No. I wasn’t giving up that easy. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Don’t turn your back on us.” I quickly grabbed her hand in mine. “Have you ever felt this way about anyone else?” She looked away from me, but I noticed the tremble in her lip. “You gave your virginity to me. You knew we had a connection before we’d even gotten to know each other. Your heart knew we were meant to be before either one of us even realized it.”
“I was drunk.”
“I told you to quit giving me that bullshit excuse. You weren’t that drunk. I was pretty wasted, too. But I know that isn’t why I gave in to you. It was because I felt the connection we had.”
“Give me time. Will you please just give me time?”
I squeezed her hand before bringing it to my lips. “I’ll give you all the time you need. I’ll be here waiting.” The doorbell rang, and I thanked God he’d given me enough time to talk to her. I jumped up from the couch and had a skip in my step when I went to pay for the pizza. My entire mood had changed now that I knew I still had a chance.
***
“Dalton, I really appreciate you coming,” John said, opening up the door. The porch light flickered on before he walked out and stood next to me, looking from side to side. He was paranoid as hell, but I couldn’t blame him.
I crossed my arms. “What did you want to talk about?” I asked, getting straight to the point. This was my second trip to his cabin in one day, and I wasn’t happy about it.
I had shit to do.
A murder to solve.
A woman to win back.
But he’d called after I dropped off Gabby, begging me to come over, off the record, and I couldn’t say no. Something in his voice told me it was important.
He looked around one more time before waving me. “Come in. We’ll talk.” I looked at him in apprehension but followed him inside. He slammed the door shut and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I want you working my case.”
“I am working your case.”
“No, just you. Not your father. Not Kenneth. You.”
“You signed a contract with them, their company.”
Attempting to fire my father was the last problem John needed. My dad was a powerful man. You didn’t decide you no longer wanted to work with him. He didn’t work like that. He was the one who decided when he was ready to drop you.
“Technically, the contract was for him to get me out of my Ivy predicament, which he failed to do.”
“In case you’re confused, this is still an Ivy predicament. A more serious one than you secretly sticking your dick in her.” I shook my head. “This is really why you made me drive all the way out here? You want to drop my father, you talk to him about that.” I turned around to leave, but his voice stopped me.
“I know I’m not your favorite person, but I feel like you’re the only one I can trust here.” He let out a deep breath. “I can’t work with someone if I’m not sure if they’re capable of murder.”
So he thought my dad might’ve been the one who took care of Ivy.
“I don’t trust you, though,” I told him. “I’m only here because it’s my job. Not by choice. Trust me, I can’t stand you. So the answer is no.”
“Please. You know I didn’t kill Ivy. I can tell.”
“The answer is still no.”
He fell down on the couch like he’d lost the strength to hold his weight. “You don’t think they’ll really charge me for this, do you?”
“I don’t know. I’m not the police.”
His head fell into his hands. “This is going to ruin any chance I had of the Republican bid.”
“If there’s anything I can guarantee at this moment, it’s definitely that.”
“Help me. Please help me. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll pay you anything you want. I won’t fire your father, but I want to work exclusively with you.”
I looked down at my watch. One AM. I had to be back at the office in the morning. “I’ll give you tonight, but I’m not making any promises.”
We took a seat at the table, and I spent the next hour scouring over emails with him. He told me everything, some stuff I wish he hadn’t, but we got our timelines in order. I grabbed the folder that Gabby and I had been working on when we were trying to figure out who paid Ivy. There was a chance one of those men could’ve been the suspect. I took my time examining each one while memories of that night with her lingered through my mind.
All of the people in the folder were powerful. Congressmen. Business execs. Millionaires. I couldn’t rush into their offices and question them for murder. I had to figure out a more discreet way to find out my information.
“I have a project for you,” I told John.
He looked up at me from his notes. “Anything.”
“I need you to write down your association with every single one of these men. I want to know if they have dirt on you, if you have dirt on them, or if you’ve ever had any problems. If any of them stand out, star them, and I’ll look into it.”
He grabbed the folder and got to work. It was going to be a long night. Or morning.
“Has she said anything about me?” he asked suddenly, out of nowhere.
“Who?” I questioned.
“Gabby.”
Fuck. I definitely wasn’t going there. He was really losing his mind tonight. First, he wanted to fire my dad and hire me, and now he wanted to talk about Gabby.
“No, she hasn’t. Leave her alone. She’s not interested in having you in her life. If she changes her mind, she’ll be the one to come to you. Stay away from her and focus on keeping your ass out of prison.”
He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. “I understand. I’ll stay away, but please tell her if she ever changes her mind, I’ll be here. I want to know my daughter.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to turn your back on her and her mother and be a deadbeat dad.”
“I deserve that.”
“Damn straight you do.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
GABBY
My hand shook as I stared down at the stick in it. These skinny, almost weightless objects had held the fate of millions of women. It warranted so many different reactions.
