Annie laid her head back on the cushiony seat of Zach’s car and closed her eyes, hoping he would think she was asleep. She knew she was taking the coward’s way out, but she had to get control of herself before they got home. Disconcerted by his joy about the baby, she needed all her wits about her to deal with this newest development. If only she wasn’t so weak, and so affected by Zach’s presence. She looked down through slitted eyes to see her hands trembling. Proximity to Zach had always reduced her to quivering, and apparently time hadn’t dulled her response.
She’d been only eighteen when she’d met him. Zach had gone to MIT, she to a girls’ school down the road from the university. The first time she’d seen him sweet-talk a girl up to his room, her trouble detector had gone off. She decided to ignore him. It had worked for a while. He told her later he knew enough to stay away from her, too.
Then came that accidental meeting that changed her life...
“What you looking for, little girl?” A deep male voice had startled her in the stacks of a musty old section of the MIT library and she dropped the small piece of paper she was holding.
“You scared me.”
Zach bent down to pick up her note.
“I, um, need a book on human behavior. I’m a first-year student at Saint Mary’s.”
“I know.” Glancing at the paper, he said, “S-904.3.” He scanned the stack in front of her, then plucked the volume from a high shelf. Skimming the title, he laughed, deep and from the belly. “The Sexual Practices of Ancient African Tribes?”
Cursed with fair skin to match her auburn hair, she felt herself blush. His eyebrows furrowed and he stopped laughing when he saw her embarrassment. It had been one of the things that had ultimately attracted her to Zach—his sensitivity toward others. A popular baseball player and sophisticated senior, he never ridiculed anyone, and often stepped in when his friends made fun of others. “Hey, it’s okay.” He frowned at the book he held. “You don’t go to MIT. How you gonna check this out?”
“I’m not. I’m going to stay here and take notes.”
“Tell you what. Have coffee with me at the union and I’ll check the book out for you. You can read it on your own time.”
Every self-protective instinct in Annie surfaced, and she stepped back, about to say no. But his blue eyes were dark and sincere, and he gave her a boyish grin that tipped the scales.
“All right.”
In the student union, he was as dangerous as she knew he’d be. His broad shoulders, outlined in a plain navy polo shirt, made her pulse quicken. They talked for two hours; she was entranced by his intelligence, wit and maturity. But it was his Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Gary Cooper persona that really got to her. A die-hard fan of old movies, Annie loved the tough-guy-who-just-needed-the-love-of-a-good-woman story line.
When it grew late, he glanced at his watch. “Come on, I’ll drive you to your dorm.”
Alarm skittered through her. “Um, no, thanks. I’ll take the bus.”
“Can’t. They aren’t running anymore. Since it’s my fault you missed your ride, I’ll see you home safely.”
Safe? With Zachary Sloan? She’d be as safe with him as she’d be with Don Juan. But she had little choice. “All right.”
In his battered Ford, she stayed far to the right in the front seat. She’d known for six months that he was bad news for her.
He swerved into a parking space at the dorm and cut the engine. In the sudden silence, she could hear his windbreaker rustle. Turning toward her, he raised his arm to the back of the seat and softly spoke her name. She whipped her head around, the nervous action sending her hair flying. Long, curly auburn locks covered his arm...and snagged in his watchband. When she tried to yank away, a jolt of pain shot from her scalp through her body. “Ouch.”
“Easy,” he said with exasperation. “Let me help.” He slid over in the seat and gently untangled the heavy strands. Only to fist his hand in the reddish mass. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s so thick and silky.” He raised the waist-length hair to his nose and inhaled. “It smells like roses.”
Annie gulped, mesmerized by the feel of his hand in her hair and the husky tenor of his voice. She watched as he lifted his other hand to the curve of her cheek. Delicately, he traced the bridge of her nose down either side of her face. “These freckles beg to be kissed.” Running his thumb over her bottom lip, he smiled. “So do these.” His voice rough, he asked, “Can I kiss you, little girl?”
