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I sniffled.
“Hey.” He lifted my chin. “You’re not alone.”
I sniffled again.
“I’m here, and I’ll never leave you, baby. I swear on my life.”
His words were sweet, and even though they rang true, they made me fall into sobs again.
I cried and I cried and I cried.
In Brad’s arms, I cried.
Until finally, over an hour later, the phone rang.
Chapter Seven
Brad
I loved her. So damned much.
How could I not?
Learning the truth about Daphne had frightened me, unnerved me, enraged me, but never had I considered leaving her. I loved her, and we’d made a child together.
I would never turn my back on that.
Her father had described her as ethereal, and she was. My Daphne was too perfect for this fucked-up world. Too damned perfect. She didn’t deserve the horrors that had fallen onto her. Maybe her parents were right. It was a blessing that she didn’t remember it.
Would it stay buried forever?
Would I someday have to tell her what had truly occurred before her junior year? What she’d gone through? What had happened to her best friend?
Thoughts whirred through my mind with the sound of a buzz saw—jumbled thoughts that had no bearing on what was happening now.
Daphne’s mother had overdosed. Daphne’s mother might die.
No.
Daphne was strong, but could she handle this now? She was young, she was damaged—she didn’t even know how damaged—and she was pregnant.
She needed her mother.
What if—
The phone rang.
Daphne jerked away from me and picked it up. “Daddy?”
Then a pause. A pause that seemed to last for hours as Daphne presumably listened to what her father was saying.
Her red and swollen face turned white.
No. God, no. That meant bad news.
No. Just no.
Not on top of everything else.
“I understand. Thank you, Daddy.” She hung up the phone and turned to me. “She’s going to be all right. They pumped her stomach. She’s going to be all right.”
I held her when she fell back into my arms.
“See? Everything’s going to be fine.”
She pulled back and sniffed. “Everything’s not fine, Brad. Everything’s so far from fine. My mother just tried to end her life. Because of me.”
“Baby, this wasn’t because of you.”
“Of course it was. I came home pregnant after a month in college. She expected more from me. I promised her I’d be okay.”
“You are okay. It was an accident. A true accident. We took precautions.”
“I know.” She dabbed at her eyes. “Crap. I need a tissue.”
“Okay.” I stood. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Upstairs, to your right.”
I went up, grabbed the box of tissues out of the bathroom, and brought them to Daphne. “Here you go.”
She took several and blew her nose. “I must look atrocious.”
“You look beautiful.”
“You’re such a liar.”
“Baby, you’ll always be beautiful to me.”
“What about when I’m nine months pregnant and big as a house?”
“Especially then.”
That got a chuckle out of her—a tiny one, but a chuckle nonetheless.
“Why?”
“Because the baby we made is in there.” I touched her belly tenderly. “He’s in there now.”
“He?”
“Yeah, I think it’s a boy. What do you think?”
“I know it’s a boy. I’m not sure how, but I do.”
I smiled at her. She was so beautiful. So innocent. Yet her innocence had been stolen, though she didn’t know.
Now, more than ever, I renewed my vow to look after her always. She needed my protection, and I’d never waver.
Had I bitten off more than I could chew? Maybe, but it didn’t matter. I was all-in now. All-in for this sweet and wonderful young woman and the baby she carried. My baby. Mine and hers.
Daphne grabbed more tissues, dabbed at her eyes, and then blew her nose again. “Brad?”
“Hmm?”
“Daddy won’t be home tonight. He’s staying at the hospital.”
“I figured as much.”
“That means we’re alone. Here. In the house.”
The fact hadn’t escaped me, but I wasn’t going to—
“Make love to me, Brad.”
“Baby, this is your father’s house.”
“I don’t care. I need you.”
“You’re upset. You’re worried about your mother. That doesn’t mean you need sex.”
“It’s not the sex I need. It’s you. I need to feel something beautiful, and you and I together, that’s beautiful.”
I touched her cheek. It was red and puffy but still like silk beneath my calloused fingertips.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Don’t treat me like a child, Brad.”
“But—”
She placed two fingers over my lips. “Please. We’re in love. I’m pregnant. There’s no going back now. I want to make love with you tonight. I need to.”
Trying to be a gentleman while this goddess begged me to make love to her was more difficult than I ever imagined.
“Please,” she said again.
Already my cock was responding. I wanted her. I always wanted her. But more than my desire to satiate myself in her body was my desire to take care of her, to do what was best for her. I wasn’t sure lovemaking fit into that category tonight.
“Daphne, I don’t think—”
“This is what I want. Show me what’s truly important.”
