Mother Load (3 page)

That was the Anna Kaklis she knew and loved, the one who would go to any lengths to make her happy. “I don’t care what any of those other people say. I think you’re the most amazing woman in the world.”

“What other people?” Anna quirked her eyebrows with suspicion just as Dr. Ostrov burst through the door, her open lab coat trailing behind her like a cape.

Lily tried to read her face. No frown, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. She might just be trying to keep an optimistic outlook.

She dropped a folder on her desk and collapsed into her high-backed leather chair declaring, “I love my job.”

Both of them sat up ramrod straight, their hands tightly entwined. “What are you saying?”

“Technically speaking, I’m saying your hCG was thirty-six.” She then broke out into a wide grin. “Not so technically, I’m saying the third time’s a charm. You’re pregnant.”

Anna’s eyes went wide and she covered her mouth to muffle a quiet scream. “We did it!”

“Indeed we did,” Beth said, folding her hands atop the manila folder. “Feel free to pretend I’m not here for a minute. That’s what most couples do right about now.”

Lily realized she was grinning wildly, and she leaned into Anna’s eager kiss. This was it, the answer to their dreams.

“The blood test is just the first step,” Beth continued. “All we know right now is that the embryo implanted and that kicked up your hCG. Actually, it could be two embryos.”

“Two?” Lily asked. They had known from the beginning that twins were a possibility because they were using two eggs to increase their odds. But since Anna’s eggs hadn’t implanted before, Lily had automatically assumed this baby was from her egg. “You think it’s possible Anna’s would have implanted too?”

“Her eggs were as healthy as any I’ve seen. As far as I’m concerned this baby could belong to either of you.”

“But why didn’t it—”

“Just the odds.”

“It doesn’t matter. This baby belongs to both of us,” Anna declared exuberantly.

“That’s the spirit. We’ll do the blood tests every couple of weeks just to make sure things are happening on schedule. In the meantime I want you on a regimen of vitamins and exercise, and this is where you have to start watching your diet…lots of fruits and vegetables.” Beth paged through the folder again. “You don’t drink so that’s not an issue…no medications. As of right now I don’t want you taking anything without getting my okay, not even for an upset stomach or headache. Got it?”

“Got it.” She crossed her heart for emphasis, realizing that Anna was squeezing her other hand so hard the knuckles had started to turn white.

“What else?” Anna asked, her voice changing to business mode. “Does she have any other restrictions? Should she take it easy? Quit work?”

Lily had a feeling that if it were up to Anna she would stay home in bed starting this afternoon. She had planned to continue working as long as she could, but after the trouble they’d had getting pregnant in the first place, it occurred to her Beth might want to take a more cautious approach.

“I don’t advise taking up a new sport or active hobby, but most women are fine doing the things they’ve always done.” She slid a pamphlet across her desk. “Here are some things you should watch for in the first trimester. Your body will change a lot in the next few weeks, probably even more than in the final months of pregnancy.”

It was surreal to think of her body as different now, especially since it didn’t feel different at all. She didn’t mind the prospect of changes, not even the ones Kim had complained about when she was pregnant. Anything was worth it to get the baby they wanted.

“What’s our due date?” Anna asked.

Beth nodded toward the pamphlet in Lily’s hand. “I wrote it down for you. First of June. I also circled December first because fourteen weeks is what we consider the end of the greatest risk period. Some couples like to wait until then to tell everyone, but it’s totally up to you. My guess is you’ll be showing a little by then.” She abruptly stood and clapped her hands together with a smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make some more babies. I’ll see you back here in two weeks for another blood test.”

Lily sat frozen in her seat until Anna gave her a tug. “I can’t believe it. We’re actually pregnant.”

“Let’s take the day off and go home to celebrate.” Given the demands at Premier Motors, it was an incredibly generous offer.

“I can’t. I have to be in court this afternoon. My client is getting a much-needed divorce. I’ll take a rain check though.”

Anna sighed, but by her wide grin she was anything but disappointed. “I hope Andy doesn’t mind being put to bed at six thirty. I think a private celebration is in order.”

