by Kay Lyons
Lincoln had called multiple times, texted several more, but she hadn’t responded, knowing there was no use in doing so. There was nothing left to say.
In fact, this was why she’d left town after their first breakup. Because she could barely breathe from the pain as it was, and she was sure if Lincoln tried, he could convince her to change her mind. Convince her that she didn’t need or desire a child as long as she had him.
But she did. She’d love nothing more than a baby boy or girl with Lincoln’s dark eyes and heart-stopping smile. She couldn’t be with him and not want his baby.
She also knew that with every passing moment and every cycle she wasted at this point, her chances to conceive grew even more unlikely.
“Turn or you’re gonna burn,” Izzy said, her voice muffled from where her face was lying atop her arms as she sunbathed on the sand.
Amelia left her beach chair and crawled the length of her towel to lie on her stomach, wondering how she’d allowed herself to become such a sad sack. She had to prepare herself. Get ready to be a mom. It wouldn’t be easy but she could do it and would do it happily.
“Look, I know it sucks and you’re hurt and angry but you still have one more fix-up with Marsali.”
“Bite your tongue. Use that matchup for yourself,” Amelia told her. “I certainly don’t want it.”
Izzy rose up onto her elbows and stared at Amelia, squinting against the sun until she found her sunglasses and propped them on her nose. When Izzy continued to stare, Amelia sighed. “What?”
“You’re still going to Atlanta, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I? It takes time to get through the exams and then the procedure itself. And that’s if it takes on the first try. There’s no reason to wait, and since I now have a few extra days, I’m going to make the most of them. Besides, you said you’d support me, remember? I went along with your plan and it didn’t work. Now it’s time for you to suck it up and encourage me.”
Izzy used one long finger to lower the glasses on her nose so Amelia could see her eyes.
“I support you. We can raise the kid together. It’ll likely have issues because we’re both a mess, but, hey, that’s what therapy is for, right?”
“You’re mean.”
“Just stating facts, doll. Tube-kid will have hang-ups, so you’ll need to be prepared. Therapy is a must. I mean, look at me. My only deficit is that I’m the baby of the family, but you know how I am with my sister issues. You’re fooling yourself if you don’t go ahead and open that savings account now.”
“All right, all right. I’ll start a therapy fund for when they need it. Satisfied?”
“Yes,” Izzy said with a grin and a shove of her glasses.
“But you have to stop calling my baby Tube-kid.”
“Cocktail baby?”
“Izzy!”
“Tubey?”
“I’m going to strangle you.”
“Glass-patterned baldness?”
“Last warning. I mean it!”
“Okay. Okay. No, wait, I have one more—”
“Say it and die.”
“When do you leave for your appointment?” Izzy asked sweetly.
Glad her friend had stopped with the name-calling, Amelia closed her eyes and made herself more comfortable on the towel. “Five a.m. tomorrow.”
“And you’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“And listen to you make up names the entire way? No. And because I actually do want to leave at five and beat the traffic into Atlanta.” Izzy was a great artist. She was not a morning person, however, and taking her along meant any number of delays along the way. “I’ll call you after I get there and settle into my hotel. I plan to use the extra days off to have a spa day and try to catch up on the sleep I’ve missed because of filming before I see the doctors.”
“Fun. You should definitely do the spa day. Expectant mamas need pampering, and you have to do it while you can still lie on your stomach.”
Amelia shook her head at Izzy’s statement, a wry smile pulling at her lips. “Thank you.”
“For harassing you out of love?”
“For letting me stay at your place to cry it out and taking the day off today.”
“Considering I kinda got you hooked up with Lincoln in a roundabout way, it’s the least I could do.”
“You’re right. My heart is broken because of you. It is all your fault,” Amelia said. “Thanks.”
“So how are you going to handle things? Are you just going to ghost him, or do you think you’ll talk to him eventually?”
Amelia turned her face down atop her hands to hide her trembling lips and the tears stinging her eyes. “We’re done, Izzy. Best to just cut my losses while I can.”
“You know what you could do?”
“What?”
“Pick a baby daddy who looks like Lincoln.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“What? I’m just saying. Imagine Lincoln’s surprise if you run into him again with the kid in tow. Now that would be funny!”
Izzy’s ornery laughter brought a smile to Amelia’s lips despite her efforts to discourage her friend’s less-than-friendly comments.
Still… maybe it was something to consider?
Because when it came to having a child, she couldn’t think of anyone else she’d want her baby to look like.
* * *
Five o’clock the next morning, Amelia was buzzing down River Road on her way out of town when she remembered that she’d forgotten to pack her computer charger when she’d grabbed it for her mad dash to Izzy’s. She groaned at the inconvenience of having to make the unexpected stop but parked outside her building for the quick run inside.
She got off the elevator and had taken four steps down the hall when she spotted the legs sprawled out from her closed door. Amelia slowed her steps, gaze searching as she inched closer and realized the long legs belonged to Lincoln.
He’d slept here? All night?
Why not in his car?
At his house?
Oh, she didn’t have time for this. More importantly, she didn’t have the energy or emotional stamina. “Lincoln?”
