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“I have a question.”
“Okay. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll see what I can do about finding it.”
The reply was so Braden she almost teared up again. And smiled, too. He tried. He really, really tried hard.
“If something were to happen to me, would you be willing to take the child, to raise him or her?”
“Of course.”
It wasn’t so much his answer—which she’d have expected if she’d given herself enough time to think about it—as it was his lack of hesitation that set her suddenly frightened heart at ease.
“Then I accept your offer.”
“Good.”
He was looking at her. She looked back at him.
They’d just agreed she was going to have his baby.
And it felt as though they’d never been further apart.
Chapter Five
Feeling not the least bit relaxed, Braden gave up any pretense of enjoying a Sunday morning fishing jaunt. Mallory seemed to share his eagerness to get off the boat, based on how quickly she’d agreed with his suggestion that they head back to shore.
It was as though once they’d made their decision to give her another child, they couldn’t stand to be around each other.
The idea was ludicrous, and yet, it held a strong ring of truth, as well. Strong enough that he couldn’t just let things go as they were. If he and Mallory couldn’t be friends, if he didn’t have the access to help her out when she needed him, the entire point of his involvement was moot.
Luckily he knew exactly how to fix that problem.
“I never did tell you why I called Friday night’s meeting,” he said, planning to finally tell her of his pending move. He’d lowered the throttle and headed a little more slowly toward the private marina where his dock was located. In the seat next to him, she’d been silently watching their progress.
Now she glanced at him, waiting for him to continue. He wanted to know what she was thinking—a husband’s desire, not a divorced friend’s one. Cutting the throttle completely, he let them bob on the water.
“What’s her name?” she asked. And then, before he could answer, she added, “And are you sure she’ll be okay with this? Because if you need to reconsider, I fully understand.”
Staring at her, he wasn’t sure whether to grin or be pissed. About to embark on a huge and potentially frightening life change, considering the demons that would be on the trip with her, Mallory was sitting there thinking about him. Letting him off the hook.
Just as she’d always done.
Why the thought pissed him off, he wasn’t sure.
Or maybe it wasn’t her at all.
“There is no ‘her,’” he said. But he didn’t like how available that made him sound, so he added, “At least not at the moment. And when there is, in order to qualify, she’ll need to be okay with the fact that my ex-wife has a child that is biologically mine and that I am her friend.”
Yes. That was it in a nutshell. All clean, wrapped up and completely doable.
“She’ll have to be one special woman.” Her grin made him think of how special she was.
Right.
And, of course, any future relationship he might have would be with someone else who was special to him. That was the nature of hooking up. It would be that way whether he donated sperm or not.
“I can put off my appointment,” she said, making him aware that he hadn’t responded to her earlier comment.
The ocean’s vastness called to him. And yet, there he sat in the harbor. The story of his life. At sea, but missing out on a world of possibility.
