AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I doubt it!” Robin exclaimed with a broad smile. “I should think she’ll be staying with me for a few more years at the very least.” She reached for a piece of bread and tore off a section to nibble on.
The answer satisfied me a little. It meant that Robin wasn’t aware of any potential reason that Rylee might move out… like a boyfriend. Not that I was jealous! I was a forty-eight-year-old man, not some lovesick teenager. I didn’t get jealous… Except that I totally was and the incident at the grocery store the other day only further proved that fact.
“So, why did she move back from Boise in the first place?” I pried, swirling the wine glass in my hand. “I thought she wanted to get a college education.”
Robin sighed and placed her wine glass on the table before leaning over the table a little. “In all honesty, Spencer, Rylee was devastated when she had to drop out of college, especially after she put in two whole years of hard work already,” she told me with a sad smile. “But I’m afraid needs must and she couldn’t exactly raise a newborn baby and take a full schedule of classes at the same time. No, she needed to come back to Halston so I could help her with the baby.”
I almost dropped my glass out of shock. I’d had no idea Rylee was a mother. She’d never mentioned it during any of our conversations since I’d arrived and I certainly hadn’t seen a child around her at all. How on Earth had I not seen any signs that she was a parent?!
“Baby? I didn’t know Rylee was a mom,” I responded with a perplexed look on my face. I was dying to know more and I hoped that Robin was feeling in a chatty mood.
The woman opposite me nodded her head and smiled wide. “Oh, yes, Rylee is a fantastic mother. You should see her. Everything she does is for her little baby and she always goes above and beyond to make sure he’s safe and cared for. I had my doubts at first about Rylee having a baby so young, but now that I’ve seen her, I know I had nothing to worry about!”
Unaware of the bomb she had dropped on me, Robin lifted her fork and continued to eat her meal, occasionally glancing over at me. “Are you okay, Spencer?” she asked me and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I could answer. My throat felt like it had a lump in it and I was frantically doing some calculations in my head. Robin had said Rylee came back four or five years ago and Rylee had been a virgin when we first made love…
No, it wasn’t possible! Was it?
“What about the father?” I finally blurted out, ignoring Robin’s question unintentionally. I was far too focused on the new information I’d acquired.
“Oh, him,” Robin said with disgust and rolled her eyes. “Rylee said he was some guy she met at college who moved away shortly after she fell pregnant. She said he didn’t want anything to do with the baby and she rarely ever talks about him. Frankly, I don’t blame her!”
I tried my best to process everything I’d learned. It was possible that Rylee had slept with another man at college who had knocked her up, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe the child could be mine. After all, when we slept together, I hadn’t used a condom. I thought Rylee was probably on some form of birth control – most women are these days – but then again, she had been a virgin… Was it possible? Could I really have had a child that I knew nothing about?
I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. Everything seemed to make sense now: Rylee’s cageyness, her unwillingness to continue the relationship, her insistence that it was too complicated. It was possible that she might have felt that way even if the child wasn’t mine. She might not think I’d want to be involved with a child who wasn’t mine and yet, the more and more I dwelled on it, the more I began to convince myself that this child must be mine.
Why didn’t Rylee tell me? Why would she keep me in the dark about my own child? She had no right! Still, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I needed to hear the truth from Rylee herself and I wasn’t going to get it anytime soon. Instead, I sat at the table with Robin and tried to put on my best poker face.
“Jayden, Rylee’s son, is the sweetest little boy you’ve ever met!” Robin gushed, continuing with our discussion. “He is really affectionate and all the doctors say that he’s advanced for his age. His speech is generally really good and he’s already made friends in his pre-school class.” She paused to smile as she recalled some memory of her grandson. “But he’s also a typical boy, if you know what I mean. He loves dinosaurs and cars and playing sports… Well, as much as he can play sports at four-years-old!”
