Chapter 14

The next morning, Maggie woke up to the sound of buzzing. It took her a minute to fully come to her senses and figure out where she was and what was that sound that she was hearing. She sat in the bed and reached for the phone that was vibrating on the nightstand.

"Hello," she spoke in a deep and raspy voice. There was nothing but silence coming from the other side. Maggie repeated "Hellooo," but there was no answer, so she hanged up.

With every night she spent in this bed, she loved it more and more, because she was waking up rested and relaxed. She skipped dinner last night, and the loud growling in her stomach was reminding her that she was due to put some food in it.

After did her morning routine, Maggie took her phone and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The sight that she found there pleasantly surprised her. She was greeted by the heavenly sight of a table filled with homemade pancakes, waffles, full plates with bacon and eggs, and all kinds of fruits. The mixture of pleasant smells was overwhelming, and she headed towards the table when a cheerful, pleasant voice stopped her in her track. She looked around herself, and right there in front of the stove, she saw an older, short, and pretty round woman with grey hair and an apron around her neck.

"Good morning, dear child, you must be Margaret," she startled Maggie when she strolled across the kitchen and pulled her into her warm, strong embrace.

"Good morning," Maggie muttered "You must be Mary, then…"

"Yes, I am Mary," she said and moved a step back, holding Maggie for her arms "Let me look at you…" she scanned Maggie with her eyes like x-rays and made a popping sound with her tongue "You are too thin, oh honey, but we will fix that in no time! Come, sit! I made breakfast." Mary pushed Maggie to sit in the chair, and Maggie didn't wait any longer but started filling her plate with food.

It was so long since she had a real, homemade breakfast. She usually had no time to sit and eat properly in the morning since she was always rushing to get to one work or another, and that made this one even tastier than it already was. Every piece of food that she stuffed in her mouth tasted like heaven as if she was stealing food from the gods. From time to time, her eyes would wander towards the door. She was expecting Jack to come in at any second.

Mary, of course, didn't miss her glances.

"Jack left for the office already. He has a situation in the LA office, and he won't be back before dinner." She said while steering something in the pan. "You know, I was so worried about him. I was scared that he will never find someone just right for him, to take care of his suborn self when I can't, since I am all old and you know… but now he has you, and he has Eric…" Mary rambled.

"I thought you knew the truth about me being here…" Maggie said, not understanding where she was aiming at.

"Of course, I know, dear. I do. But I also know how unpredictable life is, and what's more important, how unpredictable love is." She turned around, and Maggie could easily see the tears glistening in her eyes, her face lit up with happiness.

She wanted to say something to Mary, but her phone buzzed in her pocket again, so Maggie reached for it. It was an unknown number calling, so she answered.

"Hello?" silence again. "Hello!" but the connection was lost.

"Is everything all right, dear?" she heard Mary ask.

"Yeah, just wrong number." She shrugged her shoulders and continued eating. If she continues eating like this, she will be her old self in no time.

Mary excused herself and went upstairs, probably to check on the baby. She wasn't what Maggie expected at all. She walked around the kitchen like she was a young girl, full of life and verve, not like a 70-year-old she was.

Maggie was finishing her breakfast when the bell on the front door rang, so she got up to open, thinking that Marry was probably busy in the nursery.

"Hi, you must be Maggie, I hope you don't mind me calling you Maggie. Margaret is just too long," Maggie was greeted with friendly rumbling as soon as she opened the door.

In front of her was standing a woman, not too older than herself. She was petite, dressed like a fairy with short, almost white hair. "Oh, sorry if I scared you," she said coming inside "I am Emma. I'm Robert's wife?" her statement sounded like a question. When she saw no sign of recognition on Maggie's face, she continued "Robert is Jack's best friend and lawyer, and I am his wife? Haven't Jack mentioned me at all?" Emma sounded disappointed, but her explanation helped Maggie to recall her conversation with Jack yesterday.

"Of course he mentioned you, sorry, I just got up. Come in," Maggie offered, but Emma was already on her way to the living room. Looks like she knew her way around the house…

"There is a gala coming this weekend, and we are due shopping! I am so excited! There is finally a decent girl in their tight ass business world that I can hang out with. You can't imagine how boring it was.."

'Wow, this girl can talk,' Maggie thought.

Only when Emma took a seat on the massive sofa, Maggie noticed her bulging belly. She was noticeably pregnant, and that realization made Maggie swallow hard. She felt like she was surrounded by babies and pregnant women and everything connected with that, and it all made her feel uncomfortable.

"Come, sit." Emma giggled "it's not contagious."

But sooner than Maggie managed to sit down, Emma was already on her feet. She grabbed Maggie's hand and pulled her up.

"Go dress something comfortable, we are going shopping right now." She smiled all giddy. 'This woman is crazy' Maggie thought again, but either way, got upstairs to her room and changed from her PJ's to jeans, a simple white blouse, and pointy-toe flats. She took the new handbag and headed downstairs, where Emma was waiting impatiently.

Maggie had a feeling this will be one hell of a day. And it was from the very beginning because Emma was driving like a maniac on their way to the mall. Everything that Maggie had for breakfast earlier threatened to come out. She also had a hard time following her around the mall, since for the pregnant woman Emma was tireless.

They visited numerous stores and tried a lot of different dresses, and after a few comments and suggestions that Emma made, Maggie was grateful to have her here today. She had no idea what kind of dress was required for the gala or what was considered tasteful and what not. And Emma had a perfect sense of fashion and was of great help to Maggie.

For some reason, Emma was delighted with Maggie, and she didn't fail to mention it in every chance she had.

At least, her life here won't be boring as Maggie thought it would be… After a few hours of searching through the racks of various stores, they both found the dresses for the gala. Emma's dress was a little too tight for Maggie's taste, but as Emma explained it, she liked to show off her baby bump. And for Maggie, they chose a floor-length dress that was a little loose around the waist, since she was too thin, as Emma said and nobody would believe that she recently gave birth.

What Maggie was grateful for the most was the fact that Emma was in on the secret. She knew everything about the deal between her and Jack, and she didn't have to watch her every word around Emma.

Maybe the time she spends here won't be that bad after all.

~ ~ ~

"Don't you have your own office to hang out? Some filthy rich client to overcharge for your services?" Jack snapped at Robert that strolled into his office as he owned it.

"Why? You are way more interesting than all of them together." Robert teased. "Here, I brought you the contract you asked for. And I guess Emma has already dragged your 'wife' to some mall."

"I guessed. Emma is a piece of work. I honestly don't know how you keep up with her." Jack was honest.

"Oh, my friend, you have no idea." Robert chuckled, "But that's what makes it fun. But enough about me. Tell me, what are your plans for that girl?"

Robert's question enticed a smile from Jack.

"You'll see." was his simple answer. He wasn't ready to say it out loud that he was already head over heel in love with the girl he barely knew.

They spent the next hour discussing the legal matters concerning Jack's company. Robert was the first person Jack would ask for advice whenever there was this field of expertise in question. Their consultations were interrupted by Robert's phone.  He answered the call, and by his facial expression, it was pretty obvious with whom he was talking.

But when his expression hardened and became deadly serious, Jack was alerted too.

"Emma and your wife had a car accident. The police are there and the medics too." He rushed out of the office, and Jack followed close behind him. His heart clenched in fear for Maggie. 'She must be ok. She must.' were his only thoughts on his way to the place of the accident.