“You’ll never win against me,” Casey said.
“I don’t know about that, because unlike you and your lover boy, I’ll actually have the truth on my side.”
“You’re lying!”
Hope made herself smile. “We’ll see won’t we.” She walked away then, and kept walking until she reached the grocery store. Only then did she draw in a deep, steadying breath.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
She was pregnant. Looking at the little white stick, Hope willed it to change color. It didn’t.
She’d left it a few more days, hoping the sickness she felt in the mornings would pass. It hadn’t. Moaning, she fell onto the toilet seat and put her head between her knees. Dear Christ, what did she do now? She needed air. Suddenly the walls of her mother’s bathroom were closing in on her. Stuffing her feet into her boots, she shouted a goodbye to her mother, who was gardening, then let herself out the front door. Pressing a fist to her chest, she tried to ease the panic inside her.
She had to tell Newman, and she had to do it now before she chickened out. Walking up the drive she headed right instead of left, which would take her into town. At the end of the street, she found a narrow track that would lead to the trails. Today there was no peace in the solitude that surrounded her.
At least John had told her that he wouldn’t need her for a few days as he was being flown around the area by Ethan or Brad, looking for other locations.
“What the hell am I going to do now?”
“My guess is walk the trails. But then I’m not always right.”
“Jesus, Faith!” Hope’s heart was thudding so hard it hurt. “What the hell are you doing skulking about here?” Hope looked at her friend’s walking clothes. Anyone looking at her couldn’t help but know what she was doing.
“Okay, don’t answer that.”
“You okay, Hope?”
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”
Faith took a closer look at Hope. “You look a bit odd.”
“No, I don’t.”
“No, you do.”
“Whatever.” Hope waved her words away. “I’m going for a walk.”
“That’s the outfit for it.” Faith lifted a hand and walked around Hope, then disappeared down the trail she’d just walked up. Looking at herself, Hope realized that maybe her old T-shirt, which came to midthigh and had Oscar the Grouch on the front saying “I’d rather live in a can”, wasn’t usual walking attire.
“What the hell,” Hope muttered. Her day wasn’t going to plan anyway, and people already thought her weird.
She walked on, and was soon sweating. Thoughts came and went, but the main two that remained lodged in her head were, she had to tell Newman, and she was keeping this baby.
She was having a baby!
An hour later that thought and not much else was still ricocheting around inside her head. She’d come up with no plan for her future, or if she would leave Howling or stay.
Reaching the peak, Hope realized she hadn’t walked up here in years, and even then, she hadn’t come up this high. She saw the water below, and more spectacular scenery, then cut right, and came across another trail that she hoped went down.
Raising a child here would make sense. It was secure, her mother was here, and plenty of people she knew who would support her. Newman was also here. If he married someone else, or actually settled down with a woman, then she’d see him. Was that a problem? She realized it could be, because she felt more for him than she should.
“And that makes no sense.”
The path came to a fork. She went left, and ended up on another ridge. This one looked back down on Lake Howling. Hope couldn’t remember ever coming up here, and when she saw the house she realized she hadn’t seen that before either.
The front of the roof was slightly higher than the back, in soft gray slate. Hope imagined windows offering spectacular views of the water and mountains on the side she couldn’t see, and maybe even a peek at the town of Howling. The wooden exterior had faded to a silvery gray, and blended into its surrounds with ease. Large and single-storied, it hugged the ridge. Whoever had designed it had done so with the environment in mind.
Walking slowly forward, she followed the stone driveway to the edge and studied it more closely. Would it be rude to walk around the front and take a look?
