Nanny Undercover

Chapter 27: Surprise!

AN: Probably just one more chapter, then an epilogue, okay, Intrepid Readers?

🌿 🌺 🌸 🌼 🌿

"Honey, does Jeff know where you are?"

Her mother's voice cut into Goldie's thoughts. Goldie looked over at her from where she was folding clothes in the laundry room. Reluctantly, she shook her head.

"Why on earth not?"

Goldie bit her lips together for a moment before speaking. "Just about the last thing he said to me was that he needed my address to send me annulment papers," she finally said with a sigh and a shrug. "I figure if he doesn't know where I am, he can't send me the papers, and I can stay married to him a little longer."

"Goldie Anne Sorensen, what kind of logic is that?" Harriet looked at her daughter in fond exasperation.

"Mom, please don't full name me about this." Goldie's chin quivered for a moment before she firmed it up with effort. "It's been months. He could text me any time he wanted, and he hasn't, so he obviously doesn't care that much." She flapped a pair of jeans to get the creases out before folding them.

"Speaking of jeans," she went on, holding her pants up for emphasis, "I need new clothes, these are getting tight. Want to go shopping with me?"

"Of course," her mother responded, distracted. "I'm free tomorrow afternoon, if that suits you?"
Goldie nodded. "Thanks, Mom." She put the jeans in the basket and hugged her mother.

"You feeling better?" Her mother looked at her carefully. "Nausea nearly gone?"

Goldie nodded. "Some smells still get to me, but I'm doing okay, thanks for asking."

It was early April, and her pregnancy was going fine, according to Dr. Tynan. She was about 15 weeks along, which put her due date in mid-September. Goldie was enjoying getting out on the trails behind her parents' house and seeing the early wildflowers.

She picked up the basket and followed her mother into the sunny kitchen. "Do you think it was a mistake? Keeping the baby?"

Her mother shook her head. "Of course not. Keeping the baby is definitely not your mistake."

Goldie did a little eye roll. "Mom, I don't want to tell Jeff and have him feel an obligation, either to me or the baby. He might even change his mind about the annulment from sheer guilt, and I don't want him doing that, either."

"Well, what do you want?" Her mother leaned forward and smoothed Goldie's hair, a comforting gesture.

"I want him to realize he loves me and misses me and wants me back, without any reservations or ulterior motives whatsoever," Goldie answered with a smile.

"Honey, just remember, he can't make a choice if he doesn't even realize that he has a choice to make," her mother said as she tied on an apron.

Goldie sighed again.

"Oh, you know who was asking about you?" Her mother turned from the refrigerator. At Goldie's inquisitive look she continued. "Gage Allerton."

Goldie smiled at the mention of her old high school boyfriend. "What's he doing these days?" she asked, perching on a stool at the island, her laundry basket forgotten.

"He's manager of the supermarket, youngest they've ever had, and running for city council," her mother told her as she began chopping vegetables. "I think he's still interested in you."

Goldie laughed. "Yeah, that's just what I need in my life right now, to rekindle a relationship with my high school sweetheart."

"Obviously I wasn't suggesting anything like that," her mother admonished. "You're a married woman, after all, carrying your estranged husband's child and in love with him still."