SWEET ANTICIPATION by Kathy Clark Page B

battles for her, so she had better learn how to take care of herself.
     
    Her first step toward independence had been to purchase this flower shop when her parents decided to retire and move to Corpus Christi. Her second step had been to go through with the artificial insemination. And her third step would be to stand up to Jordan Daniels.
     
    Jordan had been watching her carefully, trying to gauge the strength of her resistance. He had noticed that all hints of laughter had frozen into blue ice crystals in her eyes. The soft curve of her mouth had straightened into an impervious line. For several seconds they exchanged appraising stares, each wanting to claim an advantage, but neither willing to back down. He knew he had brought much of her distrust and hostility on himself by the way he had treated her at their first meeting. But as he looked at the rounded bulge beneath her yellow dress, he could almost hear the clock ticking. If they didn’t reach some sort of agreement soon, he would be the loser. Even if he were able to take her to court and get partial custody of the child, it would likely take weeks, maybe years, and he would miss not only the birth, but those important first months.
     
    “Don’t you think it would be better for you, me and the baby if we could try to get along and work this out between ourselves?” he asked hopefully.
     
    “I think it would be better if you left now so I could get back to my customers. In case you haven’t realized it, this is my livelihood and if I don’t work, I don’t eat.”
     
    “But I’d be glad to—” he began, with the intention of offering to help her financially, but as if she knew what he was about to say, she cut him off short.
     
    “Goodbye, Dr. Daniels,” she interrupted coolly. “Your laboratory is calling you. While you’re wasting your time here with me, someone else could be stealing your precious sperm.”
     
    Jordan opened his mouth to respond with equal sarcasm that the possibility was completely unlikely, but he forced himself to remain silent. She was trying to bait him to make him angry enough to want to avoid any future confrontations. Well, he just wouldn’t let it work. Even though he would love to see a judge wipe that smug, almost fearless look from her face, he kept reminding himself that he didn’t want to wait that long to claim some of his paternal rights.
     
    Lifting one shoulder in a show of resignation, he gave her one last parting shot as he opened the door. “Don’t stay on your feet too long. We don’t want anything to happen to that baby, do we?”
     
    Lauren glared after him even when she could no longer see him through the plate-glass windows at the front of her shop. This confirmed her belief that she didn’t need this man in her life for any reason. It was obvious that he would try to take over if she let him get even one foot in the door. And since they hadn’t been able to agree on anything so far, she doubted that they would have the same ideas about how a child should be raised. How could she get it across to him that this was
her
child and she didn’t intend to share it?
     
    “Lauren, there’s a shipment of Easter lilies at the back door,” Rita called from the workroom. “Do you want me to write them a check or put it on our account?”
     
    The rest of the week Lauren was too busy to give Jordan much thought. The lilies sold as fast as she could get them in the window, and she had to call the supplier and beg for another rush shipment. Pots of colorful hyacinths, tulips and miniature azaleas were also good sellers, as everyone seemed to need a gift for Grandma or a centerpiece for the holiday dinner table. A couple of churches in the area had called weeks earlier to place orders for flowers for their altars, and the Saturday before Easter, Rita was busy loading pot after pot of pure-white lilies into the back of the delivery van while Lauren handled all of the last minute walk-in business. As luck