Unexpectedly Expecting the Sheik's Baby - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,51
come up with a solution. No answer made sense. But with the reality, with the knowledge that she truly was pregnant, she knew that she couldn’t abort the baby.
“Yes. I’m going to keep the baby.”
Slowly, they nodded their heads and Cassy almost laughed. She could see both of them struggling to figure out how to help. “You’ll be awesome aunts,” she teased.
Naya rolled her eyes, patting her swollen belly while Ella grinned, relieved that Cassy was okay.
“Yeah, we are!” Ella laughed, diving across the coffee table and hugging Cassy fiercely. “You’re going to be an awesome mother!”
Naya moved a bit more slowly as she sat next to Cassy wrapping her arms around both of her friends. “We’re going to have fun with this! Just think about how big your boobs are going to get when this pregnancy really gets going! We’re going to have teasing material for years!”
Cassy groaned at the possibility of her breasts getting even larger. “They are going to be bad,” she groaned.
She looked at the pizza box. “Okay, Ella, you drink the wine but I get your pizza,” she teased.
They dove into the cheesy pizza and brainstormed the possible issues Cassy would face. “What are your co-workers going to say?” Ella asked.
The pizza stuck in her throat as she contemplated that question. “That’s going to be a problem,” she mumbled, setting her pizza down.
Ella shook her head. “Why should it be a problem?”
Cassy sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Remember that scandal last summer when that American senator had an affair with his intern?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“He was our client. There have been too many scandals and my firm hates sex scandals.”
Naya rolled her eyes. “I’d bet that the managing partners have several skeletons in their closets,” she mumbled.
“No doubt,” Cassy replied, thinking hard. “But it is still going to be an issue. Maybe I should just find another job?”
Ella shook her head, her feminist stubbornness rising up. “No. You’ll have trouble finding a job while pregnant. It isn’t right, but that’s the world we live in.” She paused, tilting her head to the left slightly. A moment later, she sat up a bit straighter and smiled. “You should just pretend to be married.”
Cassy paused with pizza halfway to her mouth. The idea was so…perfect…she had to think it through. “Pretend to be married?” she echoed.
Naya leaned forward, nodding her head. “That’s actually brilliant,” she said, her enthusiasm growing as the three of them blinked at each other, obviously considering the idea carefully. “Yes, an engagement is a wonderful idea.” She sipped her milk as she quickly thought through all of the issues. “You’ll have to start off with a boyfriend first though. Send yourself flowers… No, better yet, we’ll send you flowers. That way, no one can track anything back to you.” Cassy and Ella nodded eagerly.
Ella took up the story. “And then in a few weeks, you show up with an engagement ring. A few weeks after that, show up Monday morning with a wedding ring. Tell everyone that your new husband didn’t want to wait and you guys just took off to Scotland over the weekend for a quick wedding.”
Naya shook her head. “No. Not Scotland. Your firm would frown even on that, from what you’ve told me.” She tapped her chin, contemplating the problem. “You should say you got married in Paris. Nowhere close by. And it has to be some place where people can’t check too easily.”
Naya nodded in agreement. “And what’s your new ‘husband’s’ career? It has to be something good. Something that will keep him traveling. Remember that movie with Jennifer Aniston? She faked an engagement and then her boss wanted to meet the guy. It was a mess after that.”
Ella agreed, really getting into the spirit now. “No, you don’t want any problems with a fake marriage needing a real husband.”
“Good point,” Cassy said, gobbling down another piece of pizza. “Okay, another issue. I don’t have the money for a diamond ring.”
“Fake husband, fake wedding, and a fake diamond,” Ella announced with an air of authority. “Just get yourself a decent sized cubic zirconia and pass it off as a diamond. Really, how many people can tell the difference between fake and real these days?”
“Get a good fake,” Naya agreed, “and you’re golden. Not too big though. You don’t want people looking too closely.”
Ella nodded. “Yep. Just something tasteful and simple. And if it is a bit on the small side, then the others won’t think that your new hubbie is