You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
Katy writes:
I read it in about 1988. It was most likely a Harlequin or Harlequin
Presents because that is what my local library stocked.Scant details. A young woman is pregnant, the older brother of the
“boyfriend” takes responsibility and marries the young lady. Older brother
is a wealthy executive/entrepreneur, something like that. She knows that he
doesn’t love her, but knows that she is better off being married than not,
when she is expecting a baby.The scene which stuck with me is that she has a craving for fudge one night.
He goes off and returns with fresh fudge. In the morning she thanks the
housekeeper who informs her that her husband made the fudge and dirtied
every pot in the kitchen. She begins referring to her fetus as Fudge.When she miscarries, she checks herself out of the hospital and disappears.
Husband finally tracks her down and you can guess the rest.I’ve looked for lists of books from 1988 or 1987, and had no luck so far.
If anyone remembers this book/title/author, I’d be grateful.
Ok, I’m so sure someone will know this one, but, um, this gave me a major case of the squicks. “Fudge?”
@AgTigress: I assumed he messed up all the pans because he had no clue what he was doing. As you pointed out, fudge is super-easy.
@Rebecca: Most people use ‘housekeeper’ nowadays to mean ‘maid.’ He didn’t clean the dishes because he pays her to clean them. There’s a huge difference between assuming the woman will clean the dishes and paying her to clean them.
@Livainia
I understand the romantic impulse. But whether the maid/housekeeper is a man or a woman presumably the paid employee has a routine, and unless her employer cooks regularly, an extra half hour cleaning a bunch of dirty dishes is not part of it. Forgive me for being super-sensitized to this, but I’m coming from a background as a teacher. I have had students react with indignation when I tell them to pick up a piece of paper (or candy wrapper, or other garbage) and put it in the trash because “Miss, that’s the custodian’s job.” I ask them if they throw trash on the floor in their houses, and they say “but Miss, he’s PAID to clean it.” They’ve even told me that I shouldn’t pick up garbage because “that’s not your job, Miss.” I am always stunned that people raise their children with this lack of basic courtesy. If I read this, I’d worry about little Fudge the Fetus (or its successor, since the poor woman miscarries) being raised as a rich spoiled brat. (Then again, my fantasies have never involved a guy with lots of money. This could be why.)