“Son, there is no possibility that she was still hoping for a deal from me when this happened,” Oliver said slowly. “I don’t know the precise… timeline, but it doesn’t add up to me that she could have become pregnant before she and I went our separate ways. This is what I think happened: I think she realized that she really cared for you, more than she had expected she would. I think she ended her arrangement with me for that reason. And then, sometime after that and completely unrelated, she found out she was expecting a child.” He rubbed a hand across his face. “And I can’t tell you what to do,” he added. “That’s a decision you’re going to have to make for yourself. But you deserve to know—I hope you understand—whatever is happening now is not part of a manipulation, and it has nothing to do with me. It’s my fault you were deceived, and I’m sorry. But please know that she was the one who put a stop to it, and that happened a long time ago.”
“Dad, I just don’t know what you want me to say to this. I don’t know how I can possibly react.” Elijah fisted his hands. “I can’t just forget about it. I thought every moment of this relationship was real, and then I found out it wasn’t.”
“I’m telling you that most of it was,” his father said. “As far as what you should do—that’s up to you. But you seemed like you really cared for this woman.”
“I did,” Elijah whispered.
“And if she’s having your baby… well, you need to decide what to do about that, son. I can’t answer that one for you.”
Elijah sighed. “I don’t know that I’m ready to be a father,” he admitted. “But I always thought… I always hoped that someday I would be. And that when that day came, I would be the kind of father…”
He trailed off.
“The kind of father you wish you’d had.” Oliver’s voice was heavy.
Elijah looked up. He hadn’t realized his father was aware he felt like this.
“Elijah, I know I wasn’t around when you were growing up,” Oliver said. “You have to realize—it was for you. It was always for you. And maybe you disagree with the way I handled it, but all I ever wanted was to create something I could pass along to my son. All I wanted was to build a company that would set you up for the rest of your life and to give it to you to take over one day.”
Elijah nodded slowly. “I just don’t know if that’s what I want,” he said. “I understand that’s what you always wanted for me. I know how hard you worked for it. But if it isn’t the life I want…”
“If it isn’t the life you want, I have to make my peace with that,” his father said firmly. “I’m not going to try to make you live a life that isn’t right for you, Elijah. The only thing I’m going to say is this—don’t give up your chance to have a family of your own. Don’t turn your back on this woman—on yourchild—because of my mistakes. Think long and hard about what you do here, because it’s going to define the rest of your life.”
He rose to his feet, clapped Elijah on the shoulder, and left, leaving Elijah’s thoughts in turmoil.
CHAPTER 23
STEPHANIE
Staying at work after hours had become the norm for Stephanie over the last several days. The idea of going home was painful, because she knew that once she got there she would be alone with her thoughts. Here, at least, there was work to distract her, to divert her from the constant revisiting of everything she had lost. Alone in her house, there would be nothing but silence, and Stephanie just couldn’t face it.
For the first few days she’d done this, Kaylie had stuck around. She was loyal and hardworking, eager to impress. But yesterday evening, Stephanie had told her to go home. “You don’t need to be here,” she’d said gently. “I’m just trying to get some extra work done because I’m expecting to be busy in the coming weeks. But you should go home.”
After a little persuading, Kaylie had been convinced. Stephanie half wished her assistant was still around—it helped to have someone to talk to, just to fill the silences. But it wasn’t fair to keep Kaylie here just because she couldn’t face being on her own.
She really did need to get this work done. The morning sickness episodes were still happening, and she anticipated havingtrouble coming into work as the weeks progressed. It would be better if she was on top of things. That way, when things began to slide later, she wouldn’t fall as far behind.
At least, that was the hope.
The marketing firm she was in talks with had sent over a portfolio of the ad content they wanted to run. Stephanie opened the folder and skimmed through the contents. She would read it in depth later—right now she was having a little bit of trouble focusing on the text. The doctor had told her brain fog might be one of the symptoms of early pregnancy, but he had really undersold it. This was a bigger problem than the morning sickness was, at least at the moment.
She couldn’t focus on the writing, but at least she could look at the pictures. She’d made it clear to the firm that she wanted men and women represented equally in her advertising so people would understand that her products weren’t gendered. The top image was of a man with bright blue eyes and messy hair that reminded her painfully of Elijah’s.
I wonder if the baby is going to look like him. If every time I look at my child, all I’ll see is Elijah, and I’ll never be able to forget about the fact that I fumbled the best thing I ever had.
There was a knock on her office door and she looked up, expecting to see that Kaylie had come back.
But it wasn’t Kaylie.
Elijah stood there, as if summoned by her thoughts.
For a moment, she could only stare at him. She couldn’t even breathe—it was as if one wrong move might make him disappear, and she was afraid to move at all.
“I went to your house,” he said quietly. “But you weren’t there. And then your neighbor came out and told me that you had been working late recently, so I thought I might find you here.”
“How did you know where my office is?” she managed. “You’ve—you’ve never been here.”
He held up his phone, and she saw the SilkSoft website. “It’s on your About Us page.”
