“You planned this.”
“Of course. This marriage needed a reset.”
“This isn’t a reset,” Reese said. “It’s a kidnapping.”
Wade’s face changed in a small, tired way, like she had disappointed him by choosing the wrong word again.
“I rescued you,” he said. “You were stranded on the side of the road in a dead car. No help for miles. What was I supposed to do? Leave you there?”
“You chased me through a field and locked me in your van.”
“You ran from me.” His voice stayed calm. That was the worst part. He sounded like he was explaining something simple to someone determined not to understand it. “You were scared and upset, and you ran. I stopped you before you hurt yourself.”
Reese’s hand tightened over her belly.
Wade saw it. His eyes dropped there and stayed. The room went quieter around the look.
“And when I got my hands on you,” he said more softly, “that’s when I realized.”
Reese stopped breathing.
“You’re pregnant.” He looked back at her face. “So no, Reese, I wasn’t going to leave you on the shoulder of some highway. I wasn’t going to leave you alone on the side of the road, carrying my child.”
Reese said nothing.
There was no safe response. If she denied it, he would do the math. If she admitted it, he would hear permission. Wade had always been good at turning her words into something he could use against her.
His eyes stayed on her stomach. “You had no right to keep that from me.” His voice stayed calm, but the calm had hardened around the edges. “No right to run off with my baby.”
Reese looked at the door behind him, then back at his face.
“I decided to bring you here so you could settle down and start thinking clearly. Now I know that was the right choice. Sit down.”
Reese stayed on her feet.
He watched her for a moment, then walked past her into the kitchen like her refusal was temporary. He opened one cabinet, then another, until he found two mugs.
“Do you still drink tea with cream?” he asked.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“You need to drink something.” He set the mugs on the counter and filled the stainless-steel kettle at the sink. The water hit the metal in a loud, hollow rush. Reese looked at the door while his back was turned. It was locked. Then she looked at the fire iron by the fireplace.
Wade set the kettle on the stove and turned the burner on. Then he turned back to her.
“I said sit down.”
“No.”
He charged toward her and took her by the arm. Reese jerked once, but there was nowhere for her to go. Wade walked her backward until her legs hit the couch, then pressed down on her shoulder. She sat because falling would be worse.
“There,” he said. “Better.”
Reese cupped her belly with both hands.
“You need to stop fighting me before you hurt yourself.” His eyes dropped to her stomach again. “Or my child.”
Her throat closed.
