The Widow and the Orphan Read online

  Will’s face was pale and his hands were shaking. The fear in his eyes sent a bolt of terror into Pepper’s gut and she froze.

  “They’re taking her into surgery.”

  “Surgery? What do you mean? What’s wrong?” Pepper demanded.

  Will ran his trembling fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. “The baby is breach. They have to do a C-section.” He looked like he was about to burst into tears and Pepper pulled him into her arms, hugging him tightly.

  “It’s okay, Will. It’s just a C-section. I thought you were going to tell me she was dying or something.” Pepper’s legs felt watery with relief. She and Viv had talked about caesarian sections and the possibility of one. Viv hadn’t been worried about it and so Pepper felt honor bound not to worry, either. Time to put my game face back on. “She’s in good hands. She’s got great doctors.”

  Will’s back shuddered against her fingertips as he inhaled again more deeply. “It’s so scary,” he whispered. Straightening up, he took a step back. “I gotta go. I just wanted to come out and let you know.”

  “We’ll be right here waiting. Won’t move a muscle.”

  “Thanks, Pep.”

  She watched him disappear back down the corridor, then turned to Gabe. “Well now. I guess I can take my shoes off.”

  Despite the humor in her words and the relief that had flooded her when she learned Viv wasn’t dying, Pepper couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. She stared at the empty, white hall Will had disappeared down and hoped it was just her overactive nerves.

  * * * * *

  A couple of hours later, Pepper was in awe as she leaned against the side of Vivienne’s hospital bed. Gabe was at the foot with a broad smile on his face. The baby was wrapped like a burrito and in her mother’s arms. Will was snuggled beside them, his eyes – so big and filled with love they could have belonged to a puppy – fixed on his new daughter. A nurse milled around the room, alternately checking IVs and peeking at the baby.

  “She’s beautiful, Viv,” Pepper said softly, reaching out to stroke the baby’s cheek with her finger.

  “Yes, she is.”

  Pepper chuckled and wondered how long it would be before either one of them looked her in the eye.

  “So what’s the name?”

  “Olivia Jane. For my mom.”

  That did it. Pepper felt her heart clench and she probably would have cried but she held it together. Just barely. “That’s beautiful, Viv. Your mom would be so honored and happy.”

  “Yeah, I think so. We’re going to call her Jane, though.” She finally tore her eyes away from the baby and gave Pepper a goofy smile. She’s pretty doped up.

  “Thanks so much for being here, Pep. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  “Pffft. I didn’t do anything. I just camped in the waiting room.” She jacked her thumb backward.

  Still holding the baby tightly, Vivienne reached out and Pepper leaned forward to keep her from moving around too much. “Don’t, you nitwit. You just had major surgery.” Vivienne’s tipsy grin got bigger.

  Pepper brushed aside some red strands of hair from her friend’s cheek that had escaped her formerly fancy updo. “You did good, Viv. I’m proud of you.”

  Little Jane yawned and then let out a tiny squawk. The look of sheer terror on Viv’s face almost made Pepper laugh out loud. Nothing like breaking that bubble of bliss with a nice dose of reality. It was going to hit Viv pretty soon that she would be kicked out of the hospital in a few days with the little bundle of joy and she wasn’t going to know what the hell to do. Don’t blame her, I’d be just as clueless. Pepper didn’t figure it would take Viv too long to catch on though, with the mother she’d been raised with. About five minutes, I bet.

  “Maybe she’s hungry?” Will asked tentatively. He looked just as scared as Viv.

  “Hell if I know,” Vivienne whispered.

  The nurse came over and offered to take Jane. Pepper could see the reluctance in her best friend’s eyes and the naked protectiveness on Will’s face. As usual, she inserted herself into the situation. “Why don’t you let them take her for a while, Viv? You need to get some rest. You too, Will. You both look tired as hell.”

  “But I read something that said I need to start nursing right away,” Vivienne protested.

  “You actually can’t start for about twenty-four hours.” The nurse’s tone was apologetic and kind. “You were given magnesium before surgery and that needs to be out of your system before you can nurse.”