Mine was fear. Pure fear.
Running in close second was regret.
Two times.
We’d only done it twice without a condom.
My luck, of course, was that all I needed was two times. I stayed a virgin until I was eighteen. I abstained from sex at homecomings and proms. I’d been the last of all of my friends to lose my virginity, yet the first one to possibly be knocked up.
Karma. Stupid karma.
You slept with a man who was engaged. Bad Girl. Your repercussion: missing a period and possibly being pregnant.
I wrapped the cold stick in toilet paper and set it down on the bathroom vanity carefully, like it was made of porcelain. I took a seat on the toilet and opened up the Internet browser on my phone. Four minutes was too long to wait. I stupidly Googled unplanned pregnancy. Help hotlines and articles on being pro-life or pro-choice came up. The same shit they preached in Sex Ed … only this time I wasn’t only going to be tested on it … I was going to live it.
I waited five minutes, taking an extra minute to prepare myself. The thin, blue line told me everything I needed to know.
Adopt. Abortion. Become a parent.
Three calming breaths for each option expelled from my lungs as I shut my eyes.
I was pregnant.
Holy shit. I was only eighteen, newly graduated from high school, and now I was supposed to figure out how to care for a small, helpless human.
And the cherry on top – it was with a man who’d crushed my heart into a million pieces with a hammer of lies.
I exited out of the browser and clicked on the messages icon. I wanted to call him, but there was no way my emotions wouldn’t bleed through my words.
ME: We need to talk.
My finger hesitat
ed over the send button. What if I didn’t tell him? What if I left and never talked to him again? As great of an idea as running away from my problems sounded, I couldn’t be that selfish. I knew from personal experience the pain you felt growing up with the absence of a parent.
I quickly hit the send button before chickening out. It took him less than a minute to reply.
DALTON: Your place or mine?
ME: Yours.
The bathroom floor was cold as I moved to my bedroom to get dressed. I slipped on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt before slowly walking down the stairs. My outfit of choice probably wasn’t the best one, but I’d just found out I was pregnant. That was my excuse.
“Hey mom,” I called out, my voice squeaky. “I’m going to head out for awhile. Can I borrow your car?”
She poked her head out of the kitchen. “Sure honey,” she answered, with a smile. “Is everything okay?”
Could she see it on my face? The fear? Was I now a walking billboard for a surprise pregnancy? She’d know.
I forced a smile. “Yeah, just running over to Cora’s for a little.”
Her smile was real. I knew her too well. She had no idea. “Okay, have fun, sweetie.”
I took the long route to Dalton’s place, although I didn’t remember much of the ride. My mind was scrambled, my heart jolting with fear. How was I going to tell him? Should I sit him down? Or should I blurt it out when I walked in?
As soon as he opened the front door, I went for the second option. I was never one with great timing – obviously.
“I’m pregnant.” I was surprised at how easily the words fell from my lips.
I eyed his unreadable face, feeling numb. I was giving him the chance to be okay with this, to be in our child’s life. If he chose not to, if he wanted to turn his back on us, I’d be okay with that. Sure, being a single mother would suck, but my mom did it. I’d survive. I was strong.
His face paled. “I’m …” He froze. “I’m going to be a father?” His eyes went wide as the realization sunk in deeper. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
My tongue knotted in fear, unable to spew out an answer. So I nodded.
I withdrew a step when he fell to his knees in front of me. I waited in fear, nervous of his next move, which turned into a slow smile spreading across his full lips. He stretched out his arm and planted the palm of his hand against my still-flat stomach.
“I’m going to be a father,” he repeated. “Wow … this is … holy shit.”
Was that a good or bad holy shit?
“You’re not pissed?” I asked, looking down at him.
He looked up at me, his eyebrows bunching together. “Why would I be pissed?” His hand fell limp to his side before he brought himself back to his feet. “Sure, this was unexpected, but I’m not angry at you. How can I blame you for something we created together? This is both of our doing.”
A rush of air I didn’t know I was holding in escaped me. He wasn’t angry. He was okay with it. He actually seemed elated. His reaction verified that I wasn’t going to face this alone.
Now I had to break the news to my mom. An ache formed in my stomach as I thought about how I was going to tell her my future was shadowing her past.
But that wasn’t my biggest fear.
No.
That was taken by what Dalton’s family’s reaction would be.
CHAPTER NINE
DALTON
I was going to be a father.
Holy fucking shit.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around it as I put my car in park. Gabby left my place a few hours ago to break the news to Cora. I asked her to wait until I was with her before telling her mom, Sheila, and my Uncle Kenneth. I wanted to be by her side, letting them know I’d be there for her and our baby.
Sure, I hadn’t expected to be a dad this young, but I was surprisingly calm about it. Having a family with Gabby felt more refreshing than anything I’d ever imagined my future to be. My once dreams of taking on Douglas PR and Law and being a businessman with a family on the side wasn’t as enticing as it had been before. I wanted this with her.
