“Looks like she’s teething, Nick.” Alison rescued her necklace from the baby.
“It would appear so.” He moved closer. “Here, give her to me.”
“I’ll take her.” Candace came up on the other side of his sister.
“Thank you, Candace.” Alison surrendered the baby gracefully. For a moment Candace thought Nick was going to object to her having possession of the child, but then his sister was saying, “It’s not like you to swan out of the office.”
“Hardly swanning—although we did see some black ones after I met Candace at the doctor’s office for Jennie to be checked out.”
“You took her back to the doctor? Is anything wrong?” Alison asked at once, glancing to Candace for a reply.
“No, Jennie’s fine,” said Candace soothingly. “She was restless last night, running a bit of a temperature, so I wanted to make sure there was no resurgence of the infection.”
“You’re so good to her.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at the other woman. “I’ll take Jennie upstairs so you two can talk.”
“Not so fast.” Nick moved to obstruct her. “I’m not letting you go anywhere until we’ve finished our discussion.”
What he meant was I’m not letting you out of my sight, Candace thought rebelliously.
His sister must’ve thought the same thing. “Nick, you’re being rude—and you’re frightening Candace.”
Ignoring his sister’s interjection, he gave her a mean stare. “She’s not frightened enough.”
“Nick!”
Even as Alison objected, Candace’s heart sped up. She hugged Jennie tightly. “I’m not going to back down on the truth. You don’t scare me.”
Alison glanced from Candace to her brother. “What truth? Anyone care to fill me in about what’s going on?”
“Candace claims she’s Jennie’s mother.”
Nick’s dismissive tone set Candace’s teeth on edge. She still couldn’t swallow that he hadn’t known. “Claims? You know I’m Jennie’s mother! You contracted me to donate the eggs and share my womb so you and Jilly could have the child she so desperately wanted.”
“Contracted?” Nick gave a snort. “Why would I want to do that?”
Candace gave him a cold stare over the baby’s head. “Because you and Jilly were unable to have your own child.”
He stared. His features tightened. “IVF worked successfully for Jilly and me.”
Jennie shifted restlessly in her arms and Candace unsuccessfully ducked her head sideways as Jennie grabbed a handful of her hair. When she’d extracted the strands from Jennie’s hands she said, “Be honest. Jilly told me all about the struggles you were having—that IVF wasn’t working. That’s why the two of you decided to look for an egg donor, someone who could carry the baby for her. Which, of course, is where I came in.”
Now both Nick and Alison were staring at her as if she’d grown two heads.
“What?” asked Candace. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s true that the IVF didn’t work in the initial attempts.” Nick appeared to be picking his words with care. “But then Jilly tried a new procedure at an overseas clinic.”
“What my brother is trying to say,” cut in Alison, “is that Jilly was pregnant.” With her arms she mimed a swollen belly. “Very pregnant. She gave birth—to Jennie.”
Candace gaped at them both.
A vision of Jilly clad in black leggings and a belted long cardigan floated through her mind. Jilly had been reed slim when she’d excitedly assisted the midwife at Jennie’s home birth in the cottage, and bore absolutely no resemblance to the rounded belly Alison had mimed.
Hitching Jennie higher against her shoulder, Candace said slowly, “That’s not possible, because Jilly was never pregnant.”
Alison stared at Nick and raised an eyebrow.
“She’s crazy.” Nick shrugged. “I’ve been saying exactly the same thing as you, Alison, but she won’t let go of her delusion that Jilly was never pregnant—that she’s Jennie’s mother.”
Confusion clouded Candace’s brain, making it feel wooly. Was it possible that Nick Valentine and his wife had pulled off a spectacular deception, fooling even their own families that the baby was Jilly’s? Had they gone as far as to fake Jilly’s pregnancy? Placed padding beneath Jilly’s clothing to fool everyone—even Alison? That was crazy!
Candace struggled to put her chaotic thoughts in order.
What would be the point of such a massive deception? Nick was a wealthy man, and Jilly had made it clear that Candace could name her price for her kindness, though, of course, Candace had refused all Jilly’s generous offers. It was, after all, illegal in New Zealand to be paid to be a surrogate. She’d done it because Jilly had been so desperate. As a pediatric nurse, Candace had never met a woman more deserving of a baby. Her heart had gone out to the other woman as they’d become friends.