“If I get home first I’ll make him swim laps until he’s exhausted.”

After making a stop at the desk to schedule their next appointment, they continued to the garage, where they had parked side by side. Anna held the door of Lily’s X3 SUV. “I won’t tell anyone today, but folks are going to wonder why I’m smiling so much when we’re losing money.”

Fear gripped Lily for the first time. “I think we should wait until December, like Beth said. I don’t think I could stand losing—”

Anna cut her off with a kiss. “We won’t lose anything, sweetheart. Our baby will be perfect.”

Typical Anna, strong and confident. Lily hoped the same for their baby, and that it would have her crystal blue eyes as well.

Lily jiggled the connector cable to her monitor, bringing her document back to life. The equipment at the Braxton Street Legal Aid Clinic was ancient by the standards of most law firms. More than once she had considered buying her own computer for the office, something compatible with the one she used at home. Over the summer she had written a small grant to upgrade their office computer system, but with the recession most foundations were sitting on their funds.

The intercom button on her phone beeped. “Lily, Tony wants to see you in his office.”

Their workload had exploded in the past year with the rise in foreclosures and evictions, to say nothing of all of the people clamoring for benefits. She had managed to carve out a specialized caseload of family issues, mostly custody and adoption cases, and divorce. As always her concern was for the welfare of the children.

She pushed her stocking feet into her pumps, buttoned the cuffs on her striped Oxford shirt and smoothed her navy skirt. It was her typical office attire, comfortable enough for a casual day behind her desk, yet with a matching jacket dressy enough should she be called to court. No sign of a growing belly so far, though she was now eight weeks along. It thrilled her to think she might be showing in only another month, and neither she nor Anna had broken their pact not to tell anyone, somehow keeping their secret for six weeks.

Walking past the reception area to Tony’s office, she noted the unusual clutter on Pauline’s desk. Clearly they all were swamped.

“You need to see me, chief?”

Tony glanced up from his desk, where he was studying several open case files. “Yeah, give me a sec.”

Last year, soon after his forty-second birthday, he had started wearing reading glasses, and they now sat perched upon his nose. His thin sandy hair was standing up as though he had mussed it in exasperation and his tie hung loosely around his neck.

Lily took advantage of the chance to stretch her legs, foregoing the offered chair to gaze out the window onto busy Braxton Street. She had the same view from her office but couldn’t see it from her desk unless she stood.

With a deep sigh, Tony picked up a file and joined her at the window. Over the past three years, marriage and family had cut into his active lifestyle, and Colleen’s home cooking had deposited a spare tire around his waist. They now had three children, two from her previous marriage and the baby they had welcomed just last year. Lily was bursting to share the news of her pregnancy, but was determined to hold off for a few weeks more until their tests checked out. No doubt Tony would panic, just as he had when fellow attorney Lauren had gotten pregnant a couple of years earlier. She had taken only two months maternity leave. Lily planned to ask for six.

“You’ll never guess who called this morning.” He handed her the file. “Maria Esperanza.”

Lily knew Maria all too well. In her seven years at the clinic, she had handled two divorces of Maria’s from husband Miguel, four criminal complaints involving domestic violence, and no fewer than seven custody hearings for the couple’s two children, Roberto and Sofia. “It never ends for those two. What is it this time?”

“First she wants a restraining order. Then she wants Miguel’s visitation revoked permanently. She claims he threatened her with a gun…said he was going to make her sorry one of these days.”

Miguel already had two assault convictions for battering his wife on his record, and had done eight months in the county jail for the second offense. “If he has a gun, that’s a violation of his probation. I can have him picked up and thrown in jail by dinnertime.”

“Assuming she’s even telling the truth. You know how she is, Lily. She’ll say anything to get the judge mad at Miguel.”

Not only that, she also had a history of hiding the kids when her ex-husband showed up for visitation, an act that had provoked his violent side. But a threat with a gun definitely raised the stakes. “I’ve never worried before that he’d hurt his kids, but sometimes I think he gets so angry at Maria that I wouldn’t put it past him. Are the police involved?”

