The Baby Favour. Andrea Laurence

* *

      “You haven’t told your brother that we’re getting a divorce?”

      Mason halted his quick pace. They were just exiting the hospital and heading toward their cars when she finally confronted him. He was thankful she’d waited that long so no one could overhear the truth he desperately wanted to keep from his brother. He pivoted on the asphalt and turned to look at his soon-to-be ex-wife.

      He’d tried not to react to seeing her again for the first time since he moved out, but not even his grief could suppress his response to Scarlet. Even now, after spending the last hour with her under the worst possible circumstances, his heart still skipped a beat when their eyes met. There was an undeniable connection between them that time and distance hadn’t dulled. He didn’t know if anything could.

      She was the most beautiful women he’d ever seen in person, and LA was filled with beautiful people. In his eyes, no one could compare. Scarlet had long brown curls that trailed down her back, soft brown eyes and a disarming smile that had immediately caught his attention when they met. That was just the beginning of her appeal, he soon learned. She was also talented, smart, sensitive and a wonderful mother. At least for the short period of time she had been able to be one.

      “No, I haven’t told him. I didn’t tell anyone in my family about the divorce yet.”

      “Why?”

      “Why?” Mason repeated, running his fingers anxiously through his hair. “Because my brother has spent the last few months of his life battling terminal cancer. My parents are a wreck, barely holding it together. I didn’t want to dump more on them. And really, the demise of our marriage seems fairly inconsequential in comparison, don’t you think? They’ve been too caught up to even notice they haven’t seen you in weeks.”

      “Of course it doesn’t compare, but it’s hardly insignificant. Now, because you haven’t told anyone, Jay thinks we’re going to raise Luna as one big, happy family.” Scarlet’s large brown eyes reflected the panic that he’d felt the moment he realized what Rachel’s death would mean for him.

      “I know,” he admitted. “But how could I possibly tell a man in his position no?” He remembered his brother asking about putting him in the will not long after Luna was born. He’d agreed. Of course he’d take his niece in an emergency. He just never expected there to be an actual emergency. Or if there was, that it would happen at the worst possible time in his own life.

      His lawyer had just sent him a draft of the mediated divorce settlement to review. Once they agreed on terms, it was a matter of signing off and filing it with the judge. Mason had moved out of the house he and Scarlet had bought together in Malibu and got a place in the Hollywood Hills. The new place was definitely a bachelor pad, not a single-dad pad. It was a midcentury modern design decorated with lots of glass, wood and chrome, completely unsuitable for an infant just starting to walk.

      Then again, the home he’d shared with Scarlet in Malibu would be perfect. It still had a decorated nursery in it. She’d shut the room up and left it as it was the day they took their adopted son, Evan, back to his birth mother. The home also had an open floor plan with soft, safe surfaces that were fully baby proofed over a year ago.

      It also had Scarlet, the mother that Luna would desperately need. That was where Luna should be. Mason was happy to have children with Scarlet when she wanted them, but the idea of being a single father to his niece was horrifying. He didn’t know anything about babies, and he was certain Jay wouldn’t leave Luna to him if he knew Scarlet was out of the picture.

      The trick was convincing her to go along with this. After their adoption plans went south, she swore she would never go through that again. Was asking her to take in Luna, even temporarily, going to aggravate the wound? He didn’t know. All he did know was that he’d made a promise to his brother and he would do whatever he had to to keep his word.

      “I know that I have no reason to ask you for anything and you have no reason to go along with it. But you were there in Jay’s hospital room, Scarlet. You heard him beg me—us—to take care of Luna. He was worried enough about leaving Rachel all alone, and now he’s powerless to do anything but leave his daughter behind. I know our situation is complicated, but I couldn’t tell him no. I need your help.”

      Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest. He knew from years together that it was her defensive posture. She was uncomfortable with this entire situation. “What are you asking of me, Mason? Do you want us to get back together just so you don’t have to do this alone?”

      “No, of course not.” But what did he want? He really hadn’t had enough time to process what all this would mean. Life-changing moments that arrived in the wee hours of the morning were hard to work through with a combination of stress and sleep deprivation. He couldn’t process a long-term plan at this point; he could only focus on his next steps. The most important things were to make sure Luna was safe and Jay was at ease.

      “For now, I just need you to do me two favors. First, please let’s keep the divorce a secret from Jay and the rest of my family until after...” Mason couldn’t finish the sentence. He still hadn’t fully accepted the fact that his brother had only weeks left to live. Skin cancer was supposed to involve removing a bad mole and getting a lecture about sunscreen. It wasn’t supposed to strike down an otherwise healthy father in his early thirties.

      Scarlet watched him silently with dark eyes that didn’t betray what she was thinking. She was always too hard for him to read. Whatever happened inside Scarlet’s head was a secret from Mason. To this day, he wasn’t sure if she blamed him for the fact that they couldn’t have children. It was his fault, really, but did she look at him and see a barren future because of him? He didn’t know. He also didn’t know if she felt he was responsible for everything that happened with Evan. Had he fought hard enough to keep him? Had he hired all the best attorneys their money could buy to keep their son in their home? He thought he had, but it hadn’t been enough.

      All he knew was how he felt, and he felt like a failure where Scarlet was concerned. Mason wasn’t the kind of man who failed at anything. He turned a small Venice Beach surf store he started in college into a chain with locations at every major beach in California, Florida and Hawaii. Spencer Surf Shops was more successful than he’d ever dreamed. But none of that mattered to him when he saw the brokenhearted look on Scarlet’s face the day they took Evan away. He had failed her in the one dream she longed to fulfill more than any other.

      “Okay. What’s the second favor?” she asked at last.

      “I need to move back into the house.” He held up his hand to stop her inevitable protest. “Not forever. I don’t want you to think I’m just trying to sweet-talk you into taking me back so I have a permanent babysitter. But I want to create the illusion of a secure future for Luna with the two of us to give Jay some peace of mind. Everyone thinks we’re still together.”

      Scarlet flinched. “You walked out on me and now you just expect me to let you move back in?”

      Mason tried not to let her reaction hurt his feelings. He was the one who had left, although he didn’t like the idea that she’d already gotten used to living without him. They were together nine years. “Yes, that’s what I’m asking, but you know I wouldn’t if I had any other choice. It’s just for however much time Jay has left. It will also give me some time to get my place ready for a baby. Our house has a nursery ready to go.”

      Scarlet’s already pale skin seemed to blanch at his words. “Evan’s nursery? You want to put Luna in Evan’s room?”

      Mason’s jaw tightened. Scarlet’s protection of Evan’s space was something that he’d never challenged before. He knew it wasn’t healthy to keep the room like a shrine to a child who was never returning, but pushing the issue with her seemed like a cruel fight to pick.

      “It’s an unused nursery,” Mason clarified. Evan was never going to use it ever again. It was just a room with a crib, a changing table, and some baby supplies and toys that would help ease the situation they were in. “I’m not saying Luna has