Taste of Love - By Stephanie Nicole Page 0,14

he ran back in and answered it.

"The TigerLily, Madison Drew's office," he answered professionally, just in case.

"Good afternoon, this is Dr. Rush's office calling for Ms. Drew."

"I'm sorry; she just stepped away from her desk for a moment. Can you hold?" he asked.

"Actually, I have other patients I need to call," the woman said briskly. "Is this her husband?"

"Ms. Drew is not married. I'm her emergency contact though," he told the woman, remembering that she had put Austin's name on the forms.

"Well, I really can't speak with anyone other than Ms. Drew. If you can't get her now, when is a good time for me to call back?" the nurse asked.

"Wait...wait! I will get her. Hang on, please."

He rushed into the hallway. "Madison! Madison, you have to get in here now. They won't speak to anyone but you."

Madison's eyes widened. She immediately turned to the produce man, signed the papers he shoved in front of her, and ran back to her office. She swept right past Austin and snatched up the phone. "This is Ms. Drew."

Austin watched as Madison listened. Then he watched as she wilted. She fell back into her chair as if in slow motion, her eyes wider than ever, her face going from red to pale. So pale, in fact, that it seemed he could almost see right through her. She said a few words: "Are you sure? Yes...no...okay. Thank you."

Then she hung up the phone and stared at it. She blinked and suddenly tears came to her eyes, making them bright as diamonds.

"Madison," he started, then stopped. He realized he was scared to death. "Is it serious?"

Madison laughed, a short, harsh sound that made him even more scared.

"Well, that all depends on how you look at it," she said, then burst into tears. Real, honest-to-God tears, the kind that came on like a waterfall and threatened to never stop.

Austin was at her side in an instant. "Tell me. What's wrong?"

Her voice hitched once, twice, three times. The words were stuck in her throat. She tried a fourth time and then they squeaked out in a whisper.

"I'm pregnant."

Austin sat on the floor beside her chair, stunned. There was nothing in his head beyond the words she had just spoken.

"How is that possible?" he asked. "You never..."

She laughed again, and this time it was downright creepy, coming from her at the same time as all those tears. "You're right. I never. But once, I did, and that must have been plenty."

"Madison..." He didn't know what to say.

"This can't be happening," she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Well...just think, it could be worse!" he said brightly."It could have been that multiple personality shit."

"I'm not so sure about that." She looked around her office as though she had never seen it before, then stood so fast she knocked paperwork from the corner of the desk. "I need to go home. Can you handle the restaurant tonight?"

"Sure. Whatever you need," he told her. "Do you want me to stop by after we close tonight?"

She squared her shoulders. "Thanks, but no. I just need to be alone right now."

"Call if you need anything, no matter what?"

She nodded, but she already seemed a million miles away.

"Thanks, I will."

Madison went home from work and crawled straight into bed. She sat there crying for hours. Crying for her future, her baby's future. What kind of mother would she be? And Cameron, where would he play into all of this? They had made a huge mistake, and she was sure that this wasn't what he wanted out of a drunken one night stand. Should she even tell him? Would she rather that he not know, or have her child endure the rejection of its father?

Everything was up in the air now. Could her business maintain its success if she had to divide her time between the restaurant and a baby? And on top of that, would she even have the energy for both?

She hardly moved from her bed until Wednesday morning arrived. She had played over all the scenarios in her head between bouts of crying, trying to decide what to do. Abortion was never even considered, no matter how unplanned this pregnancy was. She knew that for certain. In the hours that she lay there thinking, the only other thing she knew for sure was that she was going to make the best of the situation that she was in. She didn't know how to do that, but she wasn't the first woman who had