“Isla, love!” Agnes called suddenly. “You might want to come see this.”
I frowned down at Lena. What now? She set the laptop on the coffee table, and we both hurried out to the front hall.
Agnes stood in the open doorway, a chilly breeze blowing into the manor house. I grimaced, tucking my hands into the sleeves of my sweater as I came to stand beside her. My jaw dropped the moment I did. Because there Locke was—as if I had summoned him by thinking about him. But if my imagination had conjured him up, why was he idling in front of Lochbrae in a massive delivery truck? “Oh. My. God.”
“I’m a little impressed he got that thing up the drive,” Lena quipped. “That corner at the bottom is no joke.”
“If it’s a tree,” Agnes said to me, voice stern, “send it straight back to town.” She nabbed Lena by the arm. “Come help me find something Icanorder for the baby shower, registry or no registry.”
The two of them set off inside. They were leaving me alone. Well, leaving me with Locke. A flutter of nerves bubbled in my gut.
Thump.
I turned to see Locke. He’d climbed out of the truck and was walking toward me with a sheepish smile. He looked…well, he looked better than he had at the hospital. Beard neatly trimmed. No more dark circles under his eyes. Hair perfectly swept back. I let my eyes roam, let myself miss him for one millisecond, then I shut those feelings down, burying them beneath my confusion and wariness.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hiya,” I replied, crossing my arms over my belly. “What is all of this? Have you started a delivery company without telling anyone?”
He paused at the back of the truck, unlatching the doors, letting them swing open.Holy shit. The truck was packed floor-to-ceiling with baby things. “You really did buy out the entire registry.”
“Surprise!” he said, striding toward me. “I actually went to the inn first. But Maisie told me you were up here having tea with Lena.”
I couldn’t stop gaping at the sheer amount of stuff in the truck. This was way more than what was on my registry. There was actualbigfurniture in there. “Is that a wardrobe?”
Locke beamed. “I figured the kid would need the space eventually.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Locke, I don’t have room for all of this at the inn. The kid has a bedroom, not a whole bloody house to fill.”
He laughed, taking my hands in his. “Yeah, so…I might have gone a little overboard.”
For a moment I curled into the heat of his palms, then I remembered how ridiculous all of this was and pulled away. “A little?” I huffed. “This is way too much.”
“I know,” he said, the fog of his breath curling between us. “I know, trust me. And we can donate whatever you don’t want or put it in storage for when our son’s older.”
I frowned, my confusion turning to defeat. “You really haven’t listened to a thing I’ve said this entire time.”
“I have,” he insisted. “I know you said that our child deserves a provider who can give more than just material things, but the material thingsareimportant too. I want our son to always be safe and comfortable, and if that means ensuring he has top-of-the-line furniture, then how can that be a bad thing?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” I agreed. “The baby does need plenty of material things. But anyone can provide those, Locke. That’s why they were on the registry for the baby shower—so that my friends could help make sure the baby and I have everything we need.”
“But now they don’t have to. And you don’t have to worry about whether you have enough diapers or onesies or bottles because it’s all in there,” he said, gesturing to the truck. “You can give one hundred percent of your focus to growing this baby and being comfortable for the rest of pregnancy and…Why do you look so disappointed?”
I bit my cheek to keep my jaw from wavering. “Because I’m waiting for you to tell me when you’re going to step up and?—
“Thisisme stepping up,” he said, reaching for my shoulder, reaching to pull me close. “You and the baby meaneverythingto me. I’ve spoken to my parents and finally gotten my head screwed on straight. I don’t want to spend my life throwing myself into one project after another while closing myself off emotionally.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The chance to build a life together.” His voice wavered as he gestured to the truck. “Don’t you see? This is me saying I’m here. That Iwantto be here, because I’ve realized how important that is.”
“But you’re not really here,” I said, shrugging away from him. “Not in the way I want you to be. This is you dumping a mountain ofthingsin front of our son and expecting that to be enough. When are you going to provide the things that only a parent can?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, eyes narrowing.
“A baby should feel safest and most comfortable in his father’s arms,” I said. “But are you planning to be around to provide that kind of care? Or are you always going to feel like a stranger when you pick him up?”
“You know I am going to be with him as much as I can,” Locke insisted, his voice breaking. “There was never a scenario where I wasn’t going to show up to be involved in my son’s life.”
