Amy's hands were still shaking moments later. The message in that note that Stephanie had shown her chilled her to her very core. It was a handwritten letter opposed to typed, and even without actually reading the words or signature at the bottom, she knew who had penned it.
"Amy, are you all right?"
She couldn't even manage to verbally respond to her friend's question. Her teeth were beginning to actually chatter. She shook her head, her arms encircling herself protectively.
"Oh, God... You stay here, you hear me?" Stephanie demanded. In a hurry, she stood up to trot toward the sliding glass door leading out to the backyard, where she called frantically to Adam.
Both blond men looked up sharply at the sound of the brunette's voice. They exchanged glances, and Jay frowned and followed his best friend. There was an odd urgency in his wife's voice, one he didn't like.
"Stephanie, nice to see you," Adam said with a smile, as he hadn't greeted her before due to being outside. His expression darkened as he neared and caught the serious look on the young woman's face. "Is something the matter?"
"Amy... She needs you," Stephanie said as she cast her gaze over to Jay, feeling more than a slight twinge of guilt. The truth was, she hadn't even shown the letter to him yet. She hadn't wanted to hide anything from him; he was her husband and partner in the company... But she really hadn't taken that damn letter all that seriously - until now, after seeing the redhead's reaction toward it.
"Babe? What's going on?"
Stephanie blanched and shook her head. She knew she was going to have no choice but to tell Jay now. She only hoped he wouldn't be too upset with her. She would hate for him to be angry with her.
"I have to show you something," she said, an eerie calmness in her tone.
Over on the couch, Adam was beside his wife and doing his best to comfort her. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and rubbed at her side, but she was still shaking.
"Ames? Come on, talk to me... What's wrong?"
She nodded toward a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of them. He hadn't even taken notice of it until now, and, curiously, he picked it up to look at it.
Stephanie held her breath unconsciously as she and Jay stood by, watching. The brunette knew this was all about to blow over - or blow up in her face, as surely, Adam would be the one to announce it before she could explain to her husband.
"My God..." the tall blond man said as he absorbed the words on that paper. He raised his gaze and met the brunette's eyes. "Stephanie, is this for real? You got this letter recently?"
Jay frowned as he studied his wife.
"What letter?"
Stephanie said nothing as her head bowed. She felt ashamed and knew she never should have kept it a secret from the short-haired Canadian. She nodded in response to her friend.
"I received it just the other day."
"Steph?" Jay gave her a gentle nudge. "What's going on here?" he asked as he glanced around at everyone.
Adam looked sharply at the brunette.
"You didn't tell him?"
"Tell me what? Okay, come on, guys... Now you're scaring me."
Stephanie swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and turned to face her husband.
"Okay... Yes, Jay, I know I should have told you about this before, but..." She shook her head, taking a deep breath. She reached over toward Adam for the letter, her eyes closing as she handed it to Jay.
"He wants back in," she said slowly, in an oddly calm voice.
"Who wants back in, where?" the man questioned.
"Read the letter and you'll see," his wife said. Her hand shook ever so slightly as he accepted the paper from her.
Jay gave the letter a thorough read, his blue eyes widening as he did so. His jaw dropped as well as he concluded, and he stared at Stephanie in disbelief.
"I don't believe this," he said in a strangely calm tone. His voice almost sounded serene. "When did you get this again?"
"Two days ago."
"Two days ago?" he repeated. Now his voice began to rise in volume. "And you kept it from me? Steph, how could you do that? Especially with something of this magnitude!"
The brunette tried hard not to wince. She reached out for her husband's arm as she tried to explain.
"Jay, I'm sorry... I never meant to hide anything from you," she insisted.
"Except for this," he replied, shaking the paper in her face. "How could you keep something like this from me?"
Adam and Amy eyed their close friends as they embraced. It was definitely uncomfortable witnessing this moment.
"Jay, I didn't take what was in that letter seriously," the brunette stated. "I was going to show it to you later... But we've had so much else going on, what with the baby and everything."
"Whoa," Adam cut in, somewhat sorry he was interrupting. "Baby?"
Stephanie turned to face him, a small smile coming to her countenance in spite of the situation. Instinctively, her hand came to rest on her still flat stomach.
"Yes... I just told Amy... I'm pregnant." She swung her gaze back to Jay. "You didn't tell him when you two were out back?" she asked.
"Steph, don't try to change the subject," he snapped, waving it off. At the moment, he couldn't focus on anything but the letter that was still clutched in his hand.
"Well, congratulations," the tall blond man murmured.
"What are we going to do about this?" Jay demanded, his gaze sharp as it fixed on his wife.
Stephanie shook her head.
"There's nothing we can do right now," she said. "But we just have to prepare ourselves... because Chris
Irvine clearly wants back in the company."