“Weren’t you paying any attention to what I told you? Our marriage was never real.”
“I was paying attention—Las Vegas, six million dollars, fake pregnancy test, blah blah blah.”
Kenna smiled. This was exactly why she’d invited her friend to come over tonight—because no one knew better than Laurel how to make her smile through her tears.
“Actually, I am curious about the fake pregnancy test,” Laurel admitted. “How’d you do it?”
“I dipped the stick in the toilet bowl.”
“Clever,” her friend said. “But why did you do it?”
“Because I knew that if Daniel knew I was pregnant, he’d insist on staying with me.”
“And staying married to the father of your child—the man you love—would be a bad thing?”
“My feelings aren’t the issue.”
“They are,” her friend insisted. “You walked out on him because you were afraid he’d break your heart. Now it’s scattered all over the floor in a thousand pieces anyway.”
“Yeah, watch where you step, will you?”
Her friend smiled, then sighed. “You really made a mess of things, didn’t you?”
“I have no regrets,” Kenna promised her.
“And what about your baby?”
“I’m going to be the best mother I can be to my baby.”
“You’re going to be a fabulous mother,” Laurel said confidently. “But your kid’s going to need a father, too.”
“I don’t know about that—I never had a father and I think I turned out okay.”
“No father and Sue Ellen for a mother, I’d say it’s a miracle you survived. But that’s not the point.”
“I didn’t realize you had one.”
“You’re a teacher. You know the statistics. A child in a single-parent home is far more likely to perform below his or her peers.”
“And you know statistics can be used to prove almost anything,” Kenna rebutted. “But that study, which I did read, focused on kids in low-income families who had no contact with the noncustodial parent.”
“So you’re planning to work out a schedule for shared custody?”
“No.” She put a hand over her belly, instinctively, protectively. “I just meant that I won’t interfere with my baby knowing his or her father.”
“What if Daniel wants shared custody?” Laurel challenged.
“He won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he doesn’t want this baby at all.”
“Maybe not now,” Laurel acknowledged. “Because he wasn’t prepared for this. But you’re not due until May, so he’s still got seven months to get used to the idea of being a father. Maybe, once he does, he’ll embrace the idea.”
Kenna scowled. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want to make sure you’ve considered all of the repercussions before you walk too far down a path that you can’t find your way back from.”
Kenna stubbornly fisted her hands in her lap. “I’m doing what’s best for all of us.”
* * *
The following weekend was Columbus Day.
Kenna knew that Laurel was planning to spend the weekend on the Crystal Coast because her grandmother, who lived there, was on a seniors’ tour of Europe and had asked Laurel to check on her house periodically. And because she didn’t want to sit at home for three whole days, Kenna asked her friend if she could tag along.
Laurel accused her of wanting a place to hide out where Daniel couldn’t find her, and maybe there was an element of truth to that. But since he’d found out about their baby, nine days earlier, she hadn’t seen or heard a single word from him, so maybe she was really afraid that he wouldn’t even try to track her down. At least if she was out of town, she wouldn’t hear her phone not ring or her buzzer not sound.
Early Saturday morning, Laurel decided that she wanted buttermilk pancakes. Of course, the basic staples that they’d brought up for the weekend didn’t include buttermilk, so she decided to make a quick trip to the grocery store. She rejected Kenna’s offer to go with her, pointing out that it didn’t take two people to pick up a carton of buttermilk, and encouraged her friend to hang out and relax.
So Kenna was hanging out, if not really relaxing, when she heard the screen door open not five minutes after her friend had left. She was about to ask what she’d forgotten when she looked up and saw it wasn’t Laurel in the doorway—it was Daniel.
Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze swept over him.
The nine days since she’d last seen him felt like a lifetime. She couldn’t remember when they’d been out of contact for so long. Certainly not in recent years, because even if a few days went by that she didn’t see him, they’d communicated via email or text messages.
He looked like hell, as if he hadn’t shaved in three days or slept in twice that number. And at the same time, he looked really good, because he was Daniel and she’d missed him unbearably.
She swallowed, urging her frantically beating heart to exercise caution.
“What are you doing here?”
“I brought the separation agreement your lawyer sent to me,” he said, tossing the envelope onto the table beside her.
And with those words, the tentative hope that had started to bloom in her heart was ruthlessly crushed.
That was it, then—she’d got what she wanted. Or what she’d told him she wanted, anyway. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to bring it out here. You could have—”
“I didn’t sign it,” he told her.
“It’s a standard agreement, so there shouldn’t be any issues.” Her lawyer hadn’t approved of Kenna’s complete relinquishment of any claim for property settlement or financial support, but she didn’t know about the original agreement between the spouses. Kenna had already been paid one hundred thousand dollars for one year of marriage and, since they hadn’t made it through half of that, she almost felt as if she owed Daniel money.