I rolled down the windows to get some fresh air and took a minute to go over my words. What was the best way to tell them? There actually wasn’t one. I’d asked Gabby if she wanted to come, but she wasn’t ready to face them yet. Not that I blamed her. Their reaction wasn’t going to be pretty. They were going to flip their shit.
I stepped out of my car and straightened my shirt free of any wrinkles. My steps were hesitant up the walkway and into the house. I walked through the large foyer and straight into the dining room where my mom and dad were having dinner.
My mom looked up at me in surprise when she noticed my presence. “Dalton, I didn’t know you’d be joining us for dinner. I would’ve had Francesca set you up a place at the table,” she said.
“I’m not,” I answered, shoving my hands into my pockets. “I stopped by because I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
I glanced over at my dad. His face was already burning red. He was a smart man. He knew he wasn’t going to like whatever it was.
“I’m going to be a father,” I told them, standing tall and strong.
The fork slipped from my mom’s hand, falling into her salad. It took her a minute before she said anything. “I’m sorry,” she stuttered out. “What did you just say? I think I heard you wrong.”
“I’m going to be a father,” I repeated.
Her face turned ice cold. “The mother better be Eva.”
“I’m afraid to even know who the mother is,” my dad huffed out. He already knew it wasn’t Eva. “Although I have an idea.”
My mom grabbed her fork and assaulted a piece of lettuce. “I thought we told you to stay away from that girl.” She dropped the fork again and covered her face with her hands. “Dear God, please let this be a dream.”
“You might’ve told me to, but that didn’t mean I’d follow your commands, mother. You don’t dictate my love life. There might’ve been some confusion in the past where you thought you did, but I want to make it clear right now. I won’t be marrying Eva.” I looked over at my dad. “And yes, the mother is Gabby, and if I have my way about it, she’s the one I’m going to be marrying.”
My father got up from his chair and came my way. His hand brushed my shoulder while he looked back at my mom. “We’ll be right back.” He tipped his head down the hallway, and I followed him to his office. “How do you want to take care of this, son?” he asked, sitting down behind his desk. “Do you need money for the procedure? Or are you looking towards adoption? It would have to be discreet and your name can’t be anywhere in the documents, but I’ll find a good family for it.”
I looked at him baffled. “Procedure? Do you really think we’d abort our child? Your grandchild? I told you I’m going to be a father. Gabby is having this baby, our baby, and I’m going to stand by her side, whether you like it or not.” I hoped he wouldn’t turn his back on his grandchild for his own selfish reasons.
“First, you cut off your engagement with Eva, and now you got this girl pregnant. You’re making a lot of mistakes. Keep making them and you might find yourself out of my will.”
“Do what you have to do. You’re right, I have made a lot of mistakes, the biggest one being when I let you dictate my life for the sake of being in your will and getting my inheritance. This is the most sure I’ve ever been. This news has made me happier than any dollar, any new car, or job I could ever have, and I won’t let you take that away from me.”
CHAPTER TEN
GABBY
After countless tears, I’d come to the realization that nothing was stopping me from becoming a mother. It was happening, and now I had to prepare myself for it.
I slumped down against the pillows on my bed. Accepting that I was pregnant was only step one. Step two was telling everyone. I was so scared of my mom’s disappointment. She got pregnant with me at a young age and had shared her st
ruggles.
I went to Cora’s after leaving Dalton’s. My best friend didn’t surprise me when she jumped in the air, squealed in excitement, and told me she was the only option for a godmother. Now the hard part was telling my mom and making sure I didn’t have a panic attack while doing it. Dalton had begged me to let him be there when I did it. He wanted to assure them that he’d be at my side.
I chewed the tips of my nails, trying to figure out the right words to use. My thoughts blurred at the sound of my phone.
“Hey, I’m pulling up right now,” Dalton said, when I answered. “Are you ready for this?” His smooth voice was gentle and comforting.
I let out a sigh. “I think so. Come up to my bedroom and then we’ll go down and tell them.” I had to talk to him first. I had to see where his head was after talking to his parents. Their reaction could’ve completely changed his mind about being there for me.
“Got it. Coming in now.”
I heard the doorbell ring and then my mom greeting him downstairs. I glanced up at the knock on my door. My bedroom door opened, and Dalton slid in wearing jeans and a black button-up. He shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. He ran his hand over his forehead and blew out a breath.
“How are you feeling, babe?” he asked, locking eyes with me.
“Nervous as hell,” I answered. “I don’t want my mom to be disappointed in me. I didn’t go to college and now I’m eighteen and knocked up.” I looked away from him in embarrassment. He was a college graduate with a law degree.
He pushed off the door and came my way. I felt a sense of relief when he sat down next to me and pulled me into his warm hold. “Your mom would never be disappointed in you. That woman’s love for you is so strong it’s unbelievable. I wish my parents felt for me like she does you.”
Breaking Karma Page 7