"He's not my friend."

"Well, he's very concerned about you and your baby."

Maybe too concerned.

The design on the lid of his watch caught her eye. Following the lines made her eyes cross.

"That looks old."

He smiled. "It's been in the family for almost two hundred years."

"What's that design? It's weird."

"Hmm?" He glanced at it, then quickly pocketed it. "Oh, that. Just a geometric curiosity."

A phone rang. He dug out his cell and checked the display, then glanced up at her. "It's him. Excuse me."

"Sure." She knew who it was. "Don't forget to ask him how high."

He gave her a puzzled look, like he didn't get it.

"Jump," she said. "How high you should jump."

He still didn't get it. For such a supposedly top-notch OB man, he could be so dense at times.

Osala hadn't been around much lately. He used to come to all her appointments but now he was involved in some project down south that kept him away a lot. But he stayed in close touch with Dr. Landsman.

She felt the baby kick and shook her head. Sure felt like he wanted out. And she wanted him out. Not like she had back in the summer, when she'd tried to end the pregnancy. She'd been determined to get an abortion, and then Mr. Osala had told her, You want this child… You will do anything to assure its well-being, and everything changed, just like that. She couldn't believe now that she'd wanted to kill her baby.

But that was totally different from wanting the pregnancy over and done with. She simply wanted to be back to normal size. She'd never been skinny, but this was ridiculous. She couldn't seem to find a comfortable position anywhere, even in bed. She'd give anything for a full night's sleep.

And once her pregnancy was over and the baby born, maybe Mr. Osala would let her leave his home. She'd been a virtual prisoner there since last spring-almost her entire pregnancy. Could she complain about a Fifth Avenue duplex penthouse where she wanted for nothing? Yeah, she could, because although she could have anything material, she couldn't have what she wanted most: contact with the outside world. Because Mr. Osala feared that might lead the baby's father to her. That was the last thing she wanted, too, but it seemed to her Mr. Osala had taken precautions to the extreme.