Why I like The Baby Secret by Helen Brooks:
- She grows up
- He never lies
- He realizes she needs and wants to be fully part of his life and tells him so
- He’s forceful but not a bully, determined to keep her, loving
- She learns to trust
- And she grows up, stops looking for the easy answers and sees the complexity in people, in herself, in him.
The Baby Secret is worth reading to see a heroine visibly mature in 180 pages. Victoria fled her husband the morning after their wedding because her mother told her things about her husband that were true but so slanted to make him look like a womanizing, manipulative creep, not the loving man he is. Victoria must accept that some things that are not pretty nonetheless do not taint and that knowing facts is no substitute for knowing her husband.
Plot Synopsis – Click Here to Skip Spoilers
The story opens about 3 months after Victoria marries Zac. She is in Tunisia, staying at a villa her best friend’s brother William owns, and has just learned that her illness and fatigue are because she is pregnant.
Victoria married Zac because she loved him and believed he loved her, but he had to leave their hotel room during the night to attend Gina, a distant cousin and guest at their wedding, who tried to commit suicide and called him for help. Tory’s grasping socialite mother told her about it and that the cousin is Zac’s mistress. Further, Zac married Tory because he wants a well-bred wife and to cement a business deal. These statements are misleading but true, except that William broke off his affair with Gina before he met Tory and has not been with another lady since.
Tory asks Zac about each statement in isolation, refuses to listen when he tries to explain that he loves her, that he had to help Gina in all humanity, that he has no mistress. Zac confirms each statement and tries to explain but Tory decides that he is too much like her mother, part of the seedy world she wants to leave. She thinks Zac only wants a pretty doll that he could bring out when he wants and put aside when he does not, much as her parents and their friends act about people. She wants to be real to her husband, part of decisions, part of his life.
Tory and Zac return to London and Tory rents a charming mews house that Zac arranged through her mother unbeknownst to her. Zac sees Tory with William and thinks the baby might be his, which Tory does not dispel. Zac keeps trying to see Tory, to take care of her, to show her how much he loves her, but he’s afraid she might prefer William and Tory can’t bring herself to trust him.
They have a lovely afternoon on the river and Zac tells her that he saw William and knows for certain that he is the only man Tory has slept with, that he knows Tory loves him, that he loves Tory, explains about Gina and that this nonsense has to stop. Tory believes him but she’s still afraid.
Tory has a temporary job in a florist shop and falls hard, gets a customer to call Zac. Zac scoops her up, takes her to the hospital to be checked, then home to their house, the home they bought together and decorated for their lives together. Tory is still rejecting Zac but she’s beginning to realize the problem is hers, not his, that she may not be cut out for marriage. After she heals from the fall they have a wonderful afternoon of love and passion; Zac tells her how much he loves her, how beautiful she is and how pregnancy makes her look wonderful. Tory thought he might simply be saying that to be kind, but finally believes him.
Tory is about 5 weeks from her due date and Zac informs her that he intends they will live together after the baby, or if she cannot do that, then they will separate but remain married and he will take care of her and the child. This makes Tory think about herself, her parents whom she found cold and unloving.
Tory goes to see her father’s long time lover, Linda, who explains that her dad loved both herself and Tory and stayed with her mother for Tory’s sake, that he was not cold and uncaring, nor did he play games.
Tory decides she has to grow up now, that she has to start trusting Zac and herself, that she must believe he loves her, she loves him and they can be happy together. The baby starts to come when she arrives home to a frantically worried Zac in a snow storm. They make it to the hospital, baby is born and they see their happy ever after.
Characters and Why This Story Works
Many, maybe most, category romances have characters who need to grow up before they can be happy in a marriage. Usually the characters flit around the issue or perhaps work to develop trust or to communicate, but it’s a rare Harlequin where the heroine knows she must mature and then does it.
Tory is only 20 when the book opens and Zac is 35 and far more worldly and experienced. Tory had a miserable childhood with parents to avoided her, a mother who is angry that Tory is pregnant (apparently she got pregnant solely to ruin mom’s life), a few friends and not much self knowledge. She is smitten with Zac from the beginning, loves spending time with him, the laughter and kisses and she had eagerly looked forward to their wedding, wedding night and married life.
The wedding and wedding night were great, Zac was sensitive, caring and passionate. He admits later that he should have told her about Gina’s phone call, must include her in the rough part of his live along with the smooth. Zac makes it clear throughout the book that he loves Tory totally, forever, and tells her that he was incredulous when this wonderful girl loved him back, he couldn’t believe his luck.
Author Helen Brooks handles Tory’s increasing maturity with skill; this is not a heavy-handed coming of age story but a romance where the girl needs to grow up a bit, learn to trust. The turning point for Tory is when she realizes that is she who has the problem, that Zac didn’t betray her in any way, that she must learn to trust or she’s going to be miserable her whole life. As she puts it, if it hadn’t been Gina it would have been something because she was looking for something.
Tory could have tried to use OM/good friend William to play games with Zac’s head and heart but she does not. Instead she backs off from relying on William when she realizes that he’s a little in love with her. She could have been a brat about coming home with Zac after she fell, or could have stuck her head in the sand and refused to talk to him or to think through the problem.
Tory talked to Linda who helped her immensely. One reason Tory didn’t trust people was she didn’t think either parent had cared much about her, once she found her dad had cared she was able to step back and not let the past hurt so much. I doubt lack of parental caring would be sufficient all by itself to cause such deep distrust, but certainly it was a part.
Zac is a wonderful character. He is obviously deeply in love with Tory, doesn’t want her to leave him, and if she does leave him he doesn’t want to get revenge or see her hurt in any way. He arranges an inexpensive rental for her without touching her pride, he keeps tabs on her, he dates her, he courts her. (We all need a Zac in our lives!)
Tory’s mom Coral is a caricature of a rich socialite who’s grasping, cares only about herself, selfish, self-centered, bored with her daughter, fixated on status. She’s well-written; given the short length the author had to take some shortcuts with the minor characters.
Overall
I liked The Baby Secret a lot because it explicitly covers the theme of growing up within the context of a romance and without being a dull coming-of-age story. The characters are excellent and plot is simple enough that it doesn’t get in the way of the story.
4 Stars
I read this on Archive.org and purchased E book from Harlequin.com. You can get paperback copies at most used book sites and both the Kindle version and the E book on Amazon.
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