He didn’t stir. He really was asleep.
She moved closer and knelt beside him, only then spotting the bouquet of hydrangeas and jasmine on the ground by his hip. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty, wake up.” She gently shook his shoulder. “Lincoln?”
He awoke with a startled jolt, grabbing her hand.
“Hey,” he said, squinting and blinking as though trying to focus. “You’re finally home. What time is it?”
“Five fifteen. In the morning, Lincoln. Have you been here all night?”
He closed his eyes drowsily and she wondered if he was actually awake yet. “Lincoln?”
“Sleeping Beauty doesn’t wake up until he’s kissed,” he murmured.
“Yeah, well, Sleeping Beauty shouldn’t be sleeping here. It’s a wonder my neighbors didn’t call the cops on you. Lincoln?” Seriously? He wasn’t going to respond until she kissed him? “Oh, for pity’s sake.”
Since it might be the last time she ever got the opportunity to kiss him, she leaned over to press a quick kiss to his lips only to gasp when his hands shot up to grasp her shoulders. He kept her there, his lips fastening on to hers with all of the intensity and chemistry they’d shared from day one. The kiss deepened until she had to end it due to lack of air.
“You taste minty,” he murmured, his long fingers tangled in her hair. “I like it.”
She liked this. This sleepy-eyed, hair-pulling, incredibly sexy Lincoln. Amelia crouched over him, hands on his chest for balance, body quaking. How was it possible to want someone like this, even though it hurt so much? “Don’t do this to me, Lincoln. Please. I can’t—”
He kissed her again, stopping her complaint.
“Invite me in.”
“Mm. No. No, I don’t— I can’t. I just stopped to pick up a charger that I forgot
. I’m on my way to Atlanta.”
“I was afraid you’d already left. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for days, but you wouldn’t answer or return my calls, and the news said the filming had ended early. I’ve been out of my mind wondering if I was too late. I had to get the kids off to college yesterday, but I came straight back here hoping to catch you and talk to you before you—”
“You’re not going to talk me out of it. Because of my age and issues, I know I might not be able to have a baby, and if that happens, I’ll accept it, but I have to try, Lincoln. I want to try. I want a baby.”
His hand tightened in her hair a bit more, and a shiver seared her nerve endings as he locked gazes with her.
“That’s why I’m here, sweetheart. Because if you want to have a baby, I want it to be with me.”
Chapter 16
Lincoln waited for Amelia to respond, barely able to breathe due to the fist in his stomach. Her doorstep wasn’t the place to have this conversation, but he couldn’t bring himself to wait even longer. Not when he’d agonized and paced and worried himself into exhaustion waiting on her to appear.
He’d gotten so desperate he’d Googled sperm banks in Atlanta, but due to the laws, he wasn’t able to get any information when he called trying to find her.
“What?”
Lincoln stared into her beautiful gaze and struggled to clear the fog in his brain. He needed his wits about him to argue all the reasons why she needed to give him a third chance. “Sweetheart, when you mentioned a baby… all I could think of was that I was almost a grandfather.”
“You would’ve been a young grandfather.”
He narrowed his gaze, earning a slight smile from her. Having slept against her door all night, he now felt every ache and pain, and he definitely didn’t feel as young as he used to feel. “Yeah, well, in a few years, I’m likely to be a grandfather and… you talking about babies threw me, and Bree’s pregnancy scare threw me even more. All of it crashed in on me. Dating and babies and you. It’s fast for someone who’s moved at a snail’s pace the last twenty years, raising two families.”
“I’m sure it is. I’m sorry I’ve made things even more difficult.”
“No. No, don’t be sorry,” he said, using his hold on her to settle her weight entirely against him so that she sat beside him on her doormat. “Because the thing of it is, all of this—namely you—has made me feel more alive than I have in a very long time.”
“It has?”
His gaze lowered to her mouth and he watched as she flicked a tongue over her lips in response. “It takes a lot of practice to make a baby.”
Her face colored with a blush, and he ran his thumb under the fullness of her lower lip.
“Um… We should… Maybe we should go get some coffee to finish this conversation?”
“No. I want an answer, Amelia. Right here. Right now.”
“Lincoln, I can’t help but think you feel pressured because of me and my body’s timetable. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes, sweetheart. I know what I want, and if you’re going to have a baby, I want it to be with me. No one else.”
A strange look flitted across her face.
“What? What’s the matter now?”
“I’m afraid I might be confusing things. Are you saying you want to… donate? To the cause?”
“What? No. Well, yes, technically,” he said, cocking his head with a wry grin, “but no. Ahhh, I’m bumbling this.”
“Would coffee help?”
A rough chuckle started low in his chest and rumbled out and he groaned at the pain it caused. “Coffee would be great, but after sleeping propped against your door, I think I’d have to crawl in to get it.”
“Oh. Oh, Lincoln.”
A laugh erupted out of her, softening the worry lines he’d probably put there. He tugged her low once more and kissed her, softly, sweetly, lingering over the contact and taste of her. “Amelia, I’m saying I love you. I also never stopped loving you and I want to be with you. Will you marry me?”
“M-marry you?”
