“No, eat. It’s not bad. But you asked last night if I had condoms, but then you said that it wouldn’t make a difference, what did you mean by that?”
“I’ve been told that I can’t get pregnant.” She sighed and held up her hand at his shocked expression. “The doctors thinks it’s from all the chemo and radiation I had when I was little. You probably don’t know this, but my round of radiation was once a day, six days a week for seven weeks. So that’s forty-two radiation treatments. I had five of them. Then add in the chemo. Not a good combination.
“I developed like all the other girls, but I barely got my period. If and when I got it, it was spotty at best. When I started having severe lower back pains, Mom thought it was something to do with my period, so we went to the OB to get checked out. After running several tests, we found out it wasn’t anything to do with my woman parts, but my kidneys were failing. The dialysis might have something to do with me not having my period every month and the inability to have children. Along with the radiation and chemo.”
Christopher gripped her hand in both of his and couldn’t find the words to express his shock. “Damn,you’ve been through a lot in your young life. Is it a hundred percent chance that you can’t conceive?”
“Actually.” Wanda laughed. “The doctors said I might be able to, there’s about a two percent chance I can, but I’d have to do a lot of planning and testing, I know they have over-the-counter tests you can take to tell when the best time of month would be, but I’m not getting my hopes up. When I’m ready to have kids, I can always adopt.”
Christopher didn’t know why he didn’t tell her that the condom had broken the first time they’d made love or that the third time, he didn’t use one at all. He’d wait and tell her if she ever came to him and said she was pregnant, but after what he’d just found out, he highly doubted it would ever happen. They finished up breakfast and sat and discussed what they were going to do for the weekend and ended up sightseeing around the area and spending the whole weekend together. They also spend each night in bed together making love several times.
Chapter 16
“So, you want to ride to the courthouse together?” Christopher asked Monday morning as they made breakfast together. They had to be there at ten and had a couple of hours before they had to leave.
Before she could answer his cell phone rang, and he excused himself and went into the living room to take the call. He came back in and gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, but that was my lawyer, he wants to meet with me before we go into the courthouse.”
“Okay. I was going to suggest we drive separately. When are you leaving?”
“I should probably leave right after our appointment, but how about I take you out to lunch afterward and leave from there?”
“I could do that, but only if you let me pay. You’ve paid for everything this weekend, let me return the favor.”
“It’s not my style, but I think if I want to have lunch with you, I better let you pay. So yes, I’ll agree for you to pay.” He smiled as he put the French toast on the plate and put it on the table. They ate in silence for a while, then he sighed. “I’m curious as to why the judge wants to see us.”
“Me too.” Wanda sighed and was just pushing her food around on her plate. She finally pushed it away and sighed. “What time do you have to meet your lawyer?”
“He said nine thirty outside the courthouse. That gives me two hours. Want to fool around?” He grinned and raised his brows at her, which caused her to laugh.
“No, you nut.” She threw her napkin at him, and said, “Since you don’t have anything to do, you can clean up.”
“Hey, I cooked.”
“And I thank you for that, but I need to check my e-mail and see what Trish has to say about that gallery showing that was this last weekend.”
“Oh. Go ahead.” Christopher watched her walk away and had to adjust the front of his suit pants to make room for his growing erection. Damn, she was one beautiful and sexy woman. In less than fifteen minutes the kitchen was put back to order, and the dishwasher was running. He went down the hall to make sure he had everything packed, on his way out of his room that he never used while there. He looked into one place and saw Wanda sitting behind a desk looking at her computer. He was instantly concerned by the expression on her face.
“Are you okay?”
Wanda looked up and stared at Christopher in shock. She heard him, but didn’t really hear him. Waving him in, she could only point to her computer screen. She watched as Christopher read the e-mail from her assistant, Trish, and frowned at her.
“I don’t know if I understand.”
“Trish sells my pottery in several small, rustic shops throughout the northwest. She’s based out of Seattle. She told me that a new gallery was opening in the area and they came to Trish asking if any artists would be willing to submit some of their work. She asked if she could submit some of my stuff. Sure, I have nothing to lose, so I told her to go ahead. This iswhat she sent to the gallery.” She pulled a file and pulled out three sheets of paper.
“That’s the inventory and the prices that Trish set for them.”
“Wait, but Trish’s e-mail says everything sold. Are you’re telling me that everything on this list.” He actually shook the three pieces of paper in the air. “Everything is sold, at these prices?”
“Yes.” She reached for the papers that just finished coming out of the printer and began looking over them. “These are orders from people that were at the gallery opening that were unable to purchase anything that night. In addition to my weekly internet orders and stock replenishment for Trish.” She started laughing and jumped up and hugged him. After giving him a quick smacking kiss on the lips, she smiled.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but its good you’re leaving today. You’re too much of a distraction, and I have a lot of work to do. And guess what?” She giggled and did a happy dance around the office, and Christopher felt his heart thump hard in his chest at her excitement.
“What?”
“My stuff is going to be on display in the gallery for a month.”
“Damn, then I guess you really can afford to buy me lunch.” He laughed at her excitement.
