Change Up

by Ann, Natalie

  “What did he say?”

  “Nothing. Just sent me a link with a headline that you’re ignoring your baby mama.”

  He snorted. “First off, I find it hard to believe your brother didn’t threaten to come over here and try to impose bodily harm.”

  “He might have,” she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “But I was trying to figure out what was causing his anger more than I was listening to the words.”

  “It’s not true. I planned on telling you today before you could find out from anyone else. There is no baby mama because I’m not that stupid.”

  Somehow that caused more tears to roll down her face. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mean for it to happen, but things do.”

  “Not with me. I protect myself. I document everyone I’m with and when.”

  She drew her shoulders up. “What? There are that many women you have to write them down? You made me believe you were focused on your career.”

  “Come here and sit down,” he said, taking her hand. “Yes, I was focused on my career. I’ve been honest with you about that. I’ve had women but not a lot and not like you think. I keep track of things because I never wanted this to happen. I write down who I’ve dated, the length of time, things we did, what cities I was in during that time. Things like that.”

  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

  “Because of this shit. I don’t ever want anyone to set me up. To tarnish my name or take advantage of me. I don’t even have it on my computer where it could be hacked but rather handwritten and it’s in a safe.”

  “You don’t want anyone to trap you?” she asked slowly.

  “That’s part of it. When you’ve got money and you’re well known someone is always out to get something. You’ve even said that yourself. You understand. It was something we’ve had in common.”

  “Oh no,” she said. “I don’t have a diary of who I’ve dated and what I did with them because I had too little faith in people.”

  “What is going on right now is proof of why I did it,” he yelled. “And it’s not true. My lawyers are serving her with papers. She has to submit to a DNA test. If she doesn’t, then she looks like a fool. If she wants to throw dirt out there, then she better damn well have a shovel to dig herself out of the hole.”

  “There was a picture of you and her,” she accused him.

  “Sitting at a table with eight other people. Six of my teammates and two other women. That was common when we went out, but that doesn’t mean I brought one of them home. I’m sure she went home with someone that night but it wasn’t me.”

  “One of your teammates?” she asked.

  “No clue. It’s not my business. I just want my name cleared and she can go after the rest of them. Either she was too drunk to know who she slept with that night or slept with a few, but I can tell you it wasn’t me. This is going to pass in less than a week. My lawyer is issuing a statement that a DNA test is being done and my name will be cleared. Trust me, once a man says he wants to do that right away, news dies down fast.”

  “Did you write about me in your little black book?” she asked.

  “It’s not a little black book,” he said, getting up and pacing.

  “Did you or didn’t you?” she asked firmly, her tone strong enough that Nicks actually walked out of the room.

  “I did,” he admitted.

  “Because you thought I was after something too, even though you were the one that came on to me?”

  “I didn’t think that. It was just a force of habit more than anything.”

  She snorted. “So you’ve written down every date we’ve had. Every place we’ve gone together because what? You want to make sure I don’t try to blackmail you with something?”

  “No. I told you, it was a force of habit. I did it for a few weeks, if that. There isn’t much written at all. Once I realized I was falling in love with you I knew it was stupid to continue. I don’t have that life anymore. It’s not me. I don’t need to worry about any of that here.”

  She stopped, her face red, the tears now running down her cheeks like water over a fall. “No, you don’t, because we’re done. I can’t handle this. I can’t deal with this life. I thought I could, but I just can’t. It’s too much.”

  “What?” he asked. This couldn’t be happening. “It’s a lie. Do you know how many men in the world have this happen to them that aren’t professional athletes? It could happen to anyone. And it was before I even met you.”

  “So you were with her?”

  “No! I’m telling you that what she is accusing me of was before my life changed. Before I moved here. Before I even knew you.”

  “I want to say this would have happened whether you were still playing or not, but my question is why she waited so long to contact you. She’s what? Six months pregnant, or so the article said.”

  “That’s what my lawyer and agent said. I don’t know why she waited so long. I haven’t talked to her and I don’t plan on it. Maybe she was trying to see who she could blame it on. Or see if she could get some money from me to keep quiet.”

  “Blame?” she asked. “Because when a woman gets pregnant it’s her fault.”

  “I didn’t say that. You asked me a question and I answered it.” He was losing control of this conversation and wasn’t sure how the hell that happened.

  “It doesn’t matter. We aren’t getting anywhere and it’s not going to change things.” She stood up and walked to the door. “Goodbye, Harris.”

  How had the best thing in his life just walked out the door? He stood there staring at her car pulling out of the driveway and felt his own tears rolling down his face.

  27

  It Matters

  Two weeks had gone by and Kaelyn was just plain miserable.

  Not only was she missing Harris something fierce but she also had the worst case of morning sickness that she was trying to hide from everyone.

