Annajane took a sip of her iced tea and laughed. “Well, I hope it is a girl, for your sake. When do you find out?”

“Next week,” Pokey said. She ate a forkful of potpie and frowned. “Mama called right before I left to come over here. She told me about Celia’s baby. I kinda threw up a little in my mouth.”

“Bad news travels fast,” Annajane said, nibbling at a grape that was part of the fruit garnish. “Did Sallie also tell you about the wedding tomorrow?”

“No!” Pokey threw her fork against the side of her plate. “You really are doing your damnedest to ruin my appetite, aren’t you?”

“At least you didn’t have to hear about it the way I did,” Annajane said. “I went to the lady’s room at the plant and Celia was lying in wait for me. Just had to tell me the happy news to my face.”

Pokey gaped. “She didn’t.”

“She certainly did,” Annajane said. “She as much as told me to get my ass out of town before she kicked me out.”

“Tell me you slapped the sass out of her,” Pokey said.

“I should have, but I didn’t,” Annajane admitted. “I was too shocked to do anything more than stand there with my mouth hanging open. It was unnerving!”

Pokey took another bite of her lunch and chewed thoughtfully. “We’re not gonna take this lying down, are we?”

“What can we do?” Annajane asked. “Celia’s pregnant, and she just happened to have picked the one baby daddy on earth who actually feels obligated to do the right thing and marry her.”

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since mama shared the happy news,” Pokey said. “Sallie is deliriously happy, by the way, at the thought of a Bayless grandbaby with a capital B.”

“She already has four grandbabies, your three boys and Sophie,” Annajane pointed out.

“Nuh-uh,” Pokey said. “I’m just a girl. My babies are Riggs babies. So they don’t really count as far as my mother is concerned. Even though Denning is named for Daddy. And then, of course, Sophie is what Sallie thinks of as a ‘yard baby.’ Although she would never dare come out and say so to Mason’s face.”

“A ‘yard baby’?” Annajane looked puzzled.

“You know. Yard baby. Do you remember that housekeeper we had when I was little? Cora? I overheard her telling Sallie one day that she had six children at home, but two of them were actually her oldest daughter’s ‘yard babies.’ Later on, I asked Mama about that and she told me a yard baby was a child born to a woman who wasn’t married to the baby’s father.”

Pokey grinned suddenly. “Which prompted me to ask how a lady could have a baby if they weren’t married. Let me tell you, Sallie Bayless was not prepared to have that conversation with an eight-year-old.”

“I’ll just bet,” Annajane said, laughing.

“Back to Mason, though,” Pokey said. “If he didn’t feel obligated to marry Sophie’s mama, why is he going ahead and marrying that bitch Celia? You know she deliberately got herself knocked up so she could trap Mason into marrying her.”

“I don’t know,” Annajane said. “He never really talks much about Sophie’s mother. All he told me was that they’d had a very brief fling, right after we were separated, and that the girl wasn’t able to raise a child on her own. I think he’s only agreed to marry Celia because he knows she’d totally be an unfit mother if he weren’t around.”

“We just can’t let him marry her,” Pokey repeated. “We have to do something.”

Annajane poked at her chicken salad with her fork, separating out the bits of chicken and almonds and diced celery, but eating little.

“I think it’s a lost cause, Pokey,” she said sadly. “Unless we find out Celia is a convicted sex offender or bank robber or something by tomorrow, she’s going to be your new sister-in-law.”

“We can’t give up now,” Pokey said. “Did you find out anything else about her dress company?”

“I did talk to that woman, Katie Derscheid, who knows your friend Angela,” Annajane said. “She confirmed our suspicions that Celia is a crook. After Baby Brands bought out Gingerpeachy, they discovered that she’d wildly inflated the value of the inventory and her orders. They’re suing.”

“Hmm,” Pokey said. She finished off her potpie and pointed her fork at Annajane’s plate. “Are you going to eat that chicken salad, or perform an autopsy on it?”

Annajane pushed it across the table toward her best friend.

“A lawsuit? That’s pretty interesting. Wonder if we could get a copy of it?”

“I doubt if it would make much of a difference to Mason,” Annajane said. “I’m pretty sure he has no more illusions about his bride to be.”

“And this is the woman who’s going to raise his child,” Pokey said, making a gagging motion. “And Sophie. Perfect.”

A pained expression crossed Annajane’s face. “I can’t bear thinking about that. You’re just gonna have to shield Sophie from Celia, as much as you can.”

“If she’ll let me,” Pokey said. “Remember, Celia hates me even worse than she hates you.”

“You gotta give Celia credit for smarts,” Annajane said. “Once she’d started up her own company, she immediately started looking for a way to trade up. She stalked the president of that other company, and then showed up in the hotel bar where he was staying during a trade show.”

“Isn’t that how she met Davis in the first place? In a lobby bar?”

“Sort of. According to Davis, Sallie actually tracked Celia down after buying a couple of dresses for Sophie. And then they just happened to be at the same conference in the same hotel at the same time.” Annajane lifted a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yeah, I don’t think there are a lot of coincidences where Celia is concerned,” Pokey said.

The waitress came by and dropped off their chocolate silk pie, but Annajane shook her head when Pokey offered her a slice.

“Could you bring me a glass of Chablis instead?” Annajane asked the waitress.

“Hey, what goes?” Pokey asked. “You never drink on a workday.”

“Extreme duress calls for extreme measures,” Annajane said glumly. “Anyway, I doubt that anybody at Quixie is going to notice if I come back to work a little later than usual today.”

A moment later the waitress was back with her wine. Pokey took the glass from her, waved the glass under her nose and sniffed appreciatively. “This is the thing I miss most when I’m pregnant. A nice little midday buzz. That, and seeing my own ankles.”

“A midday buzz is just what the doctor ordered for me,” Annajane declared, taking a sip of the wine. She looked over at her best friend. “As soon as I get the summer campaign lined up, probably next week, I’m gone.”

Pokey started to protest, then changed her mind. “Where will you go?”

“Not sure yet,” Annajane admitted. “I’ve got a little bit of a financial cushion, with the money from selling the loft. Maybe I’ll travel for a while.”

“You better come back here in time for my little girl to be born,” Pokey threatened, blinking back tears. “Or I’ll send the boys to live with you, wherever you are.”

Annajane handed Pokey her napkin. “Don’t be such a crybaby. Of course I’ll come back.”

37

Sallie Bayless beamed at her future daughter-in-law as Celia walked into the den on Friday night. They’d had an early dinner together at the country club, just a salad and some broiled flounder, although Celia had only picked at her food, pleading the case for morning sickness.

On their return to Cherry Hill, Celia had excused herself, saying that she needed to make a few quick phone calls. Now she had changed into form-fitting black slacks and a low-necked silver-gray halter top that showed off her tanned shoulders and slim, muscular arms.

“You look lovely, dear,” Sallie said. “But won’t you be chilly in that top?”

“Not at all,” Celia said. “It’s eighty degrees out.”

“It’s a shame Mason isn’t here tonight to see you all dressed up. Have you talked to him this evening?” Sallie asked.