“You want my baby, you’re going to have to make an honest man of me.” He released her long enough to dig the velvet case and the ring he’d purchased on his mad dash to her house several evenings ago out of his pocket.
Amelia gasped at the sight of the ring box and her eyes filled with tears.
“That’s for me?”
“If you don’t like it, we can go back and pick out something else.”
She held the box closed when he tried to open it and shook her head.
“It’s beautiful. It’s perfect.”
He brushed her hand away and fished the ring from the satin folds, sliding it onto her finger. A tear trickled down her cheek and she hurried to wipe it away as she stared at it. “Is that a yes?” he asked, watching her every move and loving her emotional response. It was as honest and telling as she was.
Her nod was rapid and wobbly but affirmative, and her smile left him feeling like someone had sucked the air out of his lungs.
“Yes. Yes, I would love to marry you. To make babies with you. Oh, Lincoln, I love you.”
She kissed him with all the happiness and frustration and pent-up emotion he’d experienced the last few days without her. He pulled her across his lap, cradled her against him, and they celebrated the moment as the sky began to lighten with the first sign of the sunrise. After several more kisses and a few whispers about what he couldn’t wait to do with her, he pulled away, groaning. “We have to get inside.”
“Now?”
He chuckled at her question. “You have an appointment to cancel.”
Chapter 17
Ten months later
* * *
Two days after Amelia’s thirty-ninth birthday, Lincoln held her hand as she pushed their baby into the world. She fell back against Lincoln’s chest, grateful for the support of his loving arms and chest surrounding her.
“It’s a boy,” the midwife said, her eyes smiling from behind her glasses. “Ten fingers and toes, Mama Bear. All looks good. Rest for a minute and catch your breath.”
A soft sob ripped out of Amelia’s chest, one of relief and love and the overwhelming gratitude for such a blessing. She and Lincoln had wasted no time on making things official. Since it was Amelia’s first time tying the knot, Izzy had insisted they do it right, and when Lincoln realized that she did have a certain wedding in mind, he’d hired Marsali’s best friend and miracle-working wedding planner, Eliza Bellefonte, to create Amelia’s perfect beach wedding at sunset.
It had been yet another example of Lincoln’s love for her, that of withstanding the fuss and preparation when she knew he would’ve been happy with a trip to the courthouse.
Eliza had truly outdone herself. The woman had weddings down to a science, and somehow she’d been able to pull off Lincoln’s one demand—the ceremony had to take place within two weeks. Thirteen days later, Amelia’s father had walked her down the aisle to where Lincoln stood and given her to the man she’d loved all her life.
Piper had made an adorable flower girl, Izzy was Amelia’s maid of honor, Breanne a bridesmaid, and Carter and Brendan had stood in as Lincoln’s best man and groomsman. As the sun set and the sky filled with a dazzling array of colors, Lincoln sealed their vows with a kiss that had left her toes curling into the sand.
Amelia closed her eyes and pictured it now, the way Lincoln had stood there so tall and broad. The sweet hugs and kisses from his children as they accepted her as one of them. She knew she’d never be their mom, but she would do her very best to honor the woman who was and fill the void left behind by her passing.
“What are you thinking about?” Lincoln asked.
A contraction built in her belly and she smoothed her palms over the taut surface. “Our wedding. How beautiful. They’re next,” she said, smiling. “Wait and see.”
“Who’s next?”
“Okay, Mama, you ready to go again?”
Amelia
nodded to the midwife when the contraction grew in strength and intensity. She forgot all about her friends and focused on the physical act of breathing and the pain shredding her body.
Due to her age and the endometriosis, her doctor had agreed to fertility medication that sometimes produced multiple births. In their case, they’d been given a double blessing. The second of which was now— “Owww,” she said, groaning and crying and struggling to fight through the pain.
“Your baby girl is stubborn,” Lincoln said, whispering the words in her ear. “Just wait until she’s a teenager and you two butt heads. Come on, Amelia, push. You can do this. Come on.”
She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth and bore down hard, but it still took three more minutes of pushing before their daughter followed her brother into the room. When she did, the L and D suite was filled with baby cries that were the sweetest music ever.
“Congratulations,” the midwife said.
Lincoln gently hugged her tight before he extracted himself from behind her on the bed to take photos as the nurses cleaned up the babies and did the initial assessments. Amelia leaned heavily into the pillow at her head and tried to catch her breath, tired and elated and overwhelmed by everything as the post-birth process took place.
She opened her eyes in time to see Lincoln lean over the bed. He brushed the tears of pain from her cheeks and gave her a slow, sweet kiss, and she reveled in the feel of his touch, smiling when she thought of his statement that morning outside of her condo door.
The baby making was definitely the fun part. This? Not so much.
“You were amazing, sweetheart.”
She lost herself in the love shining out of Lincoln’s gaze, happier than she could ever remember being.
“Here you go,” the midwife said, approaching the bed carrying one baby while a nurse followed with the other. “One for each of you. Do we have names?”
“We haven’t settled on those yet. We wanted to see them first,” Amelia said, taking her pink-hatted daughter into her arms and cradling her next to her chest.