“Who cares what you look like?” Jamie sniffed. “I think he has a lot of nerve just showing up here without even calling first. Where has he been for the last three months?”

While that was true, it didn’t negate the need to look good when she saw him again. Obviously Caroline understood her plight better as she was whipping a comb and lipstick out of her purse on the coffee table.

Mandy had just patted, powdered, and finished puckering when someone knocked on the door. She was glad she was wearing a sundress and heels. “Do I look pregnant?” she asked as Jamie went to answer the door.

“No,” Caroline said.

“Good.” She wasn’t sure why it mattered, but she didn’t want Ben to see her as a pregnant woman. She didn’t want to see how he would react.

After letting Ben in, Jamie and Caroline discreetly took themselves off down the hall, and Mandy was left staring at the man who had fathered her baby.

She felt surprisingly little.

She didn’t remember him being quite so short, or his blond hair quite so thin on top. “Hello, Ben. How are you?”

“Mandy.” He came forward and kissed her cheek. “I’m fine, thanks. And I have to say, pregnancy agrees with you. You look fantastic.”

Well, it was something. She couldn’t help but grit her teeth, though. Had he been hoping she would look like hell as she pined over him?

“Thank you.” She stared at him expectantly. There had to be a point to this little visit, and she didn’t feel like being courteous in the meantime. Any feelings she had ever had for his politeness, his stability, his kindness, had all evaporated when he had told her he had no intention of ever seeing his child.

“Can I sit down?” Ben was wearing neatly pressed navy slacks and a white golf shirt. He patted his pocket and smiled awkwardly, almost as if he were nervous.

“Ben.” She sighed. Sleeping was sounding more and more appealing. “I just got home from a business trip. I’ve been on a plane for over three hours and stood in line at customs for almost two. I’m tired. What do you want?”

“My son just graduated from Fordham this past weekend.”

A pain started behind her eyes. That son was her child’s half brother and her baby would never even know him. “Give him my congratulations then.” She almost laughed at the inanity of her comment, but her mother had taught her manners, if anything.

“I will. And seeing him, well, it got me thinking. You’re having my child.”

Was that supposed to be a newsflash? Mandy decided her feet hurt too much to stand anymore. She sank onto the couch and kicked off her sandals. “That’s my understanding, yes.”