She shook her head.
He repeated the last caress. “Just once? I’ve been wondering what you’d taste like for months.”
Her eighteen-year-old heart expanded at his flattery. She nodded.
Annie had been kissed before, many times, but never like this—practiced, polished and primed for seduction. She fell into it helplessly. But halfway through, something changed.
Zach’s lips became more urgent. His hands shook. He moaned.
Thrilled by her first taste of female power, she raised her arms to his neck and leaned into him.
Annie never knew how long they would have kissed or how far they would have gone if a group of coeds hadn’t walked by the car and pounded on the hood. “You’re fogging up the windows.”
They sprang apart like adulterers.
Raising a shaky hand to her mouth, Annie saw Zach’s chest heave, and she noticed two buttons on his shirt were undone. His eyes were blazing. Again, she moved toward the door. His strong hand grasped her shoulder.
“Wait,” he said raggedly.
She stopped and turned away.
“What happened here?”
She shook her head, her back to him.
“Annie, turn around.” His voice gentled. When he tugged on her arm, she swiveled to face him. He said, “I know you don’t do this kind of thing regularly.”
“How do you know that?”
“The guys at the frat house, they talk.”
“Oh? And what do they say?”
“That no one’s gotten to first base with you.”
“So? Is something wrong with that?”
“No, of course not. But how do you explain this?” His gesture encompassed the interior of the car.
“I don’t have to explain this.” She reached for the door handle.
He stopped her again. “Whoa, sweetheart. I want some answers. You just melted in my arms. If those girls hadn’t come by, who knows what we’d be doing.”
Annie glared at him. “It goes both ways, hotshot. I wasn’t the only one who almost lost it.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve avoided you for six months.”
“Well, avoid me for six more. We’ve got to be the most mismatched couple on these two campuses. You’re way out of my league, Zach.”
“Because you’re a virgin?”
“Not only that, but...” She frowned, realizing what she’d admitted.
“You are, aren’t you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It was, a few minutes ago.” He sighed, then shook his head. “Look, I don’t know why I’m arguing about this. You’re right. We’re oil and water.”
Annie had been oddly disappointed, and vastly relieved. Scrambling for her pride, she opened the door. “That settles it then. Thanks for the lift and the book. I’ll be sure to return it…”
Staying away from each other had worked—for two months. Until one Friday night. She was at a party. Zach had a gorgeous date. Annie remembered being jealous as hell. She’d had a few beers, but was far from drunk. One of Zach’s frat brothers started hitting on her and she flirted back. Apparently, that was all Zach needed to see. He left his date literally openmouthed, stalked over to Annie and practically dragged her out of the house to his car. They’d been inseparable after that.
Now, fifteen years later, Annie looked across the front seat at Zach, studying his chiseled profile in the stark April sunlight. The Jag pulled into her driveway and she watched him swing easily out of the low-slung car. As he circled the front and opened the door for her, she couldn’t forget how unexpectedly he’d come through for her, at least temporarily, about the baby.
Watch it, Annie, don’t get carried away. Just because he didn’t throw a fit doesn’t mean he’s like Peter.
Peter. Her almost-fiancé. Oh, God, she hadn’t thought about Peter all morning. Four weeks ago she’d been contemplating marriage to him, a sweet kind man who was the opposite of Zach. A man who didn’t deserve the pain she was going to cause him.
Without comment, she got out of the car and walked to the front of her quaint little Victorian house in a middle-class neighborhood of Lansing. When she opened the ornate door and stepped into the foyer, she was knocked backward into Zach’s arms by one hundred pounds of dog. “Daisy. Down, girl.”
The mostly-Lab’s ears perked up and her paws skidded on the slate floor of the foyer as she tried to get around Annie.
