Sweet Fortune

convinced herself she was in love with him would hardly be enough to make her run off with him when everything else in the relationship went sour.
    Hatch told himself he had to be realistic about the situation. He had to see it from a woman's point of view.
    Running off with him would mean leaving everything Jessie held dear. It would mean leaving Elizabeth. It would mean leaving Seattle. It would mean abdicating her loving responsibility to her family and her duty to Benedict Fasteners.
    It would mean casting her fate with a man who would be essentially starting over. Women, Hatch knew from experience, rarely did dumb things like that in real life.
    He glanced at the liquor cabinet and thought about pouring himself a drink. He needed one badly.
    He decided to wait until he had seen Jessie. He would need one even more after that.

    Outside the lobby door of Jessie's apartment house, Hatch leaned on the buzzer. He had the key Jessie had given him, but for some reason he did not want to use it. He was not coming home from work this time. He was paying a last visit.
    “Yes?” Jessie's voice sounded odd through the speaker.
    “It's me.”
    She did not say anything more, but a second later a hissing noise told him the lock had been released. Hatch pushed open the door, walked inside, and started up the stairs.
    He glanced around and realized how familiar it all seemed. He had gotten accustomed to coming here at the end of each day. He had gotten to like the idea of knowing Jessie would be waiting for him with a glass of wine and that there would be mouth-watering smells coming from the kitchen.
    It was easy to see why there was a strong instinct in men to keep women in the home. They had a way of making things much more comfortable for a man.
    Not that any man would ever be successful in keeping Jessie barefoot and pregnant, he thought wryly.
    Pregnant .
    The possibility of getting Jessie pregnant hung tantalizingly in the air. If she were pregnant, she might feel compelled to marry him, after all.
    But he did not want her to be forced into that kind of decision, he told himself, trying to be noble.
    On the other hand, it just might work. Jessie felt so strongly about the importance of fatherhood. She had spent most of her life building bonds between Vincent and his family. The last thing she would want to do was deny her own child its father.
    But the odds of getting her pregnant before she found out what had happened this afternoon were staggeringly against him. They had, after all, been making love without protection for only two days. If he kept his mouth shut tonight, he might get one more shot at it, but the odds were still bad. And his luck had not been running well lately.
    Jessie opened the door for him on the second level. She had her hair slicked back behind her ears and she was dressed in a black jumpsuit. He saw the anxiety leap into her eyes the instant she got a good look at him.
    “Hatch, is something wrong?”
    She did not know anything yet. Now was the time to keep his mouth shut. Give himself one more chance in bed with her. Maybe stack the odds a little more in his favor. But, hell, she had always been honest with him. He owed her honesty in return.
    “Your father fired me today.” He was surprised at how calm the simple words sounded. Hatch stood there in the doorway waiting for the devastating reaction and wondered what he would do without this woman in his life. He could not seem to think that far ahead. All he could do was wait for the blow.
    “He fired you?” Jessie finally got her mouth closed. “Dad canceled your contract with Benedict?”
    “Yes.”
    “You're unemployed?”
    Hatch nodded, propping one shoulder against the door-jamb. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Looks that way.”
    “You won't be running Benedict Fasteners?”
    “No.” He drew a breath. “I'll be leaving Seattle soon. I'll be starting over somewhere else. Oregon, maybe. Or Arizona. I just stopped by to tell you.”
    “Hatch, this is incredible. I can't believe it.” She blinked and then her green eyes filled with mirth. She started to giggle, and the giggle turned into full-blown laughter. “Oh, my God. We've finally got something in common.”
    Hatch frowned, at a loss to understand what was happening. “Jessie?”
    “I got fired today too.”
    Hatch looked at her. “What?”
    “You heard me,” Jessie got out between gasps for air. “Mrs. V fired me. Said she didn't like the direction I was