An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,48
too. I understand you have a couple of investigators who work for your troubleshooting group. My plan was to steal them, as well. After I secured Anna. But that’s for sport. You understand.”
There was a semblance of a smile. “So you are here to reconcile with the mother and get to know your child?”
The sadness and regret that had weighed Mark down for the past few months bubbled up like fresh sparkling water then quickly fizzled out. Those feelings he’d once had for Helen were a long time ago. He wasn’t sure how strong they had been, but they hadn’t been nearly strong enough to hold him to her. No, he never would have come back for her.
“The mother, Helen, is dead. I’m here because my daughter needs her father now. Even though she doesn’t actually realize that yet.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. Which is why you can believe me. Don’t screw this up with Anna. If you really want her and the child, you’re going to have to be honest with her. At the end of the day if you can’t love her, then she deserves someone better. Someone who can give her what she needs. You’re going to have to live with it.”
Ben stood as the door to the outside office opened.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You had a choice and you took it. I’ve already made my choice and I’m not going anywhere.”
Anna entered the outer office and stopped. She took in the scene of the two men together in the same room and her face took on a suspicious expression. Slowly she approached and opened the door.
“Everything cool in here?”
“Yes, we were speaking as I was waiting for you,” Ben said. “We have your appointment and I didn’t want to be late.”
Anna turned to Mark. He thought of a hundred things he could say that would make Ben’s life difficult in that moment. Things like, Watch out, Anna, it’s a trap. But he couldn’t do it. He felt a sudden affinity for Ben. For all his posturing about what he was or wasn’t going to do, they both knew that in the end it would be Anna’s decision.
Which meant Ben was in a place he’d never been before...out of control. For that the man deserved Mark’s sympathy.
* * *
THEY SAT IN the waiting room of the doctor’s office with several other pregnant ladies. Anna studied the belly sizes of the only just pregnant, mostly pregnant and really pregnant women. Glancing at her own stomach she thought it was definitely bigger than it had been three months before, but, man, it couldn’t get as big as some of these women, could it?
She watched as one woman basically rocked from side to side to gain enough momentum to get out of the chair she was sitting in after her name was called. A few of the other women with equal-size protrusions actually laughed along with her as she finally made it to her feet.
What the hell was funny about that?
Anna was counting on a basketball-size thing while these women were sporting Volkswagen Beetles. Cautiously, she glanced at Ben who sat next to her, seemingly unaffected by the women around him.
“You’re what? Six-two?”
“Six-one and a half,” he answered without hesitation as if he knew exactly what was going through her mind. “Don’t worry. The kid will fit. Barely.”
“Anna Summers.”
Anna lifted her head at her name. The nurse was smiling, holding a clipboard in her hand and waving her over.
Anna and Ben stood together. Something she wasn’t exactly expecting.
“Uh...”
“Can I come in with you?”
Awkward again. Anna thought back to the weekend when they had both attempted to act like the normal couple they weren’t and wondered if this would be like that. She thought about what she would be required to do for this visit. She already handed in her early-morning pee in a cup to the nurse so she was spared that indignity.
She had to get weighed—she could make him turn around for that. They would only pull up her shirt to poke around a bit. Then they would use the stethoscope to listen for the heartbeat.
Yes, he would want to hear that. A man who had come so close to losing his heartbeat would love the sound of a newly created one.
“Okay. But don’t go asking a ton of questions, all right? You’re not grilling the doctor like an enemy agent. This is my body, my pregnancy.”
Ben frowned and she knew he was currently dismissing the list of questions he’d already