by Abbi Glines
“I’m not ready to face him, but even if he doesn’t love me anymore, I don’t think he will try and approach me right now. He wouldn’t do that. He may just be here to pay his last respects and leave. Seeing me like this could send him running.”
Jeremy frowned and glanced toward the back of the church. “I don’t think he’s gonna be running. He noticed that you’re pregnant. The dude’s face is pale.”
Oh God. Not today. Not today. I didn’t want to talk to Cage about this today. I would tomorrow. “Maybe you should go talk to him. Tell him if he wants to talk to me, that I need it to wait until tomorrow.”
“I think that’s a good idea. I’ll meet you outside,” he whispered as we stood up. He quickly made his way to the back before everyone else left to go outside to the graveyard behind the church.
CAGE
She was pregnant. Holy shit. She was pregnant. My chest was so tight, I couldn’t take a deep breath. I was forcing oxygen into my lungs as I stared at the front of the church. The back of Eva’s head as she spoke to the pastor. I had to get to her. That baby was mine and that diamond ring on her hand was not fucking okay with me.
“Outside. We need to talk,” Jeremy said as he stopped in front of me and nodded toward the exit. My hands fisted at my sides. This was the motherfucker who was gonna marry my woman and take my kid away from me.
“I don’t know if being alone with me is a real smart idea for you,” I snarled, tearing my eyes away from the back of Eva’s head so I could glare at Jeremy.
“It’s her dad’s funeral, Cage. I realize you noticed Eva’s stomach, but you need to remember this is the hardest day of Eva’s life.”
He was right. Damn him. I managed to nod and tap down the anger rolling under the surface. Then I followed him outside. He kept walking until we were in the parking lot and away from the crowd walking to the cemetery.
“I’m not gonna let you take what’s mine.”
Jeremy stuck his hands in his pockets and let out a weary sigh. “She thought you’d see her stomach and take off running. I told her you wouldn’t. Guess I was right.”
“She thought I’d run? Where the fuck did she get that idea?” Not only did she not trust me not to cheat on her, she also didn’t trust me to want what was mine. Did she not know me at all?
Jeremy lifted his eyes to look directly at me. “Why should she think differently? It’s been six months, Cage. She hasn’t heard a word from you. What is she supposed to think?”
Ah, hell no. He wasn’t pegging this shit on me. He was the one who was coming after me with a gun, telling me not to ever come near her again. Not that he stopped me. Eva telling me she was done with us. . . That’s what had stopped me.
“She ended it. I gave her what she wanted. She didn’t trust me. She didn’t even fucking let me explain.”
Jeremy’s eyebrows shot up like he was surprised by my words. “Really, Cage? That’s what you’re going with? Because the girl you were dealing with wasn’t just Eva. It was Eva in deep depression and grief because she was watching her daddy grow sicker every damn day. She was dealing with the fact he was going to die. That’s the girl you were talking to that day. Not the Eva that was sure of your love. Her emotions were a damn jumbled mess. You never tried to contact her again. You just walked.”
I hated him.
I hated what he was saying.
I hated how fucking right he was.
“That baby is mine,” I said, needing to hear him admit it. There was no way it was his. Eva wouldn’t have slept with him or anyone else so soon after our breakup to be that pregnant already.
“Ain’t nobody saying it isn’t yours. She’ll even tell you it’s yours. She told her daddy it was yours. She just needs you to give her a day. Let her mourn today. Let her say her good-byes to her dad. Tomorrow she’ll talk to you. She’s ready.”
She was gonna talk to me. She was carrying my baby.
And she was wearing his motherfucking ring on her hand.
“Why she wearing your ring?”
Jeremy shifted his feet, and for the first time since we’d walked out there, he looked nervous. “I asked her to marry me. She said yes. I love her. I have since we were kids.”
I had seen it from the beginning. I had wondered about it, but I’d been okay with it because she didn’t see him that way. She loved him like a brother. Which still confused the hell out of me as to why they were fucking engaged. Was it because she was pregnant?
