“Baby, I’m so sorry.” He sounds so sincere, but still, I start to breathe a little bit faster. I get angrier, too.
“Are you sorry? You wanted this, even when I didn’t.”Oh my god, could he have planned this? “Please be honest, did you have anything to do with that?” I wince, like I’m bracing for the worst, clutching the door handle till my knuckles turn white.
“Britain, no, of course not. I respected your wishes. I’m not a fucking monster. Baby, look at me.” I take a deep inhale, then turn to face him. “Of course I didn’t. If you would have decided you didn’t want to have this baby, I would have supported that decision, too! I’d even accepted we’d never have our own, okay? I promise.” I tilt my head back in frustration.
“The promises, Liam! You keep making promises. Can we find another word, please?” That word is grating on me.
“What’s wrong with a promise if I mean it?”
“I’m feeling a little bit scarred by that word. Maybe it has to do with you making me promise not to leave you, and then you left. Or how you promised not to lie to me, and then you did. Are any of those instances ringing a bell for you?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. Consistent actions, not empty promises. I’m working on it, Britain. I am.” I breathe in and out deeply, slowly calming down, but a bit enraged at Tori.
“Do you think there’s some legal action that can be taken against her?” I ask, then look to him.
“If it’s important to you, I’ll hire a lawyer to figure it out. Do you want me to?”Ugh.
“I don’t know that I want to add one more thing to deal with. What’s done is done, I guess.” Liam squeezes my leg.
“Hey,” he says gently, “do youwantto have this baby?”Yes. I turn to look at him again.
“I do, but thank you for asking and considering that this might not be what I want. Granted, some of the conditions haven’t been ideal…but we are very lucky, and I know this baby was conceived in love.”Unlike me.
He moves his hand off my leg to reach up and push the hair off my shoulder and away from my face. With his hand clamped around and gently massaging my neck, his thumb strokes my cheek. “Our baby was absolutely conceived in love, Britain.”
Our baby.Hearing him say those words makes me feel something. It’s happiness and excitement, and it’s the first time I’m feeling it for this child. Maybe that makes me a horrible mother, but I needed Liam to make this all right. I just hope to God he does.
“Wait, how did Tori know I was pregnant? Like do I need a restraining order?”Is she stalking me?
“Well, Max was actually the one who told her. He did it on purpose because he wanted her to come tell me. Matt told his brothers not to tell me you were pregnant and–”
I cut Liam off. “Are you being SERIOUS right now?” I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this kind of anger in my life. I’m seething.Matthias prevented Liam from finding out about his child?
Liam eyes me cautiously before he speaks again. “Yeah, Matt told them not to tell me, and Max was trying to be a good brother, but thought I deserved to know. So he did it in a roundabout way. I’m guessing you didn’t know that?”
“NO! Oh my god, Liam. I thought you knew I was pregnant and just wanted nothing to do with me. I was devastated. I even asked Matthias about you, and he said you’d called to let him know about Sonoma, so I assumed you’d checked everything.And that you’d seen my calls and texts and were just done with me. I couldn’t even get out of bed some days it hurt so bad.” My hands are shaking.
“Britain, baby. It’s okay, I’m here now and I’m so sorry there was a time when I wasn’t. It’s not an excuse, but if I’d known about the baby, the hospital, any of it, I would have been back in the blink of an eye, okay? I really thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go.”
“This is a lot, Liam. Can we just not talk the rest of the way home? I need to think.” He breaks out into a huge smile, though. “What, Liam?”
“You called ithome, baby.” His smile stays plastered on his face the rest of the way, and we don’t talk again. I just sit with my thoughts. They’re all over the place as I hop from one thought to the next.Tori is insane. Matthias is deceitful. How did she poke a hole in the condoms? Matthias said he’d do anything to make this work — except being supportive and honest. How could he? He had to have known how hard I was taking it all. He fucking saw me at the hospital.
A gentle leg squeeze pulls me out of my mental typhoon.
“We’re almost there. Do you want to stop for coffee? Or head straight home?”
Home. That’s exactly how it feels and that’s exactly where I want to be. I give him a little smile. “Home is good.” This time he threads our fingers together for the last mile.
When we pull up to the house, a car I recognize is parked in the driveway.Carly. I wait for Liam to come open my door, and when I step outside, I inhale. The smell of pines and damp earth grounds me, and I release the tension from our conversation. Liam rubs my back in understanding, and I give him a small smile. I never thought I’d be happy to be back here, but here we are. He takes my purse and his overnight bag to set inside while I wait for the rest of our group.
The girls and Jess pile out of my SUV, but before we can even start unloading, a familiar face greets us, reaching for the bags first.
“Hi, Mrs. Scott. It’s good to see you again.” The young man grabs two huge suitcases at the same time, like they’re filled with air.
“Hi, James! What are you doing here?”
“I came to help out my sister for the day, and she said Mr. Millar could use an extra hand with luggage. So here I am, happy to help. I’ll be back for the rest, so please don’t lift anything.” As he hauls away the suitcases, I notice Jess, Elodie, and Caroline all staring at his backside.