“Except the standard clauses don’t apply, because I do still want to live with you as husband and wife.” He met her gaze, held it. “And I want us to raise our baby together.”
He didn’t say “the baby” but “our baby”—was it a deliberate or subconscious word choice? A reflection of his intention to take responsibility? Or possibly an indication that he felt connected to the child in her womb?
“I know we got married for the wrong reasons,” he admitted, “but everything changed after that.”
“Because we had sex?” she asked skeptically.
“Because I fell in love with you.”
Even as her brain struggled to make sense of the words, her heart started to swell inside her chest. “You...what?”
“That was my initial reaction, too,” he admitted. “And that’s probably why I pulled away from you, trying to deny my feelings. But it’s true—I love you, Kenna.”
She shook her head. “Please don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear.”
“Since when have I ever done that?” he challenged.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I know you believe in doing the right thing, and obviously you’ve made up your mind that being a father to our baby is the right thing.”
“This isn’t about our baby.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that your feelings could change so abruptly.”
“That’s the point—it wasn’t abrupt at all. I didn’t fall in love with you overnight or even during the past four and a half months. I started falling in love with you the first day of Mr. Taylor’s eleventh-grade chemistry class—it just took me a while to figure it out.”
She wanted to believe him. She really
did. But she knew him too well. She knew that he would do anything, say anything, to convince her that he wanted to be with her because he wanted to take responsibility for his child.
And even knowing that, she was tempted to take what he was offering. Because she loved him with her whole heart, and she knew that she always would. But she could still hear the statement that had broken her heart: the last thing I need is to add a baby to the mix.
And with those words still echoing in her head, she found the resolve she needed. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but—”
“What I’m trying to do is prevent you from screwing up both of our lives—and our baby’s—because you’re too stubborn to believe what I’m telling you.”
She lifted her chin. “Forgive me if a declaration of love doesn’t make me want to fall into your arms like a dreamy-eyed heroine at the end of some Hollywood movie.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe you’ve forgotten how to dream.”
“I have dreams,” she insisted. “But I’ve learned that plans are much more practical.”
“Before you dig your heels in too deep, will you do me a favor?”
“What is it?” she asked warily.
“Come back to Charisma with me—there’s something I need to show you.”
“I’m here for the weekend with Laurel.”
“Please,” he said. “Just do this one thing for me. If you want to come back here after, I’ll bring you back.”
“All right,” she finally agreed.
She sent Laurel a text message to let her friend know where she was going. Laurel’s reply—give him a chance. I love you but really hope I don’t see you again until we’re back at school Tuesday—confirmed to Kenna that she was the only one who’d been surprised by Daniel’s appearance at the house.
They drove for a while in silence before Daniel said, “Are you feeling okay? Have you had any more morning sickness?”
“I feel fine. Thankfully the nausea only seemed to last a few days.”
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Of course I’ve seen a doctor.”
“Do you know your actual due date?”
“May twenty-second.”
He did the mental calculations. “So that morning I came back from Palo Alto?”
She nodded. “I guess the odds were pretty good.”
“The things I said that day—”
“The pregnancy was a surprise to both of us,” she reminded him. “You don’t have to apologize for anything you were thinking or feeling.”
“The idea of being a father still terrifies me,” he admitted. “But mostly in a good way now.”
“Me, too,” she admitted.
“You’re terrified by the idea that I’m going to be a father?”
The question teased a hint of a smile out of her. “I’m terrified of being a mother,” she admitted.
“We can be terrified together.”
“If you really do want to be part of our baby’s life, I won’t stand in your way.”
“I am going to be part of our baby’s life,” he confirmed. “And yours.”
She didn’t respond to that, because she figured they still had seven months to work out the details and she didn’t want to argue with him anymore today.
“Have you told your mother?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure I can handle the drama right now.”
“How do you think she’ll react to the news that she’s going to be a grandmother?”
“She already is,” she reminded him. “Despite the fact that she’s never seen her grandchild.”
He’d almost forgotten that Kenna had another sister. She rarely talked about Jayda—maybe because there wasn’t much to say about a sibling she hadn’t seen in a dozen years. In fact, he’d known Kenna for more than a year before she even mentioned Jayda’s name.
He’d taken her to the Sweet Spot after school and bought her a cupcake to celebrate her seventeenth birthday. That was when she’d told him about Jayda’s seventeenth birthday, when her sister announced that she was pregnant. Sue Ellen had kicked her out that same night.
