Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,77

interest, and I do not think any of us need to worry about fixing them up. I think they’ll do it on their own. And I say good for them,” Isabelle added.

Annie’s fist pumped the air. “We got her! Now we need to start thinking about how we’re going to bring this to a conclusion and not spook Sara whatever the hell her name is in the process,” Alexis said.

“Let’s finish these pancakes. And then we can get down to work,” Maggie said, as she dug into the stack of pancakes Paul Montrose had left behind.

Chapter 17

Sara Nolan. The name rolled off Sara’s tongue like pure liquid silk. She was, according to the paper in her hand, officially as well as legally now Sara Nolan. Soon to be the mother of Andy Nolan’s child. The gold seal on the certificate said it was so. That meant she was legally Sara Nolan, and no one walking the earth could do a damn thing about it. Her fist shot high in the air to signal her victory.

Sara took a moment to look upward, wondering if Andy was peering down from some fluffy cloud and seeing what she was holding in her hand. She realized how silly and stupid that thought was and laughed out loud. She knew, and that was all that was important. One of these days, she would go to the cemetery and sit down and have a long talk with Andy. One of these days.

Maybe she would wait till the baby was born to do that so she could take him or her with her. Yes, yes, yes, that was a better idea. That way, if there really was an afterlife and a spirit could look down, Andy would do so and see his firstborn. Sara grimaced, not sure if that idea was just as silly and stupid as her original thought or not.

Sara sighed. She had months to go till that could happen. Her doctor had warned her of the possibility of a miscarriage. She refused to allow her mind to even contemplate the warning. She would do everything possible, including bed rest if it came to that. She’d simply hire round-the-clock nurses to take care of her. Months of pampering was something she could live with.

Sara slid the paper she was holding into a glossy yellow folder and put it in a small cedar chest in the dining room. She’d purchased the chest to hold what she considered to be the most important documents pertaining to Andy Nolan. It was the only thing she ever took with her when she moved from place to place. It was hers and Andy’s. She giggled when she thought, never leave home without it. Like that would ever happen.

The huge, six-thousand-square-foot house yawned around her. There were echoes everywhere because she hadn’t totally furnished it. The reason for that was that she wasn’t sure how many children she wanted. A house this big cried out for a large family. Andy always said he wanted enough kids to have his own baseball team. He’d laughed like a lunatic then and said that he would have the baseball team and she could have her kids be their cheerleaders. Though she’d laughed right along with him, she didn’t think it was at all funny. Then he put his arm around her shoulder the way a brother would do, and said, “We’ll always be side to side, Sara. Me and you against the world.” There was no mention of where the mother of the baseball team and father of the cheerleader squad would be. She liked the way it all sounded, so she just kept smiling.

Sara looked around. She’d chosen well when she had picked this house. Andy had said he’d looked at it once when he was in town and said it was a perfect house to raise a family. He also said that the reason it wasn’t selling was because it was overpriced. Andy was always frugal and looked for bargains, a trait he had inherited from his mother. Sara, on the other hand, never bothered to ask the price of anything. If it was something that caught her eye or she wanted it, she simply bought it, no questions asked.

Walking from room to room, she tried to imagine what the house would look like furnished from top to bottom. What would it be like with kids running around and sliding down the polished banister on the staircase? Add in a few barking