  Vivienne looked at Will, then at Pepper, then at the nurse. She burst into tears. “I don’t know what to do!”

  “Shh, Vivvy.” Pepper, startled by the outburst but determined to maintain her cool, scooched closer to her and rubbed her arm. “It’s okay, don’t stress.”

  The nurse sensed the urgency of the moment and took Jane out of her mother’s arms. “You rest for a while. You don’t have to worry about anything at all right now.”

  By this point, Jane was back to sleep and not in any distress. Pepper knew Viv’s comfort level was most important. She whacked Will in the arm and he finally looked at her. “Tell Viv it’s okay.”

  “Oh, right,” Will stammered. “Honey, it’s all fine. The nurses know what they’re doing. You need to rest.”

  Vivienne continued to sniffle and stretch her head this way and that, trying to get a look at Jane in her bassinette. Pepper went to it and pushed it over to the side of the bed, with the nurse’s permission. Once the baby was within close sight, Vivienne calmed down right away.

  “There. Is that better?” Pepper took Vivienne’s hand and cupped it around the baby’s head.

  “Much.” Vivienne sighed with pleasure and stared at her child until she drifted off to sleep. Will stretched out, spooning behind her, and was soon snoring softly as well.

  Watching the three of them sleep, Pepper put aside her fears of being left out of the loop. Instead, all she thought about was how much fun it would be to help her best friend raise her daughter and to be the crazy, fun, overly permissive Auntie Pepper.

  Chapter 3

  “Where’s my coffee?”

  Pepper breezed into the office the next morning carrying not only her purse, but also Vivienne’s tote bag full of files and paperwork she’d been working with before the baby decided to make its premature entry red-carpet style.

  Their assistant, Lisa, sat behind her desk, typing feverishly and bouncing in her chair to the music coming out of her iPod. She quirked an eyebrow. “Same place it is every other day you’re here. In the kitchen.”

  When Viv had moved to California and started up the Widow’s Path Foundation again, she had begged Pepper to come aboard to help. Knowing that her modeling career wasn’t going to last forever, and also understanding that she couldn’t just sponge off Gabe, Pepper had agreed. Together, she and Viv worked hard to rebuild the Foundation’s reputation and get back to the business of helping the families of soldiers who’d given their lives for their country. Pepper couldn’t believe how satisfying the work was. She often wondered if she shouldn’t have dumped the whole Hollywood dream years ago and gone to college or gotten a regular job. Her natural charm and charisma were a huge asset in the public relations department, and she attended all the events the Foundation hosted. Pepper experienced a usefulness and purpose she never had before.

  Pepper snickered and dropped her things off on the couch in her office, then clicked her way to the kitchen in her Jimmy Choo pumps. She and Lisa had a fake tempestuous relationship that was all in fun, but still made Viv’s hair stand on end. “You want some?” Pepper hollered as she poured cream into her cup.

  “No, I’m good!”

  As Pepper walked back down the hall and to her office, she kept her eyes away from the cup. Lisa had taught her that trick. If you didn’t look at the liquid sloshing around in the cup as you walked, it wouldn’t spill. The minute you peeked, it would splash all over.

  “What’s o
n the agenda, chicky?”

  Lisa stopped typing and grabbed her notebook. “The revised call sheet is already on your desk, with all the numbers so you don’t bug me for them. It includes all of the calls Vivienne was supposed to make. Reps from three local stores are due to come in after lunch to discuss discounts and promos. And you need to get on the horn to schedule the voice-over for the commercial.”

  Pepper frowned and shook her head as she sipped. “No, you need to cancel my afternoon. I can make the calls this morning, but I’m out at one o’clock to go see Viv and the baby.”

  Lisa’s glare wasn’t entirely false. “You can’t blow off these people again. I’ve rescheduled them three times because of Viv’s doctors’ appointments.”

  Pepper drummed her fingers on her chin. “All right. Can you get them to come in earlier?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Cool.”