Moving aside, Annie watched as man and beast participated in a tender reunion. Daisy was all over Zach. She licked his face and sniffed every part of him she could reach. When he dropped to one knee and buried his nose in Daisy’s neck saying, “Hiya, girl,” Annie turned away, but still she remembered…
Oh, Zach, look at her.
She’s a mutt, Annie.
I want her.
Why?
If I can’t have a baby now, at least let’s get a pet....
Biting her lip, Annie hurried away from the foyer, away from the memory, away from the man. She tossed her purse and keys on a chair and said, “I’ve got to take Daisy out.”
Zach stared at her. “I didn’t know you still had her. Where was she the night of the collapse?”
“I leave her with the boy next door when I know I’m not going to be home to let her out.”
He smiled sadly. “I missed her.”
Daisy barked, and Annie and Zach both smiled.
“She obviously missed you, too.” Annie added thoughtfully, “You didn’t want her at first.”
“Yeah. I’d taken care of pets and kids all my life. It’s one of the reasons I couldn’t wait to leave home.”
“I never knew that was why you objected to taking her.”
He gave her a smile that clutched her heart. “Remember the time she ate my Italian loafers?”
“Yes, I remember.”
His eyes glittered with sexual intensity. “Do you remember all of it?”
Annie did. “Why don’t you take her out?” she said, avoiding the issue. “I need to lie down.”
But once in her bedroom, Annie couldn’t stop the memory. As she got into a sweat suit, she remembered the Italian loafers...
He’d been getting ready for an important work dinner, one where he was trying to impress a client. Dressed in unzipped trousers, he was fishing for his shoes in the small closet.
“Damn it.”
“What’s the matter?” Annie had been keeping him company while he dressed, brushing her hair, sitting cross-legged on their bed in her underwear.
“I can’t find one of my Italian loafers. Do you know where it is?”
Just then, Daisy bounded through the open door. With his shoe in her mouth. Annie laughed and Zach let out a string of obscenities, ending with, “Can’t you teach her to behave?”
The laughter bubbled out of Annie. “I can’t. You know those books I checked out on dog obedience?”
He glared at her. “Yeah?”
“She ate those, too. I had to pay the library for them.”
Then she started to giggle, at the irony of Daisy’s actions, at sexy Zach with unzipped pants holding a half-eaten loafer. At Daisy, staring adoringly at her master.
Zach began to laugh, too, and fell on the bed with Annie. He pinned her to the mattress and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “You’re so good for me, baby. You make me take myself not so seriously.”
He’d been late for his appointment because he’d made tender love to her...
Annie was roused from the memory by the sound of Zach returning with Daisy. She lay down, waiting for him to come in. God, she was tired. She hadn’t known pregnancy could make a woman so weak, physically and emotionally. And so fast. She was barely a month along and already she’d lost control of her body.
“Feel better?” he asked from the doorway.
“Yes, thanks. When I move around, my stomach’s worse.”
“Have you eaten today?”
She shuddered. “Don’t even mention it.”
He came farther into the room and eased onto the edge of the bed. “Annie, what did the doctor say about the nausea?”
“I have a midwife.”
“A midwife?”
Annie sighed. “She’s a board certified midwife, working in a doctor’s office. I’ll have the baby in a hospital, with plenty of care.”
“What did she say about the sickness?”
“She said it’s common. A lot of women get sick in the early stages.”
“This sick?”
“Yes.”
His scowl was fierce. “I don’t like it. I’m going to call someone else.”
“No, Zach, don’t.”
“Why?”
“There’s no reason to bring in anyone else.”
“I want another opinion,” he said implacably.
“No. You’re not going to barge in here and take over.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit back and watch you waste away, either.”
“Don’t bully me, Zach.”
The comment brought back an old argument...
You do too much, Annie. You let this job wear you out.
I do too much? You’re the workaholic.
I don’t run myself into the ground.
Don’t bully me, Zach...
His forehead creased as he watched her. She could see the wheels turning.
