Navy Orders. Geri Krotow

      CHAPTER FIVE

      RO GAPED AT her younger half sister, Krissy. Her shoulder-length hair was its regular dyed platinum blond, but had unusually long, dark roots. Krissy never let her roots show. Ro took in the rumpled hair, the circles under her baby-blue eyes, the complete lack of makeup. Krissy was dressed in a wrinkled sweatsuit and looked nothing like the fashion plate she usually resembled. And she was...heavier. Fuller.

      Heavier? Krissy―who put the skinny in skinny jeans―heavier?

      Upon further inspection she concluded that Krissy was plumper in one particular area.

      “Did you have a boob job?”

      “Great way to greet your only sister after you cut her out of your life for over a year. Nice going, Ro.”

      “You’re my half sister. And you married my, oh, what was it? Yes, that’s it—my fiancé. While I was at war. No biggie.”

      “It’s time to get over it, Ro. I’m pregnant and I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

      “You’re pregnant?”

      “Didn’t Mom tell you? I’m due in February.”

      “So you’re...four months along? I haven’t spoken to Mom since Christmas, really.” She left out Mother’s Day—she’d had a very brief conversation with Delores then.

      Anger-induced tears welled in her tired eyes. Of course Mom hadn’t told her. Why would she? In her usual meddling manner Mom probably thought she was protecting Krissy from Ro’s jealousy and disappointment that she wasn’t the pregnant one.

      That she wasn’t the one married to Dick.

      “Can I come in? I’m exhausted. I’ve flown all day and then the drive from Seattle was sooo long. Why can’t you live somewhere more civilized?”

      Ro stepped back.

      “You can come in, Krissy, but just for a minute.”

      “You’re kidding, right? I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m almost five months pregnant and my baby’s father is an ass. You’re all I have!”

      She’d been there all of thirty seconds and already Ro’s forehead pounded.

      “What about Mom? What about all your girlfriends? Why didn’t you just kick Dick out?”

      Ro walked ahead of Krissy, toward the kitchen.

      “I couldn’t kick Richard out. I didn’t really talk to him about this, you know.”

      Ro stopped in front of the refrigerator and turned back to face Krissy.

      “What are you saying, exactly, sis?”

      Krissy played with Ro’s knitting-related refrigerator magnets. Ro put her hand on the fridge door.

      “You didn’t tell him you were leaving?”

      “I don’t owe him anything! He’s been staying at work late and when he comes home all he does is eat, sleep and then go right back to work!”

      Ro sighed.

      “Of course he does, Krissy. He’s a surgeon. His work is his life.”

      Krissy wouldn’t make eye contact while she pouted. The sight of her spoiled, immature sister with a burgeoning pregnant belly made Ro’s blood boil. She’d been getting Krissy out of jams for far too long. After Krissy and Dick got married she’d promised herself she was free of Krissy’s neediness, Mom’s conniving and Dick’s constant demands—whenever he wasn’t in the O.R.

      It had worked for almost a year and a half.

      Almost.

      “You can stay here until you get on a plane and go back to New Jersey. I’m not your safety net anymore, Krissy.”

      “You have no idea what I’m going through! You’ve never had to worry about anyone but yourself.” Krissy’s eyes widened when she realized what she’d said.

      “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Ro. But you said it was a relief when Dick broke up with you.”

      “What else was I supposed to say? You’d already married him!” Ro shook her head. “You’re right, it was a relief—to be free of that relationship. It wasn’t going anywhere. But that doesn’t erase the lying and deceit you and Mom pulled.”

      “You hadn’t even seen him for over nine months!”

      “I was at war, Krissy. You know, keeping the world safe so that people like you and Dick could find each other and fall in love.”

      “Touché, sister.” Krissy pronounced it “touchy.”

      Ro rubbed the back of her neck.

      “Look, Krissy. I wasn’t expecting you. It’s the end of a very long week. I’m in the middle of a project at work that’s just begun and I won’t even be home this weekend. You need to catch a flight back to Newark. Now.”

      “I don’t have any money.”

      “You had money to get here. Surely you didn’t buy a one-way ticket?”

      Ro was proud of herself. Not too long ago she would’ve paid for whatever Krissy asked for or needed. That all stopped when Krissy became Mrs. Richard Brewster.

      “Well, not exactly. I bought a nonrefundable ticket but my return flight isn’t until next month.”

      “Next month?” Heat crept up her neck and Ro was grateful she’d put the knitting needles away. If they were in her hands she didn’t know if she’d stab her sister or herself from sheer frustration.

      Krissy had never grown up. Ever. And now she was going to be a mother. She was carrying Dick’s baby.

      Dick and Ro had never planned on having kids. It would have been too difficult with both of their demanding careers. So why did seeing the evidence of Krissy’s baby make Ro want to go to her room, slam the door and knit an ugly sweater?

      The doorbell jerked Ro out of her rumination.

      She looked at the clock on the microwave.

      “Crap.”

      She strode to the front door and, for the second time in ten minutes, opened the door.

      “Hey, Miles. I thought you were going to call.”

      Ro stared at Miles and thought his face was too damned handsome for someone who’d had as long a Friday as she had.

      “I did, but you didn’t pick up.” Belatedly, Ro realized she’d left her cell phone in her car. “I thought I’d stop by—you realize we only live two neighborhoods apart?”

      “No, I didn’t know that. Come on in.”

      “Who’s there, Roanna?”

      Ro turned and looked over her shoulder as Miles stepped into her tiny front hall and Krissy poked her head around the corner from the kitchen.

      “A work colleague.” She sighed. “Miles, this is Krissy. Krissy, Miles.”

      “Hi! I’m Ro’s sister.” Krissy walked over to Miles as she held a dish towel in front of her belly and gave a flirty little wave with her free hand. Did she really think Miles wouldn’t see she was pregnant?

      Why