  Pepper was irritated that her plans had been foiled. She didn’t mind doing whatever was necessary for the most part, until it interfered with her desire to do what she wanted.

  Fine, I’ll adult today.

  Sitting at her desk, Pepper zipped through the call sheet, which wasn’t quite as long as it could have been. It was mostly cold calls to individual donors or companies who had supported the Foundation in the past. Because Viv truly loathed asking for money, Pepper’s ability to get people to pony up was another big asset to the Foundation. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the whole cause was a pretty damn worthy one. It wasn’t like Pepper had to work that hard to make that clear to people. But still, she was a soft, silky voice in peoples’ ears and that helped to bolster the Foundation’s coffers. The more money they brought in, the better off the families would be.

  In between calls, she shot off texts to Vivienne.

  Got the Burkhardts 2 give 100000

  Beans giving free coffee for picnic in July

  How do I get Snax Lunchbox 2 let us adv on website

  After about the tenth message, Will called.

  “Yo, Pep.”

  “Hey!” She was instantly full of questions about Viv and Jane, but he cut her off.

  “Look, I need you to hold up on the texts, okay?”

  Pepper’s eyes widened. “Oh. Uh, okay. Is anything wrong?”

  Will sighed. “No, but we are kind of busy here. Trying to figure out how to keep a baby from crying every five seconds isn’t easy. Viv’s exhausted, I’m exhausted. We haven’t even been home twenty-four hours.”

  Shit. Pepper was mortified and smacked herself in the forehead. “I’m so sorry, Will. I didn’t think.”

  “It’s okay, Pep. It’s not like we knew how hard it was going to be. Viv trusts you. Just do what you gotta do.” His voice was frazzled, but certainly not unkind. Still, she wanted to crawl under the desk and hide.

  “All right,” Pepper whispered. “I really am sorry. Can I come by this afternoon? Do anything for you guys?”

  “No, we’re good. You might want to hold off on visiting for a couple of days. Let us get into a groove.”

  Pepper sat back in her office chair, her shoulders sinking with rejection. “Sure, sure. I understand. Give Vivvy a hug and a kiss, and that baby, too. Tell her to text or call me when she’s ready.”

  “Will do.”

  Pepper ended the call and stared at the phone for a full minute, filled with remorse. As usual, she was only thinking of herself and not what was best for Viv. I’m such an ass.

  “You’re not an ass.”

  How does she do that? Pepper’s head swiveled to see Lisa standing in the doorway.

  “Yes I am. I should have realized.”

  “How could you? You don’t have kids.”

  “I guess.” Pepper smiled sadly. “What’s up?”

  “Well, since you’re going to be here now, that’s a good thing. I couldn’t reschedule the meetings for any earlier.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Done with the calls?”

  “Yeah.” Pepper held up the call sheet, all marked with neat little check marks next to all of the names.

  Lisa walked over and took it. “Good. Why don’t you look over the changes I made to the press releases? If they’re okay, I’ll send them out.”

  “Okee dokee. Let’s keep busy, shall we?”

  “You got it.”

  Well, I did say I would adult today.

  * * * * *

  Pepper surprised even herself after that. She made the executive decision to be in charge and take responsibility for everything. The worst case scenario would be that Viv didn’t like any of her choices, and Pepper could live with that. They had disagreed plenty of times over the last three decades and it stood to reason they would continue to do so occasionally for the rest of their lives.

  Keeping her promise, Pepper refrained from texting or calling. She threw herself into work during the day and spending time with Gabe at night. It drove her nuts not to be able to send a message every time she wanted to, but she knew that life was changing. Boundaries were now going to be something she would have to learn to live with and respect, especially until Viv got more comfortable in her role as a mom. So instead of pushing herself into the situation in typical Pepper fashion, she shopped. Running the Foundation didn’t take up every single second of the day, so she surfed the net and gazed at hundreds of websites with the cutest baby things she’d ever seen. Every time she saw something she couldn’t resist, she ordered it and had it sent to little Jane. If she couldn’t be physically or electronically present, then she would let everyone know she was still there by sending gifts.

