AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could only hope she’d missed me as much as I’d missed her.
* * *
Madelyn
Bridget was due any minute and I was tossing the salad when I heard the front door open. My stomach gurgled and I wasn’t sure if it was from hunger or if I was about to throw up again. Whoever called it morning sickness was an asshole, because it was all damn day sickness. When Grady had left, he’d left a little something behind. My eyes misted as I thought about him. I’d kicked myself for not opening the door the night he’d shown up, even if he had sounded drunk off his ass. I knew he’d never hurt me.
The front door open and shut. “I’m in the kitchen,” I called out.
The clunking steps that drew nearer didn’t sound like Bridget. Unease skittered down my spine, and I nearly cried with relief when Grady stepped into the room. He looked so damn good. My knees went a little weak just looking at him and my heart raced in my chest.
“Grady,” I said in almost a whisper.
“Your friend suggested I come in her place,” he said as he came closer. “But if you want me to leave, I’ll turn around and head out right now.”
I shook my head. “Stay.”
“I’m sorry for showing up drunk. I just wanted to see you.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t open the door. I was just so hurt from you leaving me the way you did, but after you left I’d wished I’d let you in. I didn’t mean for the neighbors to call the cops on you.”
“They were trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting from you.”
He smiled a little.
“I made lasagna and a spinach salad. Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
I picked up the salad bowl and carried it over to the kitchen table, where the lasagna was already waiting, along with two place settings and two glasses of sweet tea. He claimed the seat he’d used during the days he’d spent with me and I took the other as butterflies erupted in my stomach. Grady was here. He was really here. I needed to tell him that he was going to be a daddy, but I thought I should at least wait until after dinner. The man needed to eat and he could very well bolt out the door when I said something.
I fixed our plates and watched as he took a bite, his eyes closing and a look of bliss on his face.
“You’re a damn good cook, princess. Why didn’t you make this while I was staying here?”
“I wanted to spend more time with you and not in the kitchen cooking.”
He nodded.
“Grady, I’ve missed you.”
“Missed you too, princess. So damn much.”
He reached over and took my hand. I trembled just from that slight touch and nearly cried with how much I’d missed him. Stupid pregnancy hormones.
We ate and took turns staring at one another. It felt so right having Grady with me again. I hoped that maybe this time he wouldn’t run off and leave me. Just because he’d surprised me tonight didn’t mean he was here for the long haul. And now I had more than just me to worry about. I needed to do whatever was right for my baby. Was that why Bridget had set this up? Had she told him about me being pregnant? My stomach knotted and a moment later I bolted out of my chair and ran for the downstairs bathroom, barely making it before I lost what little I’d eaten.
“Madelyn?” Grady stopped in the bathroom doorway and then he was holding my hair and rubbing my back. “Jesus. Are you okay? Have you been sick?”
“Not sick,” I croaked before throwing up again.
When I was finished, he helped me rinse my mouth and sat on the floor, pulling me into his arms. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and just cuddled me.
“Madelyn, are you pregnant?” he asked, and I felt like the bottom fell out. Moment of truth.
“Yes.”