“And don’t try to manipulate me. You may be the father of this baby, but I’m no longer your wife.”
“A fact that I regret more than I can say.”
Because she felt so queasy, and because she felt so vulnerable, she snapped at him. “All right, let’s get this straight right now. You can be part of the baby’s life. You’re entitled to that. You’re even entitled to be part of the pregnancy and birth, if you want. But you’re not entitled to me. To taking care of me, making decisions for me, running my life. Is that clear?”
His jaw clenched. “Yes, it’s clear. But how can I take care of my baby without taking care of you?”
My baby. Why did he have to keep saying that? It sounded so intimate.
A wave of fatigue washed over her without warning, as it did several times a day. She sank into the pillows and closed her eyes. She was afraid she was going to cry. Damn, her emotions had always been close to the surface. She cried at television commercials and at songs on the radio. Apparently, pregnancy was going to turn her into a weeping idiot.
“Annie, I’m sorry. I came here to help. Not to badger you.”
She opened her eyes. “I know. I’m sorry, too. My emotions careen out of control more than usual.”
Brushing his knuckles over her cheek, he grazed her lips with the pad of his thumb. It felt good. “You’re entitled.”
She smiled gratefully.
“My mother used to eat saltine crackers every time she got pregnant,” he said. “Let me get you some of those, and maybe some tea.”
“Okay. There’s crackers in the pantry and decaffeinated tea bags in the cupboard. Use those.” She grabbed his arm when he started to rise. “Zach, before you go, I have to ask you something.”
“What?”
“You’ll get mad.”
“No, I won’t. I promise.”
“We didn’t use any protection that night.”
“Obviously. It never entered our minds.” His grin was filled with sexual promise. “We had other concerns.”
“And I was on the Pill when we were together,” she said, ignoring the innuendo. “Even though I missed taking them a few times, and we had to use something else, mostly we didn’t.” She took in a deep breath. “But condoms are for more than pregnancy prevention.” At his puzzled look, she said, “I hate to ask you this, but you must have dated a lot of women.”
His bright blue eyes dulled and she found it hard to go on.
“You don’t have to ask,” he finally said. He got up and paced. He ran a hand through his hair. “I hadn’t been with a woman for six months before the collapse of the staircase. Two weeks ago, I had a physical exam. Everything— blood work included—is fine.” He came back to the bed and stared down at her. “Nothing’s wrong with me that could hurt the baby.”
“Why hadn’t you been—”
Leaning over, he pressed two fingers to her lips. “Shh. I’ll go get the crackers and tea.”
Wearily, Annie closed her eyes, fearful of what was happening, knowing how dangerous it was to depend on Zach for anything.
o0o
In the kitchen Zach rummaged through the cupboards and pantry until he found the tea and crackers. As the water heated, he looked around the small, quaintly decorated room. It was so typical of Annie. And so unlike him. Just like everything else...
Zach, you paid four hundred dollars for that suit? A country club. Us? I don’t care what happened, you’ve got to go see your family. Please, Zach, I want your baby so badly.
Sighing, he spotted flowers on the table. Pink and white carnations. Annie’s favorites. He remembered one time he’d filled the bedroom with them after they’d had a fight, and they’d made love—several times—amidst the fragrant scent.
Who’d sent them to her? Crossing to the table, he picked up the card. Hope you feel better. Peter.
Peter? The name rang a bell. Zach remembered one of the workers and a couple of the firemen on the night the staircase collapsed asking Annie about him. Anger, fast and furious, sprang up within Zach. Someone else was sending his pregnant wife flowers. He stalked into the bedroom. She was leafing through a magazine.
“Who’s Peter?” he asked, his teeth clenched.
She looked at him warily. “How do you know about Peter?”
“Well, the flowers, for one thing.”
“He’s a friend.” She raised her chin, the way she used to when she was about to confront him. “Actually, we were talking about getting married.”