“No, not yet.”

“Why don’t I start with Pete Simpkins? He was still Miguel’s attorney last I heard. Maybe I can get him to call the probation officer to go over and search for a gun.”

“Works for me.” He handed her the file and pushed his hands in his pockets, clearly troubled.

“Something else, Tony?”

He looked down at his feet for a few seconds before finally meeting her eye. “The Cryder Foundation didn’t renew us for next year.”

The Cryder grant was specifically set aside for children and family legal services, and it covered most of Lily’s salary. She had written the application herself last summer touting the number of people that had benefitted from the foundation’s previous support. “Did they say why?”

He shrugged. “Like everyone else, their portfolios crashed. They hardly funded anyone this cycle, but they invited us to apply again next spring.”

She had worked at the law clinic long enough to know her job was secure, though it likely meant she would be handed more criminal cases, since their contract with the public defender’s office was one of their main sources of funding. “You’re sending me back to jail, aren’t you?”

“I’m afraid so. I know how much you hate it, so I promise I’ll at least try to get you all the juvie cases.”

She definitely preferred juvenile justice to adult crime. The last thing she wanted was to find herself defending the likes of Miguel Esperanza.

Anna touched her cheeks with blush before the mirror on the back of her office door. For a six whole weeks she had done her best to keep her expression calm and serious in front of her staff, but in the privacy of her office it was all she could do not to whistle with joy. Their second blood test had confirmed the embryo’s growth, which made them breathe easier. They could hardly wait for the first sonogram, only two weeks away.

In the meantime, she had her hands full with Premier Motors. The sooner she got the dealerships back on track, the more time she would have for Lily and their family. Today’s meeting was the critical first step toward turning her business around.

The whispers had started already, from the office and sales staff all the way out to the service department. It wasn’t every day she gathered the executives and managers from all four dealerships in one place. She needed their support for this transition as much as they needed her decisive leadership. She rolled up the sleeves of her white cotton shirt, hoping to convey her readiness to work just as hard as she was asking them to do.

In the conference room she took her place at the head of the table, flanked on one side by Hal, her chief financial officer, and on the other by her father, who was vice president of operations at the Beverly Hills Volkswagen dealership. Next to him sat Brad Stanley, who held the same position at the BMW dealership. Their Palm Springs counterparts were next, along with the company’s vice president for human resources, Nancy Gravitt, who had helped iron out the final details of their plan. Sales, service and office managers from all four lots were seated around the perimeter of the room.

“Perfect attendance. I like that.” Anna pasted on a confident smile and tried to make eye contact with everyone present. “I know you’re all expecting bad news today, but I hope when you come away from this meeting you’ll feel I’ve given you just the opposite.”

There was no discernible change in their worried expressions. People were anxious and rightly so.

“You all know our bean counter, Hal Phillips. He and I have been working with Nancy on a reorganization plan we think will pull Premier Motors back into the black. We were lucky to have also the advice of my father, George Kaklis, who has successfully steered this company through forty years of ups and downs.” Invoking her father’s role in developing the strategy for their turnaround would help win support among some of the old-timers in the room, people who had come up through the ranks in the car business back when he headed the company. “That said, I want you to know these are my decisions, and mine alone. If you have grievances, bring them to me.”

The last thing she wanted was sniping about favoritism among her executive staff. She had done her utmost to assure each dealership of its importance to the Premier Motors brand.

“I don’t have to tell you that the auto industry is suffering right now. The good news is that our German brands have hit bottom already and started making a comeback, unlike our competitors in Detroit. And let’s face it—BMWs will always sell in Southern California. The sad fact, though, is we’re down almost thirty percent in sales of new and used cars, and people are putting off bringing their cars in for parts and service. Quite a few of our salespeople have already left us in search of greener pastures, but they were all on commission so that didn’t save us any outlay. The real problem is that we haven’t kept pace in our office and service departments. We currently have one hundred-eighty full-timers excluding sales staff, and we need to get that down to one-thirty. The math is easy—that’s fifty jobs, and the losses have to be spread across our entire workforce.”