  The thrill of choosing outfits and toys only lasted so long, though. She picked up her phone a billion times a day to send a text or call, but each time she put it back down. She even made Lisa hold onto it when the desire to reach out became more than Pepper could bear.

  When a week went by, Pepper broke.

  Hey its me miss u luv u

  She wanted to go by the house and see Viv and the baby so badly she could taste it. How she had managed to abstain for seven whole days without contact was a mystery. I deserve some credit for that, don’t I? She tried to convince herself that sending the simple message wasn’t really breaking her promise.

  When she didn’t get an answer after a half hour, Pepper flip-flopped and became terrified. She never had learned patience and now it was biting her in the ass. Shame filled her head. This wasn’t like forcing Viv to get a dress or go somewhere new. This was a baby. A new level of responsibility. Understanding came like a lightning bolt and Pepper vowed not to screw up again.

  Lisa was a huge help, handing over more and more of Vivienne’s workload to keep Pepper busy. There were meetings to have with the accountant and all kinds of financial reports to review. All of the tasks Pepper had rejected in any way, shape or form prior to the baby coming were now being given to her. She was actually learning the true ins and outs of the Foundation. Still, Pepper was a multi-tasker at heart. She could handle anything Lisa threw her way and still agonize over her friendship with Vivienne and where it was going to land now that motherhood was taking a front row seat.

  Another week later, Pepper was sitting at her desk watching nothing going on outside the window. It wasn’t like Vivienne to go two whole weeks without contact. Maybe she couldn’t expect them to become overnight parents, but they couldn’t very well expect her to stop being Pepper, right? At some point she was going to horn in like she always did. Right? She couldn’t bear the thought of being replaced in Viv’s affection by the baby. She could share, of course, but to be ignored would be horrific.

  Pepper grabbed the phone on her desk and dialed Gabe’s office number.

  “Gabriel Seigal’s office.”

  Pepper smiled at the sound of Gabe’s assistant, Aiden Powell.

  “Yeah, Aid, it’s Pepper. Is my guy around?”

  “Actually, he’s on a conference call with the Japanese investors. Talking them off the ledge with the new studio.”

&nbs
p; She could hear his fingers flying across the keyboard as he typed and talked with her. Pepper closed her eyes and pictured his perfectly coiffed blond hair, boyish Robert Redford good looks, and crisp white tie and shirt. He’d been Gabe’s assistant since EJR was founded and was more of a friend than employee after so long.

  “Crap. Okay. Tell him I called, please.”

  “What’s wrong?” Aiden stopped typing. “You sound down.”

  Pepper hesitated before answering. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

  “Bah, it’s gotta be something. You’re never down. Now tell me what it is.”

  Taking a deep breath, Pepper dove in. “I guess I’m feeling a little lost right now. And helpless. My best friend had her baby and I want to go see her, but she hasn’t responded to my texts or calls. I can’t tell if she’s mad at me or if she’s just too busy for chit chat. Maybe I just didn’t know exactly how much things were going to change and now I don’t know what the hell to do.”

  “Well, duh, she’s probably trying to figure everything out.” He resumed his typing.

  “Yeah, but we’ve been best friends since we were five, for Pete’s sake. I’ve sent over a bunch of gifts and sent texts and called. She can’t even send a text to say ‘hey’?”

  “So go over there.”

  “No, I can’t show up unannounced.”

  “Since when?” Aiden chuckled. Pepper had to laugh too, because she’d often stop by Gabe’s office without calling first. “If you’re that good a friend, then she’s not going to slam the door in your face. There has to be a reason. Maybe she’s too embarrassed to call you because she needs help?”

  Pepper considered this. It did fit Viv’s modus operandi. When her mother had died, it had taken a near mental breakdown before she had reached out for help. Not to mention the woman’s seventeen-year, self-imposed grieving period after the death of her first husband. “Why, when you say it, does it seem so damn obvious?” Pepper wished they were facetiming so he could see the derisive look she was giving the phone.

  “Because I’m not smack in the middle of the situation. Just go over there.”