Zach gripped the doorjamb. “Annie,” he said, the sudden realization making his stomach churn. “If you were almost engaged, how do you know this is my baby?”
Her face turned pink. “Peter’s been out of the country for almost three months setting up a Sister City relief program. It’s a new thing with the Red Cross.”
“I see.” Thank God.
In the ensuing silence, she added, “I met him through work. He’s a coordinator in Boston for overseas relief efforts.”
“A noble profession.”
Her chin hitched another notch. “Yes, it is.”
“Just what you always wanted in a man.”
“That’s right.”
Stifling the urge to punch his fist through the wall, Zach glanced around the room. “Does he live here with you?”
“No.”
“How come?”
She shrugged. “Lots of reasons....”
I wish we could live together, Zach. I hate it when you drop me off at the dorm and go back to the frat house.
All right, I’ll get an apartment the rest of the semester...
He watched her. “Tell me one thing. Are you going to marry him while you’re carrying my baby?”
“Of course not. I haven’t wanted to tell him on the phone. He should be back in two weeks.”
Unable to let it go, even now that he had the answer he wanted, Zach asked, “How long have you known him?”
She fidgeted with the sheet. “About two years.”
They’d been divorced five years.
“Then there have been others?”
“Other what?”
“Lovers.”
“That’s none of your business.”
Zach felt the anger burn inside him. “It’s always been my business.”
“Zach, don’t.”
“One New Year’s Eve...”
She leaned back into the pillows. “Our anniversary.”
“Two years after we split, I came here.”
She shook her head. “No, no, you didn’t.”
“Yes, but I didn’t come to the door.”
“Why?”
“There was a car in the driveway.”
“Oh.”
“I waited. Parked on the street. All night. He left about nine in the morning.”
Annie shuddered.
“Annie?”
“It was the first time I slept with anyone else but you.” She sucked in a breath. “I cried afterward.”
The image of her crying tore at him. “I’m so sorry. For all of it.”
Slowly she turned to face him. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s drop this right now. I’m exhausted.”
“All right. I’ll go get your tea.”
When he returned, she was asleep. He deposited the snack on her dresser, eased down her pillow so she was lying flat and went to the windows to close the blinds. Then he sank onto a chair in the corner and watched her sleep, trying to take in how his life had changed in the last few hours.
Annie was pregnant with his child. What had he done to deserve this gift? Only hours ago he’d wondered if anything was ever going to go right again in his life. A baby. His and Annie’s baby.
How ironic. He didn’t delude himself that he’d been anything but unbending about having kids when they were together. He’d been a bastard at times. He cringed when he remembered the details. Now he was ashamed.
In the bleak days and weeks after she divorced him, he’d admitted to himself the mistakes he’d made with her. And apparently, his refusal to consider having kids had been their biggest obstacle.
Until Gina.
Ah, yes, Gina. But in a way, she’d been part of that same issue. He and Annie had argued vehemently that fateful day...
What kind of a man are you that you don’t want any children?
I’m the same man you married.
No, no, you’re not. The man I married just wanted to wait to have kids. You don’t ever want any, do you?
No, I don’t...
She’d looked at him then as if he had betrayed her. As always, her disapproval had been almost more than he could bear. It didn’t excuse what he’d done with Gina, nothing ever could. He’d used Gina’s flattery to boost his ego when Annie’s condemnation had caused his self-esteem to plummet.
But in the five years since the divorce—and more dramatically since the museum disaster—he’d changed. He wanted different things from life. And now that he had a chance to show Annie, he was going to do it right this time.
Slowly, he got up and left the room. As he fed Daisy, his cell phone beckoned. Well, he’d changed, but not completely. She’d be mad at his interference, but her welfare was more important.
He picked up the house phone and dialed his junior partner’s office.
“McCade here.”
“Yeah, Devon, it’s me, Zach.”
“I’m glad you checked in. OSHA just called. They’ve made some decisions and want to meet with you today at one o’clock. About the museum’s collapse.”