“I’m not letting you have her.”
Jeremy’s shoulders stiffened at my words. “That’s her decision. Not yours to make.”
“I’m gonna fight for her and our baby. She loves me. She may have forgotten, but deep down she knows. What we have. . . it’s always. She and I. . . We’re always.”
Jeremy shook his head and glanced back at the crowd gathering around the freshly dug grave. “Sometimes, Cage, a hurt goes too deep.” He didn’t look back at me. He turned around and headed toward Eva. Her shoulders were slumped and jerked gently as she cried into a handkerchief. I wanted to be there to hold her. To soothe her. But she didn’t want me. Not now.
I’d make sure she wanted me again. I would spend the rest of my life making sure she wanted me again. It would wait until tomorrow, though. I stood there and watched her lean into Jeremy’s arms, as she laid one white rose on her father’s casket and they lowered him into the grave. I continued standing there as the crowd slowly began to leave. I waited. I waited until she looked up and finally gave in and turned her eyes toward me.
Her head tilted to the side as she studied me. I could see the confusion in them from here. She thought I’d moved on. My gaze dropped to her stomach as her hand rested on it. The diamond caught the sun and it mocked me as it sat over my child. Our child.
Tomorrow. I’d talk to her tomorrow.
* * *
Low brought me a beer and sat down across from me. Thankfully she didn’t crawl up in Marcus’s lap. I wasn’t in the mood at the moment to witness other people’s happiness. I’d fucked my shit up.
“I can’t believe she’s pregnant,” Low said for the third time since I’d walked in the door and announced that Eva was carrying my baby.
“It sucks that she didn’t tell you when she found out,” Marcus said, shaking his head while moving closer to Low to put his arm around her.
“She didn’t exactly find out when she was in a good state of mind. She and Cage were broken up, her daddy was sick.. . . I mean, it had to have been hard on her.” Low was going to defend her. I was kind of surprised she wasn’t upset for my benefit.
“Pregnancy messes with your hormones. You don’t think clearly a lot of the time. It makes you emotional and very vulnerable. Then combine that with the emotions of watching your father slowly die of cancer. I can’t imagine. I really can’t. She must have been a mess.”
Well, fuck. Now I felt worse, and I hadn’t thought that was possible. I’d already sent her into the arms of another man. She lost her daddy and cried on another man’s shoulder. I had lost her. No. . . No. I wasn’t going to think that. I could never make any of this right, but I could win her back.
“At least you’ll be seven hours away and not have to watch her with him. The distance will help, I think,” Marcus said, taking another swig of his beer.
“I’m not going back,” I replied. I couldn’t leave now. If I left, I would lose her forever. What would my life be worth then? Without Eva, I didn’t give a flying fuck about my future.
“Cage, you can’t mean that. You have to go back. Think about your future—”
“My future doesn’t matter if Eva isn’t in it.” I cut Low off. I wasn’t going to listen to how I needed to go finish school. I was tired of hearing that shit. I had lost Eva because I’d left. If I’d been there, none of that would have happened. She wouldn’t be wearing Jeremy’s damn ring right now; she’d be wearing mine.
“But this semester is almost over,” Low said, sitting on the edge of the couch as if
she was ready to beg me to finish school.
“I have a 4.0, Low. I’ll take my exams online and that will be it. I’m not going back there. I’ll get a student loan and transfer to South for the fall term. I need this next term to focus on Eva.”
Low blew out a long breath that made her bangs flutter against her forehead, then she sat back against Marcus’s chest. “That’s what you really want to do?”
“Yes.”
“But—”
“Let it go, baby. If I were in his shoes, I’d do the same thing. His future is Eva and their baby. Sometimes dreams change. His has.”
I looked at Marcus Hardy and realized that might be the first wise thing that had ever come out of the dude’s mouth.
