AN: Probably just one more chapter, then an epilogue, okay, Intrepid Readers?

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"Honey, does Jeff know where you are?"

Her mother's voice cut into Goldie's thoughts. Goldie looked over at her from where she was folding clothes in the laundry room. Reluctantly, she shook her head.

"Why on earth not?"

Goldie bit her lips together for a moment before speaking. "Just about the last thing he said to me was that he needed my address to send me annulment papers," she finally said with a sigh and a shrug. "I figure if he doesn't know where I am, he can't send me the papers, and I can stay married to him a little longer."

"Goldie Anne Sorensen, what kind of logic is that?" Harriet looked at her daughter in fond exasperation.

"Mom, please don't full name me about this." Goldie's chin quivered for a moment before she firmed it up with effort. "It's been months. He could text me any time he wanted, and he hasn't, so he obviously doesn't care that much." She flapped a pair of jeans to get the creases out before folding them.

"Speaking of jeans," she went on, holding her pants up for emphasis, "I need new clothes, these are getting tight. Want to go shopping with me?"

"Of course," her mother responded, distracted. "I'm free tomorrow afternoon, if that suits you?"
Goldie nodded. "Thanks, Mom." She put the jeans in the basket and hugged her mother.

"You feeling better?" Her mother looked at her carefully. "Nausea nearly gone?"

Goldie nodded. "Some smells still get to me, but I'm doing okay, thanks for asking."

It was early April, and her pregnancy was going fine, according to Dr. Tynan. She was about 15 weeks along, which put her due date in mid-September. Goldie was enjoying getting out on the trails behind her parents' house and seeing the early wildflowers.

She picked up the basket and followed her mother into the sunny kitchen. "Do you think it was a mistake? Keeping the baby?"

Her mother shook her head. "Of course not. Keeping the baby is definitely not your mistake."

Goldie did a little eye roll. "Mom, I don't want to tell Jeff and have him feel an obligation, either to me or the baby. He might even change his mind about the annulment from sheer guilt, and I don't want him doing that, either."

"Well, what do you want?" Her mother leaned forward and smoothed Goldie's hair, a comforting gesture.

"I want him to realize he loves me and misses me and wants me back, without any reservations or ulterior motives whatsoever," Goldie answered with a smile.

"Honey, just remember, he can't make a choice if he doesn't even realize that he has a choice to make," her mother said as she tied on an apron.

Goldie sighed again.

"Oh, you know who was asking about you?" Her mother turned from the refrigerator. At Goldie's inquisitive look she continued. "Gage Allerton."

Goldie smiled at the mention of her old high school boyfriend. "What's he doing these days?" she asked, perching on a stool at the island, her laundry basket forgotten.

"He's manager of the supermarket, youngest they've ever had, and running for city council," her mother told her as she began chopping vegetables. "I think he's still interested in you."

Goldie laughed. "Yeah, that's just what I need in my life right now, to rekindle a relationship with my high school sweetheart."

"Obviously I wasn't suggesting anything like that," her mother admonished. "You're a married woman, after all, carrying your estranged husband's child and in love with him still."

Goldie grabbed a carrot from her mother's cutting board and began crunching as she spoke. "Exactly. I hope you told him all that?"

"Of course not." Her mother sounded offended. "All of that is your information to share or not, as you see fit."

Goldie's phone pinged with a text. "It's the Velasquezes," she told her mother. "I'm going to my room for a while, okay? Usually they text when they have the girls, and we might be able to FaceTime."
Her mother nodded, and Goldie took herself upstairs, thinking how ironic it was that the tables were now turned, and it was she, Goldie, who waited to hear from the girls' grandparents in the hopes that she could see the babies.

Five minutes later she was laughing and crying with Pippa, Genie and Jemma as they frolicked at their grandparents' newly purchased condo in Brooklyn.

"Oh, you guys, I'm so glad Jeff didn't let what happened between us get in the way of letting you spend time with the girls," Goldie said to Hector and Sophia. "I would've felt so bad, so guilty, if I'd ruined your chance at a relationship with them and him."

"Us too," Sophia responded. "We just feel so bad about how it happened, that it cost you your relationship with him. You belong together."

Goldie just nodded. "Has he said anything about me?"

Sophia shook her head. "The one time I brought you up, he said he didn't want to talk about you, so I've left it alone," she said regretfully.

"Of course, please, don't roil up calm waters," Goldie said, smiling as Jemma showed her a new book.

After saying good bye to everyone, Goldie lay back on her bed, arm behind her head, considering.

