Yeah, I kind of did. I nodded.
He smiled. “Okay, then.” He caught Nadine’s eye. “Please.”
“Well,” Nadine said, pointing out the parts on screen. “See this little bulge right here? That tells me you’re having a boy.”
A baby boy!
My heart lurched. We were going to have a son! I pressed my hand to my forehead. “Oh, thank God.”
Locke looked down at me, a funny expression on his face. “What is it?”
“Now you’ll have to stop calling the baby Lockette.”
He laughed softly, reaching out to squeeze my hand, giving me that half smile that always sent my heart racing. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed. Then Nadine said I could go ahead and get dressed, and reality crashed back down around me. I tugged my hand free and made my way back into the tiny changing room.
When I emerged a few minutes later, I found Locke standing in the hallway. I fell in step next to him as we made our way back to the waiting room.
“So, I was thinking,” he began. “I could hire a decorator to fix up the nursery at the inn. Save you the trouble of having to do it yourself.”
I stiffened. Setting up the nursery myself was one of the things I’d been looking forward to. For a while, I’d been looking forward to doing itwithhim. That clearly wasn’t meant to be, but that didn’t mean I wanted to delegate the task to some stranger. “It’s not a problem for me to do it myself. I want to, because I love our son and I want to go the extra mile for him.”
Locke reared back, looking stung. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
I let out a harsh sigh. “Nothing.”Everything. But I didn’t want to get into this with him in the middle of the hospital.
He stopped walking. “I’mdoing things for our son too, you know. I’m making sure the boy will have a solid future waitingfor him! Being a good provider is what a father issupposedto do.”
“Anyone can provide money,” I shot back. “What our son really needs is a father who is present to offer love and support. Someone who wants to be around to do things like decorate the nursery instead of paying someone else to do it.” Locke opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off, eyes narrowed. “If you’re not interested in showing up yourself, then don’t bother with hiring anyone. I’ve got it handled.”
I signaled to Cat, and we swept out of the ultrasound department. I didn’t look back despite how badly I wanted to. Cat matched my stride, reaching over to squeeze my hand, and that was enough.
I wasn’t alone, even if I didn’t have Locke.
Me and the baby would be just fine.
26
LOCKE
Ipaused in the middle of my work email, staring down at the reminder that blinked up on my phone—Call Mum.
That particular reminder only popped up once a year. I braced myself, then picked up the phone.
Mum answered on the second ring.
“Happy birthday!” I said.
“Oh, hello, darling! Thank you,” she gushed, sounding delighted. “How are you?”
“Good. You all right?” A pang of guilt ate at me. She always sounded so happy to hear from me. But these days, I only called on her birthday. She called for my birthday, too, but she always sounded tentative, as if she wasn’t sure of her welcome, and even then, the calls were short and sweet.
“I’m wonderful,” she said. “Thanks for calling.”
“Good to hear. What have you got planned for the day?” I asked.
“Oh, you know, dinner with some of my girlfriends tonight at the yacht club.”
Mum had always loved the water. She lived in a beachfront property in Dorset now. I could have flown down to the south of England to have dinner with her if I’d really wanted to, but we both knew I wouldn’t. It had been years since the last time we’d seen each other in person. Sometimes it frustrated me to think of how distant we were these days, remembering how close we used to be when I was young. But I supposed her running off to pursue some European fling and abandoning my father and me was bound to put a damper on our relationship. It didn’t matter that she’d regretted her decision and tried to come back. What mattered was the choice she’d made in the first place. A choice that didn’t include me or my father.