Chapter Sixteen
EVA
I had given in last night and taken another of the sleeping pills my obstetrician had prescribed me. I hadn’t been able to sleep since Daddy passed away, and I’d called my doctor desperate for help. Jeremy had also offered to stay with me, but I had sent him home. Seeing Cage yesterday had haunted me. As ridiculous as it sounded, I felt like I was doing something wrong by wearing Jeremy’s ring. It was as if I was cheating now.
He was going to want to talk to me today. Jeremy had said he had agreed to wait until after the funeral, but that he had said the baby was his. He wasn’t trying to deny it. The Cage I had loved and trusted would want our baby. But the Cage who had left me and turned from me when I had needed him most wouldn’t want a child. Maybe he was coming to tell me that he wanted to relinquish all rights to the baby to Jeremy. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
Even after everything that had happened, I didn’t want Cage to not want our baby. I wanted my little girl to have a daddy who adored her. I wanted her to have what I had. Sure, Jeremy had promised to be there for us, but he would never really love Cage’s child the way a daddy loved his child. He’d always remember whose child she really was.
I looked out over the land as I sat rocking on the front porch swing. This was mine to take care of now. I had to make it work. I was terrified of letting my daddy’s hard work be for nothing. I couldn’t let it go. It was my home. I wanted my daughter to grow up there too.
Jeremy’s truck came over the hill¸ reminding me that we had to decide what to do about the stockyard this next weekend. Would we make any new purchases or would we wait? I watched him roll to a stop down by the barn. He loved this land too. He was a good man. He had been there for me through everything.
He jumped down out of the truck and reached inside to grab his hat before closing the door. Watching him walk toward me I reminded myself every reason why I’d said yes. I glanced down at my empty ring finger. I hadn’t ben able to put the diamond he’d bought me last week on my hand this morning. Some days I couldn’t wear it because it felt wrong. Like I was pretending again. I hated pretending.
Lifting my gaze, I looked back at his face and saw he too had been looking at my bare ring finger. He never mentioned it when I didn’t wear the ring. Another reason I loved him.
“Morning,” he said with a smile that didn’t meet his eyes.
“Good morning,” I replied, tucking my hands between my legs so that neither of us was tempted to look at them again.
“You sleep okay?” he asked as he walked up the steps and then leaned against the railing.
“Yes. Thanks to sleeping pills. I slept fine. You?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I slept good enough, I guess.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to him then. We’d never had awkward moments before. We had them more often now. It was like we were in some strange limbo. We were engaged, but yet we’d never kissed. I couldn’t imagine kissing Jeremy. It was one of the reasons I pretended. Facing the truth was too complicated.
“He called me about thirty minutes ago. He’ll be here soon. You ready for that?”
I knew who “he” was. I didn’t have to ask. I was surprised he’d called Jeremy though. Why not me? Was he accepting my engagement to Jeremy that easily? My gut twisted. Deep down I’d thought he might be upset about Jeremy and me. Seems like once again I was wrong about Cage York.
“It’s time we talked. He deserves the chance to decide what he wants to do about Bliss. Daddy was right. Bliss is Cage’s, too. He should get a voice in what her future holds. Are you ready for that? If he wants to be a part of her life?”
Jeremy shifted his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “You decided to go with Bliss,” he said instead of an answer.
Daddy and I had talked about baby names when he was awake and able to talk. Bliss had been his idea. I had been leaning toward Heidi. He had said that he believed my little girl was going to be my bliss. She’d bring me the happiness I thought I’d lost. I knew the night he closed his eyes for the last time that her name would be Bliss.
“Daddy named her,” I replied.
Jeremy nodded. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
We stood there not looking at each other and not talking. Knowing Cage was on his way and he held the answer to what would happen next weighed on both of us. I wondered if Jeremy hoped Cage would be Bliss’s dad. Maybe he didn’t want that kind of pressure just yet. Would he want a child of his own one day? If we married, we would eventually have children.. . .
I couldn’t think about that. I couldn’t even imagine kissing Jeremy. Much less that. It seemed wrong. Guilt ate at me. What had I agreed to? I needed my daddy. I needed to talk to him. Tears stung my eyes and I prayed I wouldn’t cry.
