“You won’t regret this, Kell,” he said, reverting to his pet name for her. She had the strangest urge to weep. How had they gotten so far away from the plans they had made just months earlier?

“We can do this. We can work it out.”

She closed her eyes. The thing was, it was easy to be seduced by the intensity in those words. But going forward would be impossible until they’d addressed their past. And she never ever wanted to go back to that horrible day when her world had been so brutally upended.

* * *

The doctor was very approving of a week of rest and relaxation for Kelly and cautioned her to seek medical attention if the swelling got worse or she developed other symptoms.

Ryan had hung on to every word the doctor said and had acted just like a concerned husband and father. Instead of making her feel good, it depressed the hell out of her because it drew attention to the fact that their situation was hopeless.

When they arrived back at the apartment there were several department store bags stacked just inside the door. She eyed them curiously because they were decidedly feminine-looking, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there was even a bag from a well-known lingerie store.

She glanced at Ryan, one eyebrow arched in question.

“Oh good, Jansen’s been by,” Ryan said as he walked over to the assortment of bags. “They’re for you. For our trip.” He gathered the handles and brought everything over to the couch, gesturing for her to have a look.

A little befuddled, she opened the packages, finding several maternity sundresses and sleek designer outfits, as well as beach attire all the way to a pair of sandals. As suspected, there were even all the girlie accoutrements in the lingerie bag.

“You shouldn’t have done this,” she murmured. How quickly they had fallen back into their old routine, and her discomfort level was off the charts.

“I didn’t,” he replied. “Jansen went shopping for me.”

Despite herself, she smiled at the image of Ryan’s hunky assistant traipsing through the maternity department in search of clothes and—even more hilarious—going into the lingerie store to buy panties and bras.

“How is Jansen?”

“Fine,” Ryan replied. “Same as ever.”

“Thank you for this,” she added, swallowing her all-important pride for the moment.

His smile was genuine. “You’re quite welcome. Why don’t you go lie down for a while and I’ll pack our suitcases. Then we can have dinner. We’ll call it an early night since we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

She left the clothes on the couch and slowly rose. It was stupid of her to soften toward him. It was stupid to wish even for a moment that things were back to the way they’d been before.