“Damn right you will.” I was already feeling fiercely protective of this baby. And the woman carrying it. I was even more pissed now that she’d let herself get dehydrated. In a foreign country. While she was pregnant withmybaby. I curled my hands into fists. “So, you’ve had other symptoms?” It killed me knowing that she hadn’t been feeling well. I’d been soaking up the sun, trying to forget about her while she’d been feeling like shit.
“Yeah.” She took another sip of water. “The usual stuff. Nausea, fatigue, aversion to certain things.” Her smile was faint when she said, “Like coffee and wine. You know me, that alone should have tipped me off that something was wrong.”
“You haven’t been drinking, have you?” I cursed myself for sounding like a judgemental asshole, but if anything happened to this baby…
“No.” She bit her lip. “Well, I was, you know, before. I checked the dates on the plane, tried to figure out when I might have conceived, but there was um…” She blushed. “A lot of sexual activity during that time so I’m not sure I can pinpoint when I, uh, got pregnant.”
We couldn’t keep our hands off each other when I’d been living under her roof. Without benefit of condoms every time, I couldn’t even pretend to be surprised our sole source of birth control hadn’t worked. She’d once told me, years ago, that she was terrible at remembering to take her pills, which was the reason she’d always insisted on condoms. I knew that. Yet it hadn’t stopped me from being reckless. Maybe, sub-consciously, I’d wanted this.
“I guess it doesn’t really matter when, does it? We have a window so—” It killed me to even ask this question, but I was already so invested, I had to know. “And you’re sure there isn’t a chance, even the slightest chance, that I’m not the father?”
Her face crumpled and I immediately regretted the accusation. Shit. I knew better. Briar wasn’t exactly a virgin, but she didn’t sleep around. I knew there had only been a handful of other guys besides me… and I hated every single one of them.
“I’m sorry.” I curled my hand around her knee. “Bri,” I said, when she kept crying. “That was a shitty thing to say. I know you haven’t been with anyone since… that asshat who was stalking you, right?”
She sniffled before reaching into her oversized purse for a tissue. “Right.” She inched back on the sofa before squaring her shoulders and clearing her throat.
Clearly, she was throwing the walls back up and I couldn’t say I blamed her. “How do you feel about being pregnant?” I knew how she’d felt about the idea of it, but now that she was faced with an actual baby, that we’d made together, I prayed she’d feel differently. If she didn’t? I’d raise it myself. Because adoption, or the alternative, wasn’t even an option. I would be a father to this child, no matter how much it cost me or how much I had to sacrifice.
“I just found out this morning,” she said, her eyes flitting to mine. “I’m still kind of in shock, to be honest.”
“That’s understandable.” But I’d found out a few minutes ago and I already knew how I felt about it. I was all in, ready to be a daddy. But I knew our situations were different. I’d always planned on having kids, at some point. Briar hadn’t even been willing to consider the possibility. “It’ll take time to process it.”
She nodded. “So, you’re not mad about it?”
I shook my head, reaching for her hand. “No, I’m not mad. Why would I be? I’m not some inexperienced teenager, Briar. I know that if I fail to use a condom there’s a chance—”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, dropping her head. “I led you to believe the pill would be enough to guard against this. But I must have forgot to take it a few times. I didn’t think it would be a problem, since I took it the next day. But I guess the fact that we, uh, had sex so often increased the odds.”
I smirked. “Yeah, can’t feel bad about that, sorry.” We shared a smile before I said, “It’s gonna be okay. Whatever you decide, I’m ready to step up.”
She frowned, withdrawing her hand from mine. “What are you talking about?”
I shrugged. “I know how you feel about being a mom. If you’re not ready, or it’s not something you want, I’m more than happy to raise this baby on my own.”
Her jaw dropped before she said, “You’re not taking my baby away from me, Rhett Lennox! I don’t care how rich and powerful you are—”
“Relax,” I said, raising my hands. I had some idea how much stress she’d been under the past month because it hadn’t been a cakewalk for me either, and the last thing I wanted was to risk this pregnancy because I got her all worked up. “I’m just offering you an out in case—”
“I don’t want an out,” she said, glaring at me. “But if you do—”
“I don’t.” I forced myself to rein in my anger and frustration with a few deep breaths. “So, now that we’ve established we both want to be a part of our baby’s life, we can let it go.”
There were still logistics to consider. I didn’t know if she’d agree to joint custody, but I knew I’d push for it when she got closer to her due date. Right now, I knew the first trimester was the most dangerous, so I just wanted to make sure she stayed calm and took good care of herself and our baby.
“Fine.” She curled her hands around the strap of her purse. “Um, I just thought I should come here and tell you face-to-face, since I didn’t know when you’d be coming home.”
“I’m glad you did.” I didn’t know how much longer I’d intended to stay here and knowing that she’d been going through this alone, stressing over her secret, would have slayed me.
“Good.” She licked her lips. “Um, I’ll fly out tomorrow then. But do you know where I could get a room for the night? Is there a hotel nearby?”
A few minutes ago, I’d been thinking the same thing, that it would be better for both of us if she didn’t sleep under my roof tonight. But everything was different now. All I wanted to do was take care of her. To make sure she slept well. Ate right. Exercised some. Avoided stress, caffeine, alcohol… anything that might be harmful to her and our unborn baby.
“I have three extra bedrooms, Bri. You can just stay here.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, sounding hesitant. “I don’t want to be an imposition.”
I chuckled. “Babe, we’re going to have to get used to being a part of each other’s lives. We just signed on for eighteen-plus years of it.” And I didn’t mind one damn bit.