  She was waking up early enough in the mornings and getting it out of her system before work so she could at least go about her day without too many issues.

  Her appointment last week at the doctors confirmed what she had started to feel when she and Harris went to the game at Citi Field.

  They always used protection and she couldn’t figure out how this happened, but it did.

  She wasn’t trying to trap him. She didn’t want this any more than he did. But that wasn’t stopping her from having this child either.

  Harris’s name had been cleared just like he’d said. The DNA test hadn’t even come back yet and the woman was already backtracking and saying another man was the father. Or after she’d read that Harris’s lawyer announced there was zero likelihood he was the father. Kaelyn stopped paying attention at that point.

  And yes, he was right, it happened before her. As much as she was hurt over it all, that wasn’t the turning point for her. She would have been able to get through it, she was sure.

  No, it was his little notebook that he kept track of every woman he dated because he felt someone was always out to get him.

  Could she understand that? She really could. And she couldn’t fault him that much either when he did that with his other life. But he put her in that book.

  He lumped her in with all those women that he felt were out to get something from him.

  If he felt that way, then he was going to blame her for this pregnancy. As much as she loved him she wasn’t going to have him hate her.

  It was better this way, she knew, even if it was stupid on her part.

  She heard a knock on her door and stood up from the couch. She was moving slower this morning than normal, but since it was Saturday morning she figured she could be lazy.

  The last person she expected to see standing there was Harris’s sister. “Sarah, what are you doing here?”

  “Coming to see if you are as miserable as my brother. And before you ask, he has no idea I’m here. I took it upon myself to find out what’s going on.”

  �
�More like you wanted to come over and give me crap,” she said.

  “Maybe. It depends on the reason you two have split. I’m not getting much out of Harris other than he’s upset. It all happened around the same time that bitch started telling lies so I want to guess that you couldn’t take the heat of it and walked out.”

  Kaelyn crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “I wasn’t happy to hear about it, but that isn’t what ended things.”

  “Then what?” Sarah asked.

  “It’s not your business. It’s between Harris and me.”

  “I thought you were stronger than that.”

  “You think coming here to insult me is going to help? I get it. You love your brother and want him happy. I want him happy too and I don’t see it being with me.”

  “That’s a stupid statement.”

  The hormones in her body just took over and she burst into tears. “It’s not stupid. I don’t want him to hate me.”

  “What the heck are you talking about?” Sarah asked.

  Of course at that moment her stomach decided to betray her and sent her running from the room with her hand over her mouth. Sarah was right behind her and in the bathroom. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

  Kaelyn couldn’t stop heaving to answer. When nothing came up other than spit, she finally sat on the floor. “Just leave me alone.”

  “Harris has no idea, does he?”

  She looked up at Sarah knowing there were big fat tears rolling down her cheeks. There was no use lying. “No.”

  “And you think breaking up with him is the right thing to do? I can’t figure out what is going through your mind unless it’s not his.”

  “Of course it’s his,” she said, pushing herself up and walking to the kitchen. She got a bottle of water out of the fridge and took a sip.

  “Then explain to me what is going on,” Sarah said, pulling out a stool and sitting at the island like she was making herself at home.

  “It’s complicated. Let’s just say your brother doesn’t have a lot of trust in women and he had some things to say about this situation with Janice. I didn’t want him to think I was doing the same thing.”

  She laughed. “First off, I know Harris is like that. He used to keep this notebook. Oh my God, does he still? Did he tell you about that?”

  Kaelyn just lifted her eyes but didn’t answer. “Go on with your story.”

  “That’s answer enough. Okay. He didn’t put you in it, did he? Oh man, he did. What an idiot. That’s his past life. You aren’t anything like those women.”

  “You aren’t making me feel any better here about the fact he is going to think I am like those women with the bun in my oven.”

  “He won’t believe that.”

  But she didn’t think so. “You didn’t hear some of the things that he said the last night I saw him. It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.”

  “Do you love my brother?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Of course it matters,” Sarah argued. “You’re having his baby.”

  “It’s my baby,” she said.

  “Both of yours,” Sarah said. “And my niece or nephew. Oh man, my parents are going to be so jacked.”

  “Don’t tell them,” Kaelyn said.

  “Come on. Do you think you can hide this? I just said I didn’t think you were stupid— don’t make me say you are.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” she said.

  “The first thing you need to do is tell Harris you’re pregnant.”

  “He’s going to be pissed off I didn’t tell him.”

  “He is. But you said you did this because you thought he’d be pissed and accuse you of being like that other woman. So it looks to me that he was going to be pissed in your mind either way. Personally I’m not convinced he’s going to be ticked. I think he’s going to be shocked then thrilled.”

  “I think you’re wrong,” Kaelyn said.

