The Boss's Baby Affair(60)

“It certainly wasn’t part of Jilly’s plan for you to stay in the picture. I discovered from my reading that Jilly bribed the midwife to list her as the mother on the birth certificate.”

“I never knew that.” Candace thought about it as she watched Jennie toss the ring down, then pick it up again and shove it back in her mouth. “But it makes sense. That’s why she wanted a home birth with a midwife?” Sadness swept her. “I would’ve been happier at the hospital, given that Jennie was my first child and anything could’ve gone wrong. But it was so important to her that I gave in.”

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Even over the two yards separating them, she could sense his tension.

It was hardly a good time to confess the one aspect of her behavior she wasn’t proud of. It would be better to wait for a time when Nick was more open to discussion. Candace knew she was putting it off. When would there ever be an easy time?

She drew a deep breath and squarely met Nick’s indigo gaze. “Yes. Jilly gave me money.”

Nick’s almost black gaze bored into her. “You lied to me. You told me you weren’t paid for being a surrogate.”

“I wasn’t,” she said automatically. “You—I mean Jilly—paid for the medical expenses and she covered my other expenses. The one thing she did pay for that I didn’t want was the stay in the resort when the IVF was done. And she spoiled me with gifts when she visited during the pregnancy…I didn’t have the heart to refuse because it gave her such pleasure. But this payment was different.”

“How?” He gave a snort.

“It was a large sum.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “So when did she give you money? Did you call her?”

“No! I wasn’t ever supposed to make contact again.” Candace glanced down at Jennie again, remembering how the despair in the empty days after Jennie’s birth had sapped her. “After I’d given Jennie up, she called to see how I was.”

Then she lifted her gaze to Nick’s, hoping he couldn’t sense her inner shaking or recognize the fear and vulnerability. “I was a mess. Jilly came around to see me—she didn’t bring Jennie. When I first heard her car pull up, I hoped with a desperate yearning I can’t even begin to describe to you that she’d reconsidered, that she was prepared to relax the noncontact clause in the surrogate contract. But she was alone. I told her that my mother was in the hospital after falling off a ladder in the pantry. She was unconscious, and brain damage was suspected. I started to cry. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know what I was going to do. You probably won’t believe me, but Jilly gave me comfort.”

“I do believe you. Jilly liked to be needed. Too many of the people in her life didn’t need her at all,” Nick said slowly. “It may be part of the reason she was so eager for a baby.”

“When it became clear that my mother was going to need care, Jilly offered to pay for her place at Apple Orchards.”

“So in the end you did accept payment for Jennie.”

Candace shook her head frantically. “No. It was never meant to be like that! How could you think that I’d accept a womb-for-hire arrangement?” It hurt that he’d assumed the worst. “I kept saying no, but Jilly insisted. I gave in, because it made my life, and Mom’s, easier.”

Nick didn’t say anything. He just stared at her with a blank expression, the muscle high on his cheek pulsing furiously.

“You know what?” The shaking had taken over her whole body. “I’ll tell you something I haven’t even admitted to myself. I felt so guilty later. Because deep down I feel like I traded Jennie for my mother’s comfort. And even telling Jilly I would try to pay her back didn’t help ease the guilt. We both knew it was far beyond my means.”

“I’m sorry.” Nick rose to his feet and settled himself beside her on the lounger, and groped awkwardly for her hand. “I found reference to the payment she’d made—and I jumped to the conclusion you’d taken money in exchange for Jennie. Jilly liked you,” he added after a small silence. “There was an entry after one of the times she’d spoken to you at the hospital, saying how sympathetic you were. She worked hard to become friendly with you.”

Candace gripped his hand, and the trembling started to subside. “I liked her, too. But I felt a little sorry for her…she was so desperate for the child she couldn’t have.”

“She sensed that she could manipulate you…I suspect she might have helped your mother because she felt remorse about it.”