“Bless you,” Jennifer said. “Did you get caught in that cold rain that’s been whipping about out there all day?” She glanced at the ceiling. “And is picking up force even as we speak?”

“Yes, I did,” Evan said. “I went out to lunch with the mayor and got drenched. I’ve been slogging around in a wet suit ever since.” He frowned. “We forgot the greetings. Hello, Jennifer, how are you? You should have gone on home where it’s dry and warm.”

“Hello, Evan. I’m dry and warm standing here because some of us have the good sense to carry an umbrella on a day like this. Please excuse my casual attire, but jeans and a sweatshirt are my fashion statement when I’m editing.”

“You look comfortable.” Evan rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, his damp suit coat already draped on a chair to dry. “Have you had dinner?”

“No, I came straight here from the studio. I’m eager to know how things went with your witnesses.”

“Why don’t I get a pizza delivered up here?” Evan said. “The witnesses I dealt with today are as prepared as they are going to be. What I’m going to tackle now is examining the jury pool applications. If you’re willing to keep it off the record, I’d appreciate your input. If you don’t mind. Of course, if you’d rather not, that’s fine, too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jennifer said, then sighed. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, we sound like people reading lines in a play. I guess our working together is going to be more difficult than I thought, but it’s necessary. We’ve got to attempt to relax, just be ourselves.”

“That’s a tough assignment,” Evan said gruffly, “when there are so many unresolved issues between us.”

“Which will be addressed after the trial,” Jennifer said. “Except… Oh, dear.”

“Oh, dear…what?”

“Well, I promised you I’d go to the doctor and I did, but I also said it would be best if we didn’t discuss the baby until the trial was over and…”

Evan sat down at the conference table and pointed to the chair opposite him.

“Sit,” he said. “Tell me everything the doctor said. Why did you faint? People don’t faint for no reason. There has to be an explanation for it. What did he say was wrong with you that made you conk out like that?”

“Whoa,” Jennifer said, raising one hand palm out. “Give me a chance to speak. The doctor said my blood pressure was a bit low but he’d keep an eye on it and it should straighten out once my body adjusts to being pregnant.

“Low blood pressure is better than blood pressure that is too high. Get it? I should…hopefully…be finishing up my tour of duty with morning sickness and that will help settle things down. He said I was doing just fine.”

“Fainting is not doing fine,” Evan said, shaking his head.

“Fainting when you’re pregnant is doing fine. Are we going to argue about this?”

“No. No, of course not. I was worried, that’s all. So, okay. You’re doing fine.”

“Yes.” Jennifer paused. “Evan, there’s one other thing I need to tell you about my visit to the doctor today.”

Evan sat bolt upward in the chair. “What? What else? What is it?”

“I had an ultrasound and, oh, it was amazing. The printer wasn’t working so I didn’t get a picture to take home but… Anyway, I thought you might like to know…well, maybe it doesn’t matter that much to you but…”

“Damn it, Jennifer,” Evan interrupted, “cut to the chase. You’re scaring me to death here.”

“Okay, okay.” Jennifer drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The baby…our baby…Evan, it’s a boy. I’m…you’re…we’re…going to have a…a son.”

Evan got to his feet, opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it closed again when nothing came out. He plunked back onto the chair and leaned toward Jennifer.

“A son?” he said, awe ringing in his voice. “It’s a boy? A…a son? Are you sure?”

Jennifer laughed, the musical sound seeming to fill the room to overflowing.

“Pictures don’t lie,” she said, still smiling. “The ultrasound was so clear it just took my breath away and, yes, believe me, it was very obvious that our baby has certain equipment, shall we say, that baby girls don’t have.

“My doctor looked at the screen and said, ‘Well, hello, young man.’ I saw him, Evan. I saw his little heart beating and…” She laughed again. “Of course, I wept buckets, but I swear I’ll never forget that moment when I saw…” She flapped one hand in the air. “Don’t get me started.”

Evan sank back in the chair. “A son. Whew. Add that to the stack of ‘I need time to adjust to this’ stuff. Are you disappointed? I mean, don’t women usually want a girl they dress in frilly, pink things, and put bows in their hair and on their socks and…”

“Bows on their socks?”

Evan shrugged. “I saw a little girl in a restaurant once who had bows on her socks. She was in a high-chair and kept lifting her feet so she could see those bows. Her mother finally took off her shoes and socks so the kid would eat some dinner.” He paused. “So, are you? Disappointed that it’s a boy?”

“Not in a million years,” Jennifer said, smiling.

Evan matched her smile and their gazes met across the table. The room seemed to disappear into a mist, leaving a private place where awareness was heightened and desire began to hum, gain force and heat within them. Jennifer was the first to break the sensuous spell.

“The jury applications,” she said, tearing her gaze from Evan’s. “We need to get to work, Evan.”

“What? Oh, right. Work. Yeah.” Evan got to his feet. “I’ll order a pizza first, then we’ll start tackling these things. You don’t have to do this, you know. I mean, if you’re rather go on home I’ll understand.”

“Do you want me to leave?” she said, looking up at him.

“No,” he said quietly. “No, Jenny, I don’t want you to leave.”

“Then I’ll stay.”

“Thank you.” Evan smiled. “Let’s see how much of an argument we can make out of what toppings we want on this pizza I’m going to order.”

“You’re on,” Jennifer said, laughing.

Four hours later Jennifer yawned, then stretched out on the sofa instead of being curled up in the corner of it with her shoes off.

“I like that one,” she said. “The fact that she’s a single woman with no children is excellent. She won’t get caught up in the mental scenario that I did about Cecelia Gardner having lost one son and now here is the other on trial and blah, blah, blah.

“Boy, I sure was wrong on that score. Cecelia isn’t a mother, she’s a walking, talking social machine.” Jennifer yawned again. “Anyway, I vote that you try to get that woman on the jury. I don’t think she’d declare Lyle innocent out of sympathy for Cecelia.”

“Mmm.” Evan nodded, then wrote a note on the top of the paper.

Rain beat against the windows with a frenzy, the thunder continued to roar and lightning followed closely behind each rumble.

“That’s enough of this stuff for one night,” Evan said, rotating his neck. “These people on the applications are all starting to sound the same to me. I think we should… Jennifer?”

Evan got to his feet and moved around the long table to stand next to the sofa where Jennifer had drifted off to sleep. She had shifted to her side, one hand tucked beneath her cheek, the other splayed on her sweatshirt-covered stomach.

So beautiful, he thought, his heart quickening as he drank in the sight of her. In the future he might work late one night…not often, but occasionally…then come home and move quietly through their home so as not to waken her. Then he’d stand next to their bed and gaze at her, just as he was now. He could find a way, he could, to cut back on the long hours he worked. He could. He would.

He’d shed his clothes and slip beneath the blankets and… No, no, wait a minute. He’d forgotten something. On the way to his and Jennifer’s bedroom, he would have stopped first in the nursery down the hall to check on their baby, their son, to watch the little miracle they had created together sleep the sleep of the innocent.