“Did they give you any idea of their findings?”
“No.”
“Okay. I’ll call them back. Give me the number.”
After he did, Devon asked, “Why did you call?”
Zach’s heart swelled with the reminder that Annie was having his baby. “Your brother’s still practicing medicine in Boston, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he just opened his own office.”
“Do me a favor and call him. Find out who’s the best obstetrician in town. See if your brother can get an appointment as soon as possible. Call me back on this landline.”
“Under whose name?” was Devon’s only question.
“Annie Montgomery...Sloan.”
o0o
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration offices in downtown Lansing were unpretentious, but that didn’t ease Zach’s anxiety. He’d been waiting four long weeks for the board members to come up with some plan of action, and now that they had, his palms were sweaty.
“You can go in, Mr. Sloan,” the receptionist told him.
Zach gave her a weak smile as she ushered him through a door marked Conference Room. Six men sat around a huge table. Zach recognized some of the faces.
“Good afternoon, Sloan,” Tom Watson, the chief officer of Lansing’s division of OSHA, addressed him.
Mechanically, Zach shook his hand. Watson introduced the city engineers, whom Zach didn’t know, the supervisor of Lansing’s building-permits office, and the mayor, with whom Zach had worked several times. When Zach took a seat, he noticed the blueprints for the Pierce Museum spread out across the table. His gut clenched.
“We’ll get right to the point,” Watson said. “We’ve gone over these prints and all the other specs we can get our hands on. Several times.”
“And?”
“We’ve met with the board of the museum, and with the insurance companies. Our decision is to test the steel-and-concrete beams leading from the foundation into the building’s core.”
Zach had been over those specs a thousand times. He knew they’d hold up. “Mind telling me why you decided to do this first?”
“It’s the most logical place to start.”
“I’d think you’d go aboveground first. The staircase should be scrutinized—the connections, the welding tests.”
“The whole building is controversial,” the mayor said, his voice undercut with impatience.
“And,” a city engineer put in, “the records show that the builder, Martin Mann, put in a request for a change order to increase the number of beams going into the structure.”
“I denied the request,” Zach said. “The number and types of beams I designed would hold the building.”
“Well, maybe you were wrong, Sloan.” The mayor again. “The newspapers speculated at the time that you were more concerned with aesthetics than safety.”
Zach leaned forward, his eyes focused on the guy. His voice was deadly cold when he said, “I presented the owners with two separate expert opinions that those beams were enough. And after that newspaper article, I got a third firm to investigate. The building was delayed two months just to check that out.”
No one spoke. Finally, Watson broke the charged silence. “Nevertheless, that’s our decision.”
Zach sat back and nodded. “All right. But I suggest you discuss what you’re going to do next, because this isn’t the problem.” He stood. “If there’s anything I can do, you know where to reach me.”
With an air of confidence, Zach strode out of the office. But his stomach was in knots and his head was beginning to ache. As he stepped into the elevator, he was flooded with images of the collapse—breaking glass, the bruised limbs, the soft moans and piercing cries of the injured, the dead woman. As he pushed the button, he told himself to think of something else.
Annie. And his baby. He’d think about them.
o0o
Annie was cleaning up and worrying over the note Zach had left, when the front door opened. She heard Daisy’s excited bark and Zach’s soft murmurings. When she entered the living room, he was on one knee, scratching Daisy’s ears. He looked up, his face etched with lines of exhaustion, and her heart turned over.
“How’d it go?” she asked without preamble.
“Fine.” He scanned her jeans and shirt. “Feeling better?”
“Yes. I ate some of the crackers and reheated the tea.”
Patting the dog, he stood. Zach tugged at his tie as he set the key on the table by the foyer. “I took this because I didn’t want to wake you when I returned.”
