Page 62 of Secret Baby
"Delete anyone's voice you don't recognize."
She walked to her bedroom and came out a moment later with the phone on her ear.
He massaged his neck as he stared one more time out his window. Then he went to get his phone.
As he returned to the dining area, Vicki pursed her lips as she listened to her voicemail.
To comfort her, he sat beside her. Then he hit the button to get his voicemail and held the phone up to his ear.
She took his offered hand to hold as he listened to the first voicemail, from his mother. "Colt, honey, what have you done? I'm coming over to check on you this morning. Belle is in the hospital, and the news is saying you and Vicki caused her accident."
His heart raced. He'd dropped Belle off at Miami International, though he did speak to her on the phone in his panic to find Vicki. His breath caught. The other day, as he'd told her the wedding was off, she had tears in her eyes, and the memory haunted him. Vicki squeezed his hand, and he opened his eyes to stare at her.
His phone clicked to his next message from Alice. "Colt. You and Vicki aren't answering. What's going on? Vicki was with me yesterday, at the ice cream parlor. We didn't hit-and-run anyone. The news is crazy. Call me. John and I want to help."
Her messages must be the same. Vicki nodded at him as he listened to his last message. "Colt, it's Belle. I don't know what happened last night. It was a stupid car accident. I'm fine, and someone took something I said and completely changed every word I said or meant. I'm so sorry."
All the energy in his body left.
His chin dropped into his chest, he stood and paced toward the window.
Vicki reached for his shoulders and massaged his neck for a moment. He turned around and stared at the blonde bombshell who'd changed his life years ago. His heart lifted as she stepped closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. She sighed and said, "Alice sent me a newspaper article. I want to show you." She handed him her phone.
Vicki Morgan, the daughter of the notorious Mitch Morgan, is yet another heiress behaving badly. An affair, revenge, and a secret pregnancy all rolled up into a day in the life of a bored and wicked life.
He blinked and reread that first line. "We had sex the other day. You can't be pregnant."
"I'm not." She shook her head. "I even had my yearly gynecological exam yesterday, so it's definitely not true."
"Why did you go to the doctor? Perhaps that's where that story came from."
"I was waiting for Alice and the doctor was available. I wouldn't have to come back if I did it then, and that sounded good. Every year I get tested for cancer because I don't know my mother's health history."
He nodded. "Okay, princess. Don't worry about it."
Clara's door opened and she tiptoed back into the dining area. "Mom, Dad, is everything all right?"
Colt scratched his chin, and then he told both of them, "Grandma will be here soon, and we shouldn't plan on leaving the farm today."
Clara smiled and went into the living room to watch something on television.
Vicki's face went white, but she held her tongue. Colt traced her arm and offered her a small hug. "Everything will be fine."
Vicki's arms trembled. "She doesn't want me here. Maybe I should go to Alice and John's..."
He hugged her. "Princess, you don't want to go anywhere. Not until we figure out a game plan."
"What happened?" Vicki shook her head, and he took her hand in his. They were in this together. "This entire story doesn't make sense."
"Clara's settled in the living room now. We'll figure out how to handle this."
"Peter's message said to call him. He'll have his staff take care of the press, if we want."
"If he can make the reporters go away, then call your brother."
She picked up her phone. A few seconds later, she said, "Peter, whatever you can do. The new story is one hundred percent nonsense. I'm not pregnant. I drove Alice to the doctor's yesterday, and she was with him the entire time."
A minute later, she hung up and said, "Peter said lie low for twenty-four hours and his team will threaten lawsuits to anyone running this story."
