Read Online One Last Weekend by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

confused.
    Joanna picked up the stick and showed him the little plus sign in the window.
    His expression was priceless as it went from bafflement to possibility to realization.
    â€œWe always said we wanted more kids,” Joanna said.
    He stared at her. “But I’m—you’re—we’re—”
    â€œAlmost grandparents,” Joanna supplied.
    â€œA baby, Joanna?” His eyes were alight with joy, with hope, with ecstatic amazement.
    All the things she’d hoped for.
    â€œA baby,” she confirmed.
    He threw back his head and shouted. Then he lifted Joanna off her feet, squeezing her so tightly she couldn’t get her breath for a moment. His face was a study in fatherly concern as he loosened his grip.
    â€œA baby? ” he marveled. “After all this time?”
    â€œAfter all this time,” Joanna said softly.
    â€œHow did—?”
    â€œI suppose it was the fucking,” she answered.
    He laughed.
    â€œBut it was also fate, probably,” she added. Spending these weeks virtually alone with Teague, she’d begun to see that there was something beyond the things they said to each other, ordinary or incendiary. There was a space, a magical silence, almost meditative and certainly sacred, where words simply could not reach.
    And there, with not only their bodies but their souls joined, this new baby had been conceived.
    Teague looked worried. “Have you told Caitlin?”
    â€œOf course I haven’t,” Joanna said. “I wanted you to be the first to know.”
    â€œWe’d better get you to a doctor.”
    â€œRight now, this instant? I feel fine, Teague. Better than fine.”
    â€œBut you need to be on special vitamins and have sonograms and stuff. Joanna, we have to do this right.”
    She stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “I’ve already called our doctor, and she referred us to an OB-GYN guy. My appointment is tomorrow morning at ten.”
    Teague huffed out a relieved breath, but his eyes were troubled. “Joanna, you’re— we’re —not young. There could be problems.”
    â€œThere can always be problems, Teague. And these days, a lot of people are having healthy babies in their forties.”
    â€œHow do you think Caitlin will react?”
    â€œShe’ll be shocked at first,” Joanna said. “We’re her parents, and this is proof positive that we have sex .” She grinned, waggling her eyebrows.
    â€œ Sex? ” Teague gasped, pretending to be horrified.
    â€œOld and decrepit as we are,” Joanna replied. She moved to pick up the test stick and drop it into the trash.
    â€œWait,” Teague protested. “Shouldn’t we keep that? Put it in a frame or a scrapbook or something?”
    â€œTeague,” Joanna pointed out, “I peed on it.”
    â€œOh,” he said. “Right.”
    She disposed of the stick and washed her hands at the sink.
    â€œWhat do we do now?” Teague asked. “I guess the red-hot sex is out for a while.”
    â€œOnly if the doctor says so,” Joanna said. “As for what we do now—well, I’d like to see what progress you’ve made on that boat of yours. Then we could have lunch and take Sammy for a walk.”
    Teague made a grand gesture, indicating that she should precede him through the bathroom doorway. “Your barge awaits, Cleopatra,” he said.
    She laughed, dried her hands, and stepped into the corridor.
    The “barge,” really a sleek twelve-foot rowboat, rested on a special arrangement of sawhorses in the garage behind the cottage. Teague had been as secretive about it as Joanna was about her novel, and probably for the same reasons.
    Both the boat and the book were creations of the heart and mind, fragile in their beginnings.
    Joanna drew in her breath. The craft was far from finished, still rough slats in need of endless sanding, not to