Though she didn’t like the idea of his rummaging through her house to find a key, she let it go. Her complaint seemed petty compared to what he might have discovered about the staircase collapse. “Thanks.” She sat on a chair, studying him as he slumped on the couch, stretched out his legs, linked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. She waited. Talking about his feelings had never been easy for Zach and she’d learned years ago not to rush him.
“They’re going to start with the beams,” he finally said.
“Which ones?”
“The columns—technically, they’re called pilings—that go into the foundation.”
“Did that surprise you?”
“No. It was the most criticized part of the design.”
Annie smiled. “That and building it on a hillside.”
A grin tugged at his mouth. “That, too.”
“What do you think about the beams?”
“I know they were enough. Three independent engineering companies confirmed that.”
“So why is OSHA checking them out first?”
“Because Martin Mann requested a change order to put in more beams than the design required, and I denied the order.”
Annie cringed at the mention of the builder…
Zach, I don’t like Martin Mann.
You don’t like any of my business associates.
That’s not true. I like the Corrigans. I wouldn’t mind spending more time with them…
Shaking off the unpleasant memory, Annie asked, “Why did you deny the order?”
“Because it wasn’t necessary. And Les Corrigan agreed with me. Mann bid the job with the original number of beams. A change order would have cost the owners thousands of dollars. And we would have had to widen the circumference of the foundation, which would have altered the whole appearance of the building. It wasn’t necessary, so I said no.”
“Why is your decision being questioned now?”
“At the time, some overeager reporter accused me of not wanting my design compromised. As if I’d sacrifice safety for aesthetics.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He looked past her shoulder. “The reporter wasn’t entirely wrong, though.”
“About what?”
“I didn’t want the aesthetics compromised.”
“That doesn’t matter, Zach, so long as you didn’t take any chances.”
“I didn’t, Annie.” He sat up straight and his hands fisted. “At least I don’t think I did.”
Hesitating only a moment, she crossed to the couch and sat down next to him. “Zach, you’ve got to have faith in your design and your integrity.” She smiled. “I do.”
“How can you say that, Annie? How can you have faith in my integrity after what I did to you?”
She knew he was talking about Gina. Annie battled back the pain. “I don’t want to talk about Gina. Besides, they’re two different issues.” She stroked his hand, needing to touch him. “Tell me what will happen next.”
“Not much for a while. The company that built the original beams will reconstruct them. Then they’ll go to a lab where the same kind of stressors will be placed on them to see if they hold up. The stressors will have to be in place for a certain length of time.”
“How long?”
“Months, I’d guess.”
“That’s a long time to wait.” He didn’t say anything. “You’ll get through it, Zach.”
“I’m worried about my company. The press has already speculated that I’m at fault. When this OSHA thing gets out, business is bound to slack off. The longer it goes on, the worse off we’ll be.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” Giving her a weak grin, he placed a large masculine hand on her belly. Her stomach flip-flopped, not from morning sickness this time. “But now I have something else to think about.”
She smiled. The landline phone rang. Reluctantly, she got up to answer it. “Hello?”
“I’d like to speak to Annie Sloan.”
Her hand gripped the receiver at hearing the name she’d given up when she’d given up on Zach. “This is Annie. I go by Montgomery now.”
“Oh. Well, Ms. Montgomery, we have an appointment for you to see Dr. Barry tomorrow at four o’clock.”
“Dr. Barry? Who’s Dr. Barry?”
There was a pause. “Chief of obstetrics at Boston Medical Center.”
“I don’t understand. I didn’t—”
She hadn’t heard Zach come up behind her. Gently, he took the phone from her. “Hello, this is Ms. Montgomery’s husband. I called for the appointment. Can Dr. Barry see her soon?”
Annie watched openmouthed.
“Fine, we’ll be there at four. Thanks for doing this on such short notice.”
His movements unusually precise, Zach placed the phone in its cradle. He reached for her shoulders. “Let me explain this, honey.”
She stepped back, arms wrapped around her shaky tummy. Oh, he’d changed all right! “Get out, Zach.”