“He’s here,” Jeremy said
My head snapped up and I looked down the road to see Cage’s car slowly coming down the driveway. I remember how he used to speed down the road and jump out of the car to catch me as I threw myself at him. Things were so different now. My hand went to my stomach on reflex. It was as if I needed to protect her from this. What if this was the moment her father walked away from her without a fight the way he had with me? I didn’t want that kind of rejection to ever touch her.
“You want me to step inside, or go on down to the barn and start my day?”
He was offering to give us time alone to talk. I was torn. I didn’t want him to feel unwanted, but this was a conversation that his presence could hinder. Cage may want him there. I wasn’t sure yet. “I’m not sure,” I replied honestly.
Cage’s door opened and he stepped out. Even now my heart picked up its pace at the sight of him. The jeans he was wearing hung low on his narrow hips. The snug-fitting black T-shirt he was wearing didn’t hide the fact his nipples were pierced. He slid his aviator sunglasses off and threw them in the seat of his car before closing the door and turning to look at me. His eyes didn’t even acknowledge Jeremy. They were pinned on me.
My excitement at seeing him was mixed with fear and pain. His eyes dropped to my stomach and I remembered that my hand was covering it protectively. His gaze lingered there before they lifted back up to pierce me with their dark blue intensity. He wasn’t here to give up our baby. He didn’t have to speak for me to know that. I could see it in his eyes.
“Maybe we should have some time to talk alone,” I told Jeremy, reaching over to squeeze his hand reassuringly. I didn’t want Cage saying anything to upset Jeremy. He didn’t deserve it.
“I’ll be in the barn,” he replied, turning and leaving the porch before Cage reached the steps. I watched Jeremy leave, and I tried to compose myself before looking back at Cage.
When I heard his booted foot hit the first step, I forced myself to look at him. His eyes were still locked on me. “Eva,” he said, then his gaze dropped again to my stomach.
“Hello, Cage,” I replied. My nerves were obvious by the way my voice cracked.
His eyes were on mine again. “I’m sorry about your dad. He was a good man.”
I only nodded. I wanted to yell and scream that he wasn’t here for me. That he let me watch my daddy die without him here to hold me. But I didn’t. I sat silently.
“When were you gonna tell
me about our baby?” he asked. He wasn’t going to beat around the bush. He was here for a purpose.
“I was busy with my daddy. I didn’t have time to deal with it. You didn’t want to talk to me and you’d let me go. I figured it didn’t matter when I told you. I was gonna let you know, though.”
Cage worked his jaw, and I knew he was controlling himself. He wasn’t happy with my response. “You didn’t want me to call you, Eva. You told me what we had was destroyed. You didn’t want me anymore. I was your biggest mistake.”
I had been so upset then, and my emotions had been all over the place. I hadn’t known I was pregnant then. I couldn’t remember everything I’d said to him. But the pain that flashed in his eyes as he repeated my words sliced through me.
“I was hurt. I wanted to hurt you back.”
“You succeeded,” he replied.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re not here to rehash the past. What’s done is done. You’re here to talk about, Bliss. We need to discuss her and your intentions for her future.”
The angry set in Cage’s jaw vanished and his eyes softened. “Bliss? Is that her name?” The gentle tone in his voice sounded almost reverent.
“Daddy liked that name,” I replied. I wasn’t changing it.
“He did good. It’s perfect.”
I hadn’t expected that response. I wasn’t really prepared for this conversation at all. It had gone much differently in my head. The cold emotionless man who wanted out was not what I was getting. This one was. . . This one was the Cage I’d loved. The one I’d thought was my world.
“I’m glad you like it,” I managed to say.
“Does she move yet? I mean. . . can you feel her?” he asked, taking a tentative step toward me and stopping.
I only nodded. I was having trouble with my words. This was the gentle Cage I remembered. How did I hurt this Cage? I couldn’t be business like with this Cage.
“I want to feel her move,” he said, lifting his awed gaze from my stomach to meet my fascinated gaze.
“She isn’t moving right now,” I replied.