Chapter 25
A host of unexpected emotions washed through Samuel. The first thought was that he had been right. The second was an image of Joey walking past him in the lobby. That led to a wash of anger.
Then came a stab of regret. He wanted to be the father of Danielle’s child.
He quickly set aside his own emotions and put his focus back on Danielle. Her face was blank.
“You knew.” Her voice was quiet.
He shrugged. “Sisters.” He drew her to him into a hug and tucked her head beneath his chin. He held her tightly, and she clung to him. They stood that way in silence as the seconds passed.
He had one week. One week before he had to move to Dallas. He had an apartment reserved with Air BNB for the next two weeks. He wasn’t ready to commit to a lease in Dallas. He knew nothing about the city – which area was best to live in. Which area would be a peaceful commute to the airport.
In one week, he would be leaving Danielle on her own, to face an unexpected pregnancy with a man she no longer wanted in her life. He needed to talk to her. To find out what she wanted.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” He took her hand and led her out of her office, through the lobby to the elevator.
They went outside and got into his truck without talking. He didn’t ask, he just drove to Pappa’s. They were early, so they took a quiet booth in the back.
“How do you feel?” He asked, prepared to get crackers.
“I don’t feel sick at the moment. I haven’t all morning.”
“That’s got to be a good thing.”
“You have no idea how miserable it is. And humiliating.”
“Danielle.” He held out his hand and she put hers in his. Their fingers locked loosely. “What do you want to do?”
Her eyes widened. “You mean, do I want to have the baby?”
“Do you?” He couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like to carry the child of someone he didn’t love.
She took a deep breath. Looked around and squared her shoulders. “Yes.”
He nodded. “Okay then.” If she could deal with it, then he would learn to accept it. No matter the biological father, the baby would still be hers.
She pulled her hand away and pressed her fingertips against her forehead. “I have to tell my parents.”
He nodded.
“I may not survive that.”
He chuckled. “They’re your parents. Surely, they’ll understand.”
“My father, yes. My mother, not so much. Image is very important to her. I’m going to be a disappointment.” She was quiet for a moment. “Maybe I should have an abortion.”
“Danielle.” She looked at him. “Do not have an abortion because you might embarrass your parents.”
She shuddered out a breath. “You’re right. My mother is coming for a visit this week. I’ll get it over with. Actually, it’s really convenient that I live here. None of her associates in L.A. have to even know.”
“It’s hard to hide a child forever.”
“Not forever. Just long enough for them to get used to the idea.”
“It’s a lot for you to get used to, too.”
“Yeah. I never saw myself being a single mom.”
“You should meet my sister. She’s a single mom.”
“Your parents were okay with that?”
“They were a little worried at first, you know, but we pitched in to help her out until she got it figured out. She’s a great mom.”
“You seem very proud of her.”
“I am. I admire her.”
Their lunch came and they ate in silence for a few minutes.
“I don’t know anything about babies,” Danielle blurted.
“Nobody does until they have one.”
“No. I mean I know zero. I never babysat. No nieces or nephews.” She drew a horizontal line with her hand. “Nothing.”
“You can take a class or read online.” He sipped his soda. Then jumped in with both feet. “Or I can teach you.”
She was silent for a few minutes. He didn’t know what to expect. “Okay.”
He smiled. That meant she was willing to consider having him around after the baby was born.
He took her hand again. “I want to be there for you Danielle.”
“Why? Why would want to be there for me when I’m carrying another man’s baby?” She lowered her voice to a whisper and gripped his hand.
“Am I the only one feeling a connection here?”
Her lips turned up into a slow smile. “No.” Her voice was soft, and her eyes conveyed more than she could know.
“Good.” He pulled back and pushed his plate away. “Take a deep breath, Danielle. Everything is going to work out.” Even as he said the words, he knew they were for him.
He was going down a path he’d only been down once before. A path he had sworn he would never go down again. Last time, with Jessica, he’d had it all planned out. This time, he was taking it day by day.
He’d just committed to be there for Danielle when he was going to be in Dallas.
He was going to be doing a lot of flying.
Chapter 26
Danielle picked at her food. Her mind was going nine million miles an hour.
A baby.
Before last Friday, the whole idea of having a baby was so far off her radar, that world didn’t even exist.
Now, in just the span of one week, she’d gone from a girl on a dating moratorium to a pregnant girl with a guy who wanted to connect with her. A guy whose kiss she couldn’t get out of her mind. And on top of all that, said guy was a pilot. And Danielle had sworn she would never ever get involved with a pilot. Again.
Yet here he was. The man of her fantasy world sitting in front of her. Kind. Gentle. Attentive. Understanding.
A pilot.
Fate had a sense of humor.
She would never have an abortion. The idea of a life growing inside of her was the strangest and most wonderful feeling she’d ever had. Even if Joey was the sperm donor.
And that, she vowed, was how she was going to think of him from now on.
