Ill Conceived Plans

Room with a View

Sarah's head was still spinning, she was clean and pjed up, sitting on her bed eating a little of the roast lamb from dinner.

It had been delivered by her little sister who sat on the other side of the big double bed watching her eat. She'd been sent by Matahari herself – the master spy and all-seeing oracle – better-known as Margaret Hilditch.

She still couldn't believe her "mother" had guessed. Well, she was a mum, they knew these things didn't they? Would she get a sixth sense, would she be able to tell when Bean was hiding something? God knows but probably not. Margaret was a natural mother, Sarah was a natural fuck-up, only someone like her would end up pregnant with her best friend's baby, her half-sister's brother's baby. It was a headspin. And when you said it like that, it almost sounded obscene. The fact that Margaret had worked it out was even more of a shocker.

And yet downstairs, Margaret had hugged her stepdaughter and told her she was so glad that her hunch was right and that she was having her son's baby and not the offspring of some faceless stranger. Sarah had expected to be ostracised well maybe not but a little more resistance, a little tut-tutting but no, hugging, tears and excitement about her latest grandchild.

And Sarah thought she was weird because Dane was bound to produce a child at some point. It wasn't like he was pig dog ugly, with four toes and bucked teeth, living in his mother's attic.

He was Dane Hilditch, international movie star, with the looks to match and brains to boot. He owned at least one multi-million dollar property of his own, outright and had beautiful manners and attracted beautiful women like rain to Wimbledon.

Hell, he even had the beautiful, talented actress girlfriend now.

But Margaret seemed over-joyed that she and her son had accidentally created a new life. She was sure most mothers would have been appalled that their son had a one-night stand that ended in a pregnancy.

Though she supposed this was hardly your usual one-nighter was it?

Mind you she wasn't exactly happy with Margaret, she had dropped her in it. Sarah had quizzed her, how the hell she'd known. So much for keeping it to herself.

Had Dehlia rung? Had Neville? He swore he hadn't.

Margaret had just touched a finger to her nose. "Mother's know!" she'd said mysteriously but apparently the fact that Dane kept asking how her how Sarah was, both had told her they were spending her birthday together and then Sarah's reluctance to announce her pregnancy face to face had been telling. Of course, the fact, that unlike her son, Margaret was good at maths might have been the clincher. Sarah had shaken her head.

"You've always been family," Margaret had told her hugging her. "This just makes it even more official."

But did it?

This was truly the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her.

She looked across the bed at her little sister. The only one who hadn't come up and hugged her touched her tummy, talked to the little "Hilditch".

Thena had hung back.

Watched from across the room.

She was still doing it.

Still looking at Sarah like she was a science experiment.

It must be weird for her, her big sister was pregnant and she'd never expected that and now the bomb had dropped – her big brother was the father. Sarah remembered when she'd discovered that Thena was on her way – even at 19-20 it was kind of off-putting to find out that your father still, well did "it" – the fact that he had done it with her best friend's mum, her mother substitute, had felt stranger, even though they were engaged by then.