Maybe she should take the initiative with Jeff, just tell him to send the papers and she'd sign them? Then she could at least tell him about the baby. She put her hands on her abdomen, where she could tell she was bigger, though it wasn't obvious with the clothes she wore. She knew that the baby would start moving any day, and was looking forward to it, especially now that she was feeling better. She was sad that Jeff wouldn't be with her to feel their child move for the first time.

Of course, he might be so angry with her that he wouldn't want to share anything about the baby with her. Maybe they'd become one of those couples who handed their child back and forth in a mall parking lot every other weekend or whatever.

She idly wondered if the child she was carrying was a boy or a girl. They'd been unable to tell at her last ultrasound, thought of course they were going to try again.

While these thoughts drifted through her head, Goldie drifted off to sleep.

"Goldie? You have company," her mother called up the stairs.

Goldie saw to her astonishment that she'd beens sleeping for nearly an hour. "Coming!" she called. She looked out the window at the end of the hall, but didn't recognize the car in the driveway.

"Gage!" she said with genuine affection when she saw who was standing in the entry. "Come in, come in," she said as she led him to the living room. She knew without asking that her mother was making tea for them.

Gage Allerton was a bit taller than Goldie, and nearly as blonde as she was. He'd been on the football and wrestling teams in high school, and still kept things up in the gym, it seemed.

"Goldie, it's great to see you," Gage said as he sat. "I'd heard you were back in town, and I've been meaning to stop by and see you." He accepted a cup of tea from Goldie's mother with murmured thanks, then continued. "You finally get tired of the big city?"

"Not exactly," Goldie answered with a laugh. "More like I needed a little break from it, I guess. I still love New York."

"Well, Old Forge is glad to have you back, any time," Gage informed her with a smile. "You look really good." He sounded relieved. "Healthy, I mean."

"Healthy?" Goldie laughed again. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I heard you've been seen coming and going from the doctor's," he explained apologetically. "You know how people talk? So I was worried you were sick, and had come to your parents' to recuperate or whatever."

"Oh, no, I'm fine." It was on the tip of Goldie's tongue to tell Gage about her pregnancy, but it somehow felt disloyal to Jeff to tell someone else first, so she held her tongue. "I did have a virus that was hanging on, but I'm better now." He'd find out about the baby soon enough, she supposed.

They talked for a little while, mostly about what their old high school friends were doing, and Goldie remembered why she'd been so crazy about him back then.

"So listen," Gage said as he rose. "I have some things I have to do, but Alicia and Greg are having a housewarming party tomorrow night." Alicia and Greg were high school friends who'd wound up married and had just purchased a house, Goldie had learned from her chat with Gage. "I'd love to take you out to dinner, then to the party, if you're free? It might be fun to catch up with all the people we've been talking about, don't you think?"

Gage mistook Goldie's silence for reluctance, and said, "How about if I call later and you can let me know then?" Goldie could see how disappointed he was.

"No need," she assured him. "I say yes." It would be fun to catch up with her old friends. She'd spent enough time moping around her parents' house. It might be a good time to tell everyone about the baby as well.

"Great!" Gage gave her the smile she remembered as she walked back to the front door with him. "Pick you up around 4:30, then?"

"Sounds great." Goldie waved to him as he loped to his car.

"Did I just hear you make a date with your old boyfriend?" Goldie's mother asked when Goldie arrived in the kitchen once more.

"What? Of course not," Goldie said, reaching for the potatoes and starting to peel them.

"Oh really? A party on Saturday night, he'll take you to dinner first?" her mother asked. "Sounds an awful lot like a date to me."

"Oh god, Mom, you don't think he thinks—" Goldie was aghast.

"I'm sure he's not assuming anything, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did," Harriet answered. "You'd best set him straight as soon as you can."

"How could he think that? We were together years ago, when we were kids."

"And if I recall, you left for school and broke his heart," Harriet retorted, not unkindly. "Why wouldn't he want to rekindle things with you? I think he was dating the Blackburn girl, but they broke up ages ago."

Welcome to a small town, where everyone knew everyone else's business, Goldie thought to herself.

She mused about Gage and what he might be thinking for the rest of the day and most of the next day. When she heard the car in the driveway, she was relieved to be seeing him at last, just so she could set him straight, right away. She'd even tell him before they ate, so he could bring her back home if he wanted.

She opened the door with a welcoming smile on her face, she hoped. She'd dressed casually in an A-line dress that was loose and comfy, hoping she'd dressed appropriately if they did end up going to the party.

Goldie stopped dead on the porch, her words of welcome dying in her throat, when she saw who was emerging from the strange car.

Jeff.