  “I think you’re wrong. I know my brother. But you can’t expect me to keep this from him. I’ll give you two days and then I’m telling him.”

  “Fine. Two days,” she said. “Do you promise?”

  “If you don’t tell him by Monday night, I will.”

  * * *

  Sunday afternoon Harris heard a horn beeping and looked out his front window to see what the commotion was.

  There at the gate blocking anyone from entering the property was Kaelyn slamming on her horn. He walked over to the panel on the wall and hit the code for the gate to open, then stood there while he waited for her to break his heart all over again.

  He was on his porch when she got out. She looked beautiful as always, a red flush on her face as if she’d run to see him rather than calmly getting out of her car and walking forward.

  “Kaelyn,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “I know. I didn’t want to call and have you avoid me. I figured you’d let me in if I made enough noise.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “We need to talk,” she said.

  “I don’t need to say anything.”

  “Then you can listen,” she said, tilting her head up and being defiant. This was the woman who gave him shit the first time he met her. The one he was attracted to and had been missing lately.

  “Fine, talk.”

  He walked back into the house, knowing she’d follow. Nicks was on her heels looking for attention and he couldn’t blame the dog one bit.

  “I’m sorry. I should have believed you, but I was hurt that you lumped me in the same category as the rest of those women.”

  He snorted. “I didn’t, but you don’t want to hear that. Just like you didn’t believe me when I told you I didn’t even know who that woman was.”

  “I was wrong. But I was hurt. It was like a punch in the gut to see that. There was a reason though why it upset me so much.”

  She was starting to cry again and he couldn’t figure out why. She left him. “Why don’t you tell me what that is. I don’t like playing games like that and trying to guess.”

  “I didn’t want you to be mad at me. Or think I was like Janice. That I was trying to trap you.”

  He stared at her hard, her bottom lip was quivering and he found himself asking, “Are you pregnant?”

  She nodded her head. “I don’t know how it happened.”

  He just started to laugh. “I know how it happened.”

  “How?”

  “Good Lord. Do I need to give you a talk on the birds and bees?”

  “No,” she said, wiping at the tears that were falling down her face. “I meant we used protection.”

  “We did,” he said. “I always did.”

  “And it didn’t work. It’s your baby,” she said.

  “I know that.” Then he stopped and thought back about their last conversation. How he was pissed off and said some things that she might take offense to. Didn’t she ask him if it was the woman’s fault if she got pregnant? “Shit.”

  “Is your mind going back to everything you said a few weeks ago?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I can see where that might have set you off more. But you should have told me. I have a right to know.” He felt himself getting worked up now. Angry even. “Were you not going to tell me? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That I wouldn’t want my child?”

  “I don’t know what I was feeling or thinking or anything. I’d just started to suspect I might be pregnant right before that all happened. Then I took a test the next day to be sure because I had to know and I was.”

  “Have you been to the doctor? How far along are you?”

  “By their calculations about eight weeks. Early still.”

  He looked her over some more. Nothing had changed that he could see. “How do you feel?”

  “Not wonderful. Mornings are rough.”

  And she’d been dealing with this all alone. “Were you going to tell me at all?”

  “Of course. I just had to come to terms with it. It’s been
a shock and then everything has just happened so fast with us. I don’t want you to think I’m trapping you. I’m not. I’m not holding you responsible. We did this together.”

  “It’s my kid and I’m going to be there,” he said. “You didn’t think I’d walk away, did you? What kind of a low opinion do you have of me?”

  “I didn’t think you would, but I knew you’d be mad.”

  “I’m not mad about the baby. I’m mad you didn’t tell me. I mad you thought you could decide for us what was best and that was breaking up.”

  “And you have a right to be that way. I was wrong and will admit it. I want to start over. I want to try to work it out. I understand if you don’t want a relationship with me, but for the baby’s sake we should try to be civil.”

  “Do you want to get back together with me? Do you love me?”

  “I never stopped. I just couldn’t bear to think you’d hate me.”

  “Come here,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I couldn’t hate you even though you broke my heart when you left two weeks ago. But knowing we’re going to be a family has a way of mending it fast.”

  “Are we going to be a family?” she asked.

  “I’d have it no other way.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Me neither.”

  Epilogue

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Harris said, nudging Kaelyn’s shoulder. She’d been living with him now for a few months. She was five and a half months pregnant and they knew they were having a little girl. He hoped it was one that looked like her mother and had her personality.

  “What time is it?” she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

  “It’s seven and you’ve slept long enough. Santa has been here and is gone.”

  She laughed and threw the covers back. “I don’t believe in Santa any more than you.”

  “You better start for our daughter.” He never thought he’d be so excited to be a father but then realized he knew it was in his future. Just not so fast. Seemed like everything in his life jumped a timeline lately.

  He wouldn’t change it for anything though.