A Pregnant Proposal. Elizabeth Harbison

He helped her into her chair and knelt before her, taking her hands in his, resting them on top of the folder on her lap.

      “What is it, Matt? What do they want?”

      He gave her hands a squeeze and swallowed hard. “They want the baby, Jen.”

      Chapter Two

      “What do you mean they want the baby?” Jen asked, but she knew. She knew even without the sympathy she saw in Matt’s warm hazel eyes. The drumming in her chest, the tightening of her stomach, the burning in her throat all told her: Philip’s parents were trying to get custody of her unborn child.

      Matt put a soothing hand on her shoulder. Her muscles, which had drawn as tight as a bow, relaxed slightly beneath his touch.

      “The fact that they want custody doesn’t mean they’ll get it, you know,” he said. “You’re the child’s mother, that means everything.”

      Jen tried to smile, but tears spilled down her cheeks instead. “It should. But we’ve all heard of custody cases that clearly go in the wrong direction.”

      “It’s very rare, Jen. Very rare.”

      She nodded unhappily. “Yeah, well, Dutch Sedgewick is one of the most powerful lawyers in Chicago, in fact, he’s probably the most powerful lawyer in Chicago. If anyone could win a case like this, it would be him.” Suddenly she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She put a hand to her chest and swallowed a sob. She was vaguely aware of Matt moving to her desk and picking up the mug of water she always had there.

      He brought it back, handed it to her, and pulled a chair up in front of hers. “Jen, they’re not going to take your baby away.” He sat and leaned toward her. “There’s no way they could get away with it.” There was such kindness and concern in his expression that, for a moment, Jen felt reassured.

      But it was only for a moment. “There are probably two thousand ways they could get away with it, and Dutch knows each and every one, case by case.” A wave of anger rose in her but broke into fear.

      “He’d have to prove that you were an unfit mother, and there’s no way he’s going to be able to do that.” He captured her gaze with his own, and held it. “Your character is so sterling it’s nearly blinding in sunlight.”

      She closed her eyes. “I’ve done some things in my life that I’m not that proud of. Nothing huge, of course, but little things that might prevent a nomination to sainthood down the road.”

      “Sounds interesting.” He smiled his even white smile. “You’ll have to tell me about them sometime. But whatever they are, I’m one hundred percent sure they’re not going to lose you custody of your child. The world just doesn’t work that way.”

      She stood up and paced the floor in front of him. “I’d like to believe that, but unfair things happen all the time. Murderers go free because they confess before the police read them their rights, airplanes crash because a tiny wire over the baggage sparks, children get sick…” She drew her hands into fists at her side, then released them. “People die horrible deaths because they light too many candles for what they think will be a romantic evening.”

      Matt watched her steadily. “You’re right, Jen. Unfair things happen all the time. But not this time.” He stood and went to her, putting both hands on her shoulders. “You’re not going to lose this child. The Sedgewicks are not going to take the baby away from you.”

      She took a deep breath and placed a hand on her belly protectively. The baby didn’t move. She knew he wouldn’t. He—or she—always slept during her lunch hour. The baby wasn’t even born yet and she already knew more about her child than the Sedgewicks could ever know. She felt she knew the soul of the little person who tumbled around inside of her. She’d been given the job of loving and protecting him and that was just what she was going to do. Matt was right, the Sedgewicks were not going to take the child away from her.

      And they were going to get a tremendous battle if they tried.

      “Darn right they’re not going to take the baby,” she said determinedly. “Not while I have breath in my body.”

      “Good.” Matt nodded and gave her shoulders a final squeeze before taking his hands off. “That’s more like it.”

      Jen nodded. “I’ll just call Mr. Sedgewick and talk to him, make him see reason.”

      Matt snapped to attention. “Now, wait a minute, Jen. I’m not sure you should do that yourself. Better to hire a lawyer to do the talking so Sedgewick doesn’t take advantage of you.”

      “What do you mean?”

      Matt gave a half shrug. “Just that if you say one wrong thing he might jump on it and use it for his case.”

      “What could I say that he could use against me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

      “No, you haven’t.” Matt’s voice was gentle but firm. “But if you get flustered—and he will be an expert at trying to make you feel that way—who knows what you might say?”

      Jen gave a laugh. “Think I might slip and make an arbitrary confession to smuggling or extortion?”

      Matt smiled, but his eyes remained fastened on hers. “Of course not. But people have been known to confess to things that weren’t true when the pressure was on them.”

      She shook her head. “Not me. The truth is on my side in this case.”

      “Sometimes that’s not enough.”

      She sighed. Matt could be right. On the other hand, maybe they were giving Dutch Sedgewick a lot more credit than he deserved. “Maybe he’s just a blowhard and the worst he can do is act the way he always has toward me—like I’m an irritating gnat flying in his face.” She waited a moment and added, “I promise this, if he maintains this suit, I’ll be a lot more trouble than a gnat.”

      Matt looked at her for a moment, then sat down, shaking his head. “You’re what my grandmother would have called a real pistol, you know that?”

      “This is a good thing?”

      “Sure. If you like giving fits to the people who care about you.”

      She bit her tongue before self-pity let her say that, apart from Susan and Matt, she felt like there were more people against her than for her. Of course, that was counting the messenger who had given her the papers and the kid at the coffee shop who she was sure was lying when he said they didn’t have any more chocolate macadamia biscotti.

      The baby moved, kicking Jen’s ribs, and her perspective came back to her in a rush. She no longer had the luxury of feeling sorry for herself, she had someone else to take care of now. Already her love for the baby took precedence over everything else in her life. Surely when the Sedgewicks saw that, they’d drop their suit.

      The telephone on Jen’s desk trilled.

      “Do you want me to have them hold your calls?” Matt asked, poised to take action.

      Jen shook her head. “It’s okay.” She picked up the phone. It was Leila, calling for Matt.

      With an apologetic smile, he took the phone and answered it. “I thought I told you to take messages,” he said into the receiver, then listened. “Oh. I see. Uh-huh.”

      Jen studied his profile as he talked. He was certainly handsome, she thought to herself. No wonder so many women were after him. She smiled to herself, remembering how he had once confided to Susan and herself that he was tired of shallow relationships, but that he didn’t want anything deeper. He’d rather be alone, he’d said, than play the games any longer. Privately she and Susan had agreed that a great guy was being wasted and that they should keep their eyes out for the perfect woman for him. Now, though she was loathe to admit it, she was glad they hadn’t succeeded. It felt nice to have him here for her, looking after