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Chapter 28
Grace
“Thisisabadidea. Like the worst idea,” I mutter as I stand in my room trying on different dresses while Marion and Tessa sit on the bed.
Tessa twirls her finger. “Spin.”
Marion smirks. “I think this is the one.”
I huff. “This is not the one. Look at my hips! And my waist. I don’t have a waist anymore.” I flop on the bed in frustration. Why am I showing so early? I thought I had a few more weeks at least. But seeing as how I’m almost through the first trimester and am not blessed with Tessa’s tiny frame or Marion’s tall one, my hips and waist are just becoming one.
“You look beautiful,” Tessa says.
Marion rubs my back in reassuring circles. “You are doing the right thing. Hope would be really happy to know that you were at her daughter’s engagement party,” Marion says, getting choked up.
“You should come with me. Bring the pictures. Cat said she didn’t know anyone who knew her mother. That kind of broke my heart.”
As horrible as Cat had been, I had seen how tortured Cash was over the loss of his mother, and I can only imagine that it would be ten times worse for a woman about to get married. At least I’ve always had Marion. Who did Cat have? Maybe that explained,only slightly, her terrible attitude toward me.
Marion breathes in a heavy breath. “I don’t know if I’d feel right about that.”
I can already see her turning the idea over in her head. Not only do I think it’s the right thing to do, I also need her with me. I need her strength to stand up in front of Cash again. I have no idea how he will act toward me. It’s been a month since he held me, touched me, kissed me…and reminded me again that even though he loves me, it’ll never be enough.
I’ll never be enough.
And now to make matters worse, I have to tell him that I’m pregnant. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know that a selfish woman like myself is going to be the mother of his child.
I close my eyes in defeat. “Please come. I need you.”
She nods once, and I feel relief all the way to my bones. I wish I could take a bath—that’s what I really need—but I don’t have a tub. The bath I’m dreaming of exists in a place I’ll never step foot in again.
Or maybe I will. Maybe one day Cash and I will co-parent this child growing inside of me, and I’ll have to go to the penthouse for pickups. He’ll likely have a wife, and more kids, and I’ll be standing on the outside, still dreaming about that damn tub.
“I think I need to move out of the city,” I say resignedly.
Marion shakes her head. “We’ll get you a bigger apartment. You can’t leave the city.”
“I can’t raise the baby here. I don’t even have a tub,” I say, as if that explains everything. “Babies need baths.”
Marion smiles. “Listen, I’ve never had a child so I can’t deign to understand what you are going through, but I have been around plenty of friends with babies and I can tell you that for the first year, there are a lot of things youdon’tneed. A baby needs love. A baby needs somewhere to sleep, and a baby needs food and diapers. Those are the extent of what a babyactually needs.”
I know she’s right. But the idea of raising this child on my own is starting to get more real every minute and every inch that my hips grow. “Okay, if I’m honest,Ineed a bathtub.”
Tessa laughs. “Thatta girl. Tell us what you need, and we will make it happen. You don’t have to go to the suburbs for a bath though. They have them in the city now.”
My stupid eyes tear because I know they have them in the city. The most magical bath that ever existed sits in a penthouse in this very city.
I let out a stilted breath. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”
Marion pulls her fingers through my hair, stroking while she stares down at me. “I think that it’s time.”
I nod. I suppose she’s right. “Let’s get this over with.”
