It was a water-colourist’s paradise, and some of the scenes she saw would stay in her mind and heart for ever, but not knowing what would happen, and almost dreading the prospect of going home again—even— though she knew she had to—Georgia felt like a small sailing craft in the middle of a vast, unpredictable— ocean, with nothing to protect her but God’s grace from a possible storm at sea that would capsize her.
For the first time in her life she was in love. So in love that there was only one topic that never tired of recurring in her mind…Keir. She had never wanted anything in her life more than him. In the past all she’d wanted to do was provide a sense of security and happiness for Noah. She had hardly dared allow any personal wants or needs to come into the picture at all. Her deepest hopes and dreams had been put on hold for so long that she’d almost forgotten that she’d ever dreamed them. But now, with Keir, they had surfaced in glorious Technicolor to taunt her.
Leaning over the stunning old-fashioned clawtoothed— bath in her bathroom one evening, Georgia trailed her fingertips in the steaming scented water. Satisfied that the temperature was just right, she went to the equally old-fashioned and beautiful gilt mirror there, and pinned up her tumbling chestnut hair in front of it before removing her light pink cotton sweater, then her lacy white bra. Folding the items over the white rattan chair next to her, she straightened— again. Just as she did so, she experienced a wave of acutely hot tingling in the tips of her breasts. The sensation was almost painful.
Wincing in surprise, Georgia studied her body carefully in the reflection before her—as carefully as a scientist staring down a microscope at some fascinating— sample on a slide. The dusky pink area around her nipples appeared significantly darker, and even with her own surprised gaze she could see that her breasts definitely looked a little larger. Cupping them, she felt a sharp stab of shock slice dizzyingly through her as she realised that they felt heavier too. Staring into the mirror as though transfixed, Georgia’s clear hazel eyes easily registered the repercussions— of shock that were ebbing through her.
‘It can’t be…can it?’
Moving to the rattan chair, she sank down into it, her— arms crossed protectively across her chest as if to ward off even the possibility that she might be pregnant—because even with her lack of experience in these matters Georgia realised that that was her state. But how could she be pregnant?
Staring at the pink wall, with its tasteful cream border patterned with tiny pink roses just above the steaming bath, she made herself remember in detail all the times that she and Keir had made love. It wasn’t difficult. There were days when she seemed to be able to think of little else. She wasn’t on the pill—not yet—but he had always used protection…even— when passion consumed them and threatened— to make them reckless. Something must have happened that they’d somehow overlooked. Georgia had read that sometimes it could, even with the safest protection.
She shook her head with a groan. Why hadn’t she paid better attention to her periods? They were always so regular, and the fact that she was at least eight days overdue should have told her that something— was amiss. But her mind had been all over the place, and she hadn’t even noticed. Now what was she going to do? She wasn’t in a position to have a baby! Financially and practically, every which way, it— wasn’t a possibility. She had a home to run, bills to pay, Noah’s business to support whenever she could. It just wasn’t feasible that she could do all that and raise a child as well! If she attempted it she could potentially lose everything she had worked so hard to attain.
But, inevitably, the biggest question in Georgia’s mind was Keir. What on earth was he going to say when she told him that she was pregnant with his baby? At this moment in time she didn’t even know if he’d planned on seeing her again after she left Glenteign…let alone if he desired a proper committed— relationship with her. Even the prospect of a relaxing scented bath to ease away the stresses and strains of the working day did nothing to release the tension inside her as she wondered just how she was going to break the news…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GEORGIA DIDN’T FIND the opportunity to speak to Keir that evening, because after dinner he told her that he’d had an impromptu invitation from a friend to join him for drinks at his club in Dundee. Inevitably he would be back late, so she had tentatively— suggested that it might be better if he slept in his own room that night and she in hers. Albeit reluctantly,— Keir had agreed.