purse over her head so that it slung across her body and slowly made her way to the furniture section. She ran her fingers over the smooth cherry wood of a crib that cost as much as a week’s pay for her. Suddenly, she thought of everything she needed to purchase. Her heart started pounding, and sweat beaded her upper lip. How could she afford to have this baby? She made the smallest salary possible to keep the nonprofit running.
Then she remembered the size of her family. She didn’t doubt that once the shock of her unwed pregnancy raced through the family grapevine, they would all meet her basic needs. Instead of looking at furniture, she decided to look at the fun things like decorations, lamps, and little green baby booties.
For two hours, Daisy indulged in a wish list. When she walked out of the store, she felt lighter than she had since that plus sign appeared on the pregnancy test. No longer burdened with the secrets she kept from Ken, she practically floated on air back to her car.
Of course, she needed to tell her parents. She probably should have done that during her brother’s visit, but she didn’t want to add more stress to his time here while everyone focused on her mother’s health. Daisy decided to wait till next week to talk to her mom and dad. She had time.
Ken flitted through her thoughts, and she wondered about his state of mind right now. She wanted desperately to drive to his new house and sit with him on his porch, but she didn’t want to interfere with his processing. She wanted him not to regret any decisions and to know that he had thoroughly considered all of his options.