Samuel had said she needed to tell him about the baby. As far as she was concerned, he’d lost that right when he’d cheated on her.
The baby was hers. And she wasn’t going to share it with anyone else.
Well… maybe Samuel.
Chapter 27
Samuel left Danielle at her office with a promise to go to her apartment after work. It would be the first time he’d been inside, and in the evening too. Progress.
It turned out Danielle’s mother wasn’t the only person coming into town that week.
After he dropped Danielle off at her office, he was headed out to do some errands when he got a text from his boss.
Do you have time to meet in about an hour?
Samuel laughed. When Noah put someone on the payroll, he really expected them to be available.
He sent back a quick answer in the affirmative. A couple of quick texts, and they agreed on a place to meet not far from where Samuel was now.
He ordered a coffee and took a seat in the back of the Starbucks to wait for Noah. Noah was no doubt here to see his daughter and would see her later. A man like Noah would certainly not fly from Dallas to Houston, then drive an hour to meet with an employee who was on the payroll but not yet doing much other than check in on his daughter “now and then.” Unless Danielle had told him, he wouldn’t know that “now and then” was much more.
And if Samuel had his way, that much more would continue to grow. The problem was going to be all about location. Samuel was falling hard and fast for Danielle, and he wasn’t about to let logistics get in his way.
Samuel recognized Noah the minute he walked into the door. Noah Worthington wore success like others wore an old t-shirt. He wore it confidently and barely seemed to notice it was there. Samuel stood up. Noah waved, ordered a coffee, then sat across from Samuel.
Noah was a busy man and didn’t min
ce words. Apparently there were two things he was interested in. “Will you be moved and ready to go to work next Monday?”
Samuel nodded. “I plan to drive up Saturday.” He was really thinking Sunday, but he didn’t want to sound like he was breezing into town at the last minute for his new job.
Noah waved him off. “I’ll send someone down to fly you up.”
“My truck…”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Alright,” Samuel said. So much for his plan to slide into Dallas Sunday. One less day to spend with Danielle.
As though he read his mind, Noah asked his next question. “How’s my daughter?”
She’s going to have a baby. I think I love her. “She’s good.”
“You said you were driving her to an appointment last week.”
“And I did.”
Noah sat back and seemed to relax. “She needs to move New York where driving isn’t required.”
“Why won’t she drive?”
“I don’t even know if she knows. She just never had any interest in it. It’s almost un-American.”
“It’s very unusual.” Samuel agreed.
“You’ve been driving her around a lot?”
Samuel nodded.
“And after this week, you won’t be here.”
Samuel wasn’t sure how to respond. Noah stated exactly what Samuel had been wondering. Also, Noah had no idea how much more she was going to need him as her pregnancy progressed. Surely, Danielle would tell him soon. It was a difficult secret to keep, especially with Noah’s pointed questions.
“I’ll have to think about that,” Noah sipped his coffee and after his phone chimed, sent a quick text. “My wife, Savannah.”
Samuel smiled. Danielle had spoken fondly of Savannah. Apparently, Savannah was the one person, other than Danielle, that Noah would walk on water for.
“Are you seeing Danielle today?” This conversation would be so much easier if Noah already knew Danielle’s circumstance. “I saw her at lunch, and she didn’t mention it.”
Noah smiled sheepishly. “I had some time, so I thought I’d pop in and surprise her.”
“Ah.” Noah couldn’t have picked a worse day to pop in unannounced. Unless… it was possible that they were close, and she could use the support. Maybe it would be good for her to go ahead and tell Noah.
Not my business.
“I’m gonna go ahead and line you up with some flights for next week.”
“Sounds good.”
“See you Monday morning. I’ll email your itinerary for the week.” Noah stood up. Held out his hand.
The two men shook hands, and Noah looked him in the eye. “Don’t let me down.”
Chapter 28
Danielle tinkered with the cover on her computer, but her heart wasn’t in it. She changed the font color. Again.
She was going to have a baby. With Jo... with a sperm donor. Joey wasn’t bad-looking, and was smart enough. He didn’t read a lot, but he was quick with math. If he’d gone to college, he could have gotten a degree in engineering easily.
And she knew his parents. They were good people. No diseases as far as she knew. So decent genes on his side.
She sighed. If only she carried Samuel’s child. They would have beautiful children.
She fiddled with the placement of the author’s name, her mind racing with about a million things. She would prefer to tell her father first, but since she needed to do it in person, it looked like her mother was up first.
Maybe she should move back to L.A. to be near her mother. But she had a nice apartment here and a job that she liked. She was left alone to be creative in her own space. Some of the more seasoned cover artists worked from home, so maybe she could do that after the baby came.
She would have to get baby furniture. She needed to look into classes to learn about caring for an infant, much less a child.