So Jayda had moved in with the boyfriend—Daniel couldn’t remember his name or even if Kenna had ever mentioned it—and a few months later, the boyfriend had found a job out west so they packed up and moved. Kenna hadn’t seen or heard from her sister since; she didn’t even know if Jayda had a boy or girl.
“That’s one of the reasons I never let myself get involved with anyone in high school,” Kenna told him now. “I was terrified that I’d get pregnant by the first guy I slept with.” She smiled wryly. “And that’s what happened, anyway.”
He reached across the console for her hand, linked their fingers together. He took it as a positive sign that she didn’t pull away.
Although she’d told him she was over the morning sickness, it seemed that fatigue was still a factor because, within a few minutes, she was asleep. Or maybe, like him, she hadn’t been sleeping well, tossing and turning in an empty bed.
She slept the rest of the way back to Charisma, which he didn’t mind, because it meant she couldn’t see where he was going or speculate on his reasons until they were at their destination.
He pulled into the narrow gravel drive, and she stirred when the vehicle stopped moving.
“We’re here,” he told her.
He got out of the car and went to open her door.
She looked around at the open space surrounded by trees, uncomprehending. “You wanted to show me a vacant lot?”
“A new beginning,” he told her.
She stared at him, still not understanding.
“It’s not my condo or your apartment, it’s ours.”
“Are you telling me that you own this property?”
“We own this property—our names are side by side on the title deed. That’s what I’ve been tied up with through most of this past week,” he admitted. “Looking for the perfect place to build the home you’ve always wanted.”
That was the problem with marrying a man who knew all of your hopes and dreams—he could use them to manipulate your emotions.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him.
“Because I want a home with you, Kenna. A place for us to live together, raise our children together and grow old together.”
Not child, but children. As if he wasn’t just accepting the baby she already carried but looking to the future, and the sincerity in his tone brought tears to her eyes. But she was still afraid to believe, afraid to let herself hope. Afraid that if she reached for the dream that seemed to be within her grasp, it would simply fade away, as dreams usually did in the light of day.
He framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes, and she knew that he could see everything she was feeling. But she could see what he was feeling, too, and the depth of emotion in his eyes staggered her.
“Do you remember the day that Ren signed on to drive for GSR?” he asked her now.
Though she was surprised by the apparent shift in topic, she nodded.
“You told me that you were glad I was finally going to have everything I always wanted. And I thought I did,” he admitted, still holding her gaze. “When Garrett/Slater Racing became a reality, I thought it was everything I ever wanted.
“Then you walked out on our marriage, and I realized the truth. You’re it for me, Kenna. You’re everything I ever wanted. And without you, I have absolutely nothing that really matters.”
Never in her whole life had anyone ever looked at her the way he was looking at her. Never in her whole life had anyone ever loved her the way Daniel Garrett loved her.
And she knew now that he did. It wasn’t just the words he’d spoken. It was the truth of them that s
hone in his eyes. And though she tried to hold them back, tears spilled onto her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” He gently brushed the moisture away. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I don’t know what else I can do.... I just needed you to know how I feel. This isn’t about our baby or doing the right thing—except if the right thing is the two of us together. Because that’s what I really want, Kenna. I want you by my side, not just for the next eight months but forever.”
“I want that, too,” she finally admitted.
He breathed out a sigh and rested his forehead against hers. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you, Daniel.” She looked up at him. “That sounds so inadequate after everything you just said.”
“It sounds perfect,” he assured her.
And then, finally, he kissed her.
“Now I feel like a dreamy-eyed heroine at the end of a Hollywood movie,” she told him.
“Except this isn’t our ending—it’s only our beginning.”
Epilogue
They renewed their vows on New Year’s Eve in front of a small gathering of their family and closest friends. And this time, when the minister told the groom to kiss his bride, there was absolutely no hesitation. It was a new year and a new beginning, and they were eager to embrace both.
They moved into their new home—a two-story design of brick and stone with five bedrooms, four baths and dozens of windows to let in natural light—the first weekend in May, less than two weeks before Kenna’s due date. The Garrett family turned out en masse to help, and even Sue Ellen and Becca stopped by. Daniel had turned into a typically overprotective expectant father and he refused to let Kenna do anything. He didn’t even let her unpack dishes in the kitchen, but willingly performed the task under her direction and supervision.
After everyone had gone, they ate pizza and drank nonalcoholic champagne and then he made love to her, slowly and sweetly, in their new bed in their new home.
She was hugely pregnant, but Daniel didn’t care. In fact, he seemed to love touching her and insisted that she’d never been more beautiful. She suspected that his fascination was mostly centered on her bigger breasts, but she didn’t mind.
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