Chapter One - Steal my husbaned.

Chapter One

Third Trimester: You may feel as if there is no possible way that your belly could grow any bigger. But there is your baby still has plenty of growing to do. During these last months of pregnancy, your rapidly maturing baby will grow from two and half pounds to between six and nine pounds. Achiness, fatigue, heartburn, varicose veins, and Braxton Hicks contractions are just a few of the delights you will come to know in this last stage of pregnancy.

***

“Nobody in the history of pregnancy has ever been a woman this pregnant before,” Kim said with a groan as she sank back into the plush chair in her sister’s penthouse apartment.

Her younger sister Mandy stood nearby while she bounced her four-month-old baby, Charlotte, on her hip. Kim smiled as the baby gave her toothless grin and waved her fists about.

“She truly is the most beautiful baby in the world,” Kim commented as she absently rubbed her belly.

It seemed as if everything ached these days, from her hips to her ankles and feet. Sometimes Kim would lift her shirt just to see if her skin was ripping apart. There’d been nothing about that in her pregnancy books.

Just then, Mrs. H, Mandy’s housekeeper, came into the room, arms extended to the child. “I hope you don’t mind,” Mrs. H interrupted, “but it’s time for this one’s nap.”

“You are a godsend, Mrs. H,” Mandy said, with sincerity ringing in her tone. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Kim nodded. “If I even thought we had a chance to lure you away from Mandy and Elliot, I would do everything in my power to do so.”

Mrs. H’s cheeks heated while she clucked and shook her head. “You two! Why don’t you go out on the veranda, and I will have Robert bring you some tea?”

Kim made a face, which she didn’t try to hide from the older woman. Mandy just laughed as Mrs. H rolled her eyes and added, “And some hot chocolate for you, dear.”

Mandy went to step in front of her sister and grabbed her outstretched hands. Then, with a grunt, she helped Kim get back to her feet.

“See, I am humongous!” Kim wailed.

“You aren’t!” Mandy insisted.

“You’re huffing and puffing just from pulling me up,” Kim accused.

Mandy put her arm around her sister and began to lead her across the apartment. Her husband, business mogul Elliot Brand, had given her free rein with the interior design. As far as Kim could tell, her sister hadn’t changed much. However, Kim felt as if the place was far more welcoming than it had once been.

Their lives had truly changed dramatically in the past year. In a lot of ways, Kim could hardly reconcile who they were now with the two sisters from the wrong side of the tracks.

A pang of sadness rang through her when she thought of her recently deceased parents. Her ex-husband Andrew had been deeply involved in a drug ring gone wrong. Not only had he killed her parents, but he’d nearly torn Kim and Mandy’s newfound happiness away from them.

Luckily, those involved were in police custody and would stand trial for their actions. Kim supposed that she should have felt bad about her parent’s passing, but the relationship between their parents and the girls had always been abusive and strained.

Mandy was Kim’s only constant in life. Well, she had been, until Elliot and Nate came along. Mandy’s husband Elliot had foisted his best friend on Kim several months back under the guise of saving her coffee shop.

Not only had Nate moved into her life, but he’d also moved into her home, accepted her knocked up status, and married her. A smile tugged at Kim’s lips when she thought of Nate. The brash attorney was honest, loyal, terribly attractive, and more than a bit insane. He also adored her more than life. Nothing could have prepared her for what true happiness they would find together.

“What are you smiling about?” Mandy asked as she helped Kim settle into a wicker chair with a plush pillow at her back.

“Nate,” Kim said simply.

A smile played at Mandy’s lips. “I suppose Tina gave Nate her third trimester blues cure?”

The sisters laughed as they instantly thought about their OBGYN’s sassy nurse, Tina. Not only had she recommended Mandy get a better vibrator, but she’d also suggested Mandy find a nice young man to install in her bedroom until the pregnancy was over. Now that Mandy was happily married, Tina took all the credit for Mandy and Elliot getting together!

 “She’s one of a kind,” Kim added when her giggles subsided.

“Then tell me; what is bothering you?” Mandy asked, concern etched on her lovely face. “The coffee shop is doing well. Didn’t you say that Freddy enjoyed coming on as the new manager?”

Kim nodded hesitantly. “Yes, I am so grateful that he has taken on that role.”

“Then what is it?” Mandy prodded. “Come on, you can tell me anything!”

Kim snorted. “I know that. After all, you called me with your woes of pooping after childbirth.”

Mandy feigned a horrified look. “You swore that we’d never discuss that topic again.”

Kim laughed. “That’s right! I did. Is memory loss another symptom of pregnancy?”

“Nice try, slick,” Mandy said with a wry smile. “But I want to know, what truly is bothering you?”

“Do you remember me telling you about Alyssa Vauban?”

Mandy’s brow crinkled as she tried to place a face with the name. “Wasn’t that the girl Nate dated after grad school?”

Kim nodded miserably. “Yes. She’s a lawyer too, but Nate said she’s really never practiced. She doesn’t need to—old money. Anyway, she’s coming to New York and Nate asked me to take her under my wing while she decides if she wants to move here.”

Mandy’s eyes grew wide. “What? Why on earth would they ask such a thing?”

Kim shook her head. “My guess is that Alyssa just went through a nasty breakup and wants to start again. She and Nate parted as friends. Is it natural that I want to poke her eyes out?”

Mandy swallowed a cough that suspiciously sounded like a laugh. “I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t you get it?” Kim wailed. “Alyssa is here to steal my husband away from me!”

“No!” Mandy shook her head. “No, we must be missing something. Nate would never do anything to hurt you. He adores you.”

Kim felt the frustration and devastation that she’d felt earlier that morning when Nate had asked the favor of her. “You aren’t getting it, Mandy. I told Nate that I didn’t want to do it. I told him I felt uncomfortable being asked to hang around one of his ex-girlfriends. I made it perfectly clear that I would have no part in it.”

“You’re right,” Mandy said at last. “I don’t understand. If you told him, why is she coming?”

A single tear slipped down Kim’s pale cheek. Mandy let a ladylike curse slip out as she came to gather her sister in her arms.

“Tell me what he said,” Mandy whispered softly.

Kim’s breath caught on a sob. “He asked me if I would rather he do it himself.”

Mandy froze. “He what?”

Kim’s tears, finally breaking free, coursed down her cheeks and splashed onto her silk blouse. “He said that sometimes things aren’t what they seem, and that he couldn’t tell me any more.”

“Aww, sweet girl,” Mandy said, wiping her tears away. “Maybe Nate has reasons we don’t know about yet.”

“And maybe he wants to fuck his ex,” Kim replied with a sniffle.

“Who’s fucking their ex?” Elliot demanded from the doorway, as both ladies’ heads shot in his direction.