Samuel would know. Samuel had nieces and nephews. He knew how to take care of a baby, and he’d offered to help out. But Samuel was going to be in Dallas. Her father lived in Alabama and ran a business based in Fort Worth. Somehow, he managed it, but he mostly supervised the other pilots now. He only did a few contract flights himself. Most of his flying was between Auburn and Fort Worth, and L.A. to see her, until she’d moved. He hadn’t been to see her since she moved to Houston. In fact, she had been a little nervous about telling him that she had moved here, much less followed Joey here, but now there was so much more to tell him.
She missed her father terribly.
She could drive up with Samuel this weekend and fly back. She checked the calendar. She’d have to ask off for Monday.
Her head jerked up at three knocks on her door. After Joey showed up unannounced, she was wary of anyone coming to her door unannounced.
Noah stood leaning against the door jamb watching her. “Daddy!” She cried and ran to throw herself in his arms.
Hugged close and safe to her father, she started to cry.
“Hey,” Noah said, rubbing her back. “What’s this?”
Her breath hitched. “I just haven’t seen you in so long. It seems like… so much has happened.”
“Besides breaking up with Joey? Has Samuel been helping you out?”
“Samuel. Yes.” She wiped at her eyes. “Wait. You knew about Joey?”
“Of course I knew about it.”
Danielle sighed. “I was so worried about telling you.”
He took her chin in his hand. “Danielle, don’t ever be afraid to tell me anything. You know that right? After all we’ve been through?”
“Of course, Daddy.” All those months of counseling. “It’s just. It was such a big move. To come here to be with Joey, and it didn’t last.”
“Speaking of-- Can you leave? Can we get out of here? I’d like to see your apartment.”
She snagged a Kleenex from her desk and wiped at her eyes. “Sure. Do you have a car?”
Noah laughed. “Of course I have a car.”
Danielle gathered up her things and together they went downstairs, and he followed her directions to her apartment.
“This looks like a nice area.” Noah commented as he pulled into her apartment complex.
“I like it.” She bit her lip. She did like her apartment and had just gotten moved in and gotten it set up just the way she liked it. She was proud of her apartment and was comfortable here. No. She decided right then. She would stay here. She could raise her baby here.
Once inside, Noah walked around and stuck his head in each of her three bedrooms. Checked out her huge walk-in closet, and came back to the living area. “Nice,” he said. “Now come here and tell me what’s bothering you.”
He sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. She sat next to him and took deep calming breaths. Daddy had been through intense therapy with her. She could tell him anything. Right?
“Daddy.”
Noah rubbed her back. “You can tell me anything, Princess.”
She looked up and stared into her father’s loving eyes. Her breath hitched out. “I’m pregnant.”
She watched as a range of emotions washed over his face in a matter of seconds. Then he pulled her to him and hugged her again. “It’s okay, baby.”
“I’m so sorry to disappoint you.” She breathed against his chest.
“You could never disappoint me. Never. No matter what you ever do.”
She wiped at her eyes.
“Is it… Joey’s?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s now referred to as ‘the sperm donor’.”
“Got it. How do you feel?”
“Better today. I’ve had morning sickness all day long, every day.”
“How did you stand it?”
“Samuel brought me crackers.” She laughed. “Oddly enough, it really helped.”
“Samuel’s been taking care of you.”
“I really like him.”
“Like him, like him?”
She smiled. “Yeah. I do.”
<
br /> Noah rubbed his eyes with his palms. “That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
He looked at her. “I saw Samuel earlier today.”
“When? Why?”
“I’m paying him, remember?” Noah had a lopsided grin on his face.
“Right. And you’re taking him away. To Dallas.”
“Fort Worth.”
“Whatever.”
Noah laughed. “Working in a different city doesn’t mean it can’t work. It’s a lot harder though.”
“I don’t even know what we’re going to do about it.” She said as her phone chimed. “I forgot.” She looked up at Noah. “He’s supposed to be coming over tonight.”
“Okay,” Noah said, but she could see the disappointment in his face.
“I’ll cancel with him. He’s knows you’re here, so he’ll understand.”
“Savannah keeps telling me I need to stop showing up places unannounced.”
“It’s okay, Daddy. It’s who you are.”
He grinned. “You, on the other hand, take after your mother in all the good ways.”
“You mean, I call before I show up?”
“It’s a good quality to have.”
“What do you think Mom’s gonna think? About the baby?”
Noah shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s a lot different now that she’s with Grayson.”
“She’s coming here in two days.”
“That doesn’t give you much time with Samuel, does it? Between the two of us.”
“It’s okay. I’m supposed to be in a dating moratorium anyway.”
“Who said that?”
“It’s self-imposed.”
Noah stood up and paced to the window where she had a nice view of the pool. “Want some fatherly advice?”
“Always.”
“I don’t know Samuel very well, but he seems like a nice guy. His background checked out.” He looked at her sheepishly. “I like him well enough to hire him. If you like him, you shouldn’t let what happened with J…”
“Sperm donor.”
“Right. You shouldn’t let what happened with ‘sperm donor’ affect the possibility of a relationship with Samuel.”
Falling Again Page 8