Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell [54]
Miranda was jabbing paint into a corner of plaster coving when the door swung open behind her. She heard the satisfying clunk of china against glass.
`I take it all back, Bev, you don't have a big lazy bum, and you're definitely my friend.'
`That's really kind,' said an unfamiliar voice, `but actually, I'm not Bev.'
Miranda let out a snort of laughter and swung round. Blonde, pretty, curvy, loose shirt over stretchy trousers… `Chloe, right?'
`Right.' Chloe grinned and held up a plate. `Chocolate spread sandwich, right?'
`Hooray. Coming right down.' Miranda dropped the brush messily into the pot of paint and leapt off the ladder. `I'm Miranda, by the way.'
`I guessed.'
`I'd shake hands, but I'm all painty.'
`I spoke to Florence on the phone earlier,' Chloe explained.
`She told me what you were doing. I've come to help.' `Oh no, I couldn't let you do that!' Miranda gestured
vaguely in the direction of her stomach.
I'm pregnant, not paralysed from the chest down. This is a great colour.' Having briefly admired the repainted wall, Chloe began to climb the ladder. `Go on, have a rest. Eat your sandwich and drink your milkshake.'
Enchanted by this order and all in favour of a spot of cosseting, Miranda grinned at her.
`You sound like a mother already.'
Chapter 22
By one o'clock the second wall and the rest of the ceiling were finished and Bev had read aloud an entire twothousand-word article in the Sunday Express speculating on the likelihood of Miles Harper and Daisy Schofield marrying before Christmas.
`She's dead set on it and he's fending her off.' Bev held up the colour supplement so they could see the accompanying photograph. `Miranda met him a few weeks ago,' she explained slyly to Chloe. `Miles asked her out, Miranda turned him down and she's regretted it from that day to this.'
`Oh, no.' Chloe was sympathetic.
`Ignore her,' Miranda said loftily. `I haven't regretted it for one minute. I'm perfectly happy with the way things turned out.'
`Just as well,' Bev picked up her crossword pen and gave Daisy Schofield a handlebar moustache, `seeing as you haven't heard from Miles Harper since.' She studied the photograph with a critical eye. `I don't think she's that stunning, you know. Is it just me, or does she have a lopsided face?'
`Only because you gave her a lopsided moustache,' Miranda pointed out.
`My husband… well, ex-husband, whatever…' stammered Chloe, `thought she was pretty stunning.'
Miranda, thinking of Greg, drawled, `Show me a man who doesn't.'
`So how long ago did he leave you?' asked Bev, for whom no situation was too delicate.
`The day I told him I was pregnant, pretty much. It was April Fools' Day.' Chloe's tone was dry.
`Can you believe that? What a bastard!' Bev made vigorous poke-his-eyes-out gestures with her fingers. `And what's he doing now?'
`Don't know, don't care,' Chloe replied not altogether truthfully. Trawling her roller through the paint tray, she turned her attention to the third wall.
`But up until the minute you told him about the baby,' Bev persisted, `you were happily married?'
Chloe nodded.
`Yes.'
`Is he likely to change his mind and come back?' `No.'
`Has he found someone else?'
`Bev, shut up.' This was more than even Miranda could stand.
`Why? It's interesting!'
`Chloe might not want to talk about it. She might find it upsetting. You could be about to make her cry.'
`Okay,' Chloe said equably. `I think he does have a new girlfriend. But you're right, I would rather not talk about him any more.'
`See?' Delighted with herself for being so sensitive, Miranda flicked her brush at Bev.
`Not because it would upset me,' Chloe explained. `I just don't want to be bothered with thinking about him. If he doesn't want to know, that's his loss. But this' - she gestured around the half-painted room - `is going to be my new home, and I' - she pointed to her stomach - `am going to have a baby. And right now,' she announced firmly, `that