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His hands, his mouth, his soul…all those parts of him knew every square inch of her body. This part was new, but it was a part of him, too.
He laid the palm of his hand over her stomach. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I…” She shook her head and opened the door wide. “Come in, Zeke.” Her voice sounded shaky, like she was frightened. Of him? He’d never given her any reason to fear him before. Even when she’d broken up with him, he’d taken it like a man. But maybe she was right to be leery. A part of him wanted to scream at her. To take her by the shoulders and shake her until she came to her senses. But a bigger part of him wanted to grab her into his arms and tell her he’d do whatever it took to
make it all better, like he was some kind of big human Band-Aid.
The overwhelming urge to protect her and to protect the baby growing inside her came flooding through him. The hell with her parents and whatever it was they wanted for her.
All he cared about was what she wanted for herself.
They sat down on the living room couch, but he was careful not to sit too close. Even with no makeup and her hair all pulled back wearing that loose T-shirt and shorts, she still had the power to take his breath away. He wondered if he would ever feel different about her. In that moment, he didn’t think he ever could.
“I should have told you, I know, but…” she shrugged, “there’s nothing you could have done about it, so what was the point?”
“Did you know? When you broke up with me?”
She avoided his gaze. “I didn’t know for sure, I mean, I hadn’t done a pregnancy test. I kept putting it off, but…deep down, I knew. I know, it was stupid, but I was so scared.”
“Scared of what?” he whispered.
She glanced up at him. “I think I was afraid if I told anyone, that they would make me…”
“Get rid of it?” he finished for her.
She nodded.
He struggled to keep his voice calm. “Your brother says you’re giving the baby up for adoption.” At the mention of Luke, her eyes flared with a rare anger he’d never seen before. “Don’t be mad at him, he thought I knew.”
She looked away and sighed, all trace of her anger already gone. “I’m not mad at him.”
“Is it true? About the adoption?”
“My parents think it’s for the best. I can take a couple of months off after the baby is born and start school in January.”
His throat felt thick with emotion. When he spoke, he hardly recognized his own voice. “Is it a done deal then?”
She shrugged, and it was the only sign he needed. “What do you want, Mimi? Do you want to give up our baby?”
She was so quiet he had to strain to hear her answer. “No. I want to keep her.”
Her. He had a daughter. He was going to be a father. Correction: he was already a father. Now he needed to act like one.
“Then you’re going to keep her. We’re going to keep her.”
Her gaze shot straight to his. “But…how, Zeke? What can we offer her? I have a high school education and you live in a one bedroom apartment off the beach.”
The rest of her sentence went unspoken but he didn’t have to hear the words to know what she was thinking.
“I don’t smoke anymore. And I’m enrolled in the community college. I was going to join the army, but Buela isn’t as young as she used to be, so…I really need to stick around here to help out. Bert’s is just temporary. I’ll get a good job. Hell, I’ll work three jobs if I have to, to take care of you and the baby.”
She laughed, but it was a sad laugh. “Zeke, that’s…sweet of you. But you don’t have to give up your life for me. I don’t expect you to do that.”
“You don’t expect me to do what? To take responsibility for my actions? Like it or not, Mimi, you and this baby belong to me now.” He reached out to take her hands in his. They felt small and vulnerable. “We’ll get married. I’ll take care of you. I can make you happy. You know I can.”
The front door opened and Ann and Alex Powers walked in. “What’s going on here?” her mother demanded.
Zeke stood, taking Mimi with him. He placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close to him. “Mr. and Mrs. Powers, I’m sorry we haven’t had the chance to meet properly before this, but I want you to know that I’ve come here to do the right thing.”
