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Jake stood waiting by the car when she turned around. "I'm not due at work until three. I'll bring Peter by around two-thirty."
"Why don't I come to your place for lunch? I can help you pack up your stuff. Peter can help me bring your stuff back here."
"Okay. Are you sure about this living together thing?"
"Yes. I have to do it because I'd feel like less than a man If I didn't."
"Why don't you think about it? I couldn't bear it if you had regrets."
"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't positive this was the best course of action. Now that I know I have a son, nothing less than living under the same roof will satisfy me."
"Somehow I knew you'd feel that way."
"Knew it this morning or when you first discovered you were pregnant?" he asked.
He still wanted to know why she hadn't come to him to begin with. He would have done the honorable thing then. Even though she'd said she'd wanted to manage motherhood on her own, Larissa wasn't one of those staunch feminists. Sure she'd believed women deserved equal pay and equal opportunity, but she'd always had a sort of dreamy vision of what family life should be.
A vision that included a mother and father and two kids. A cute little cottage on the river. A big yard with room for soccer practice and a dock to fish from. Somehow his vision and hers had blended together in the early-morning hours when they'd talked about the future.
She'd always made him want to talk about the future and maybe he realized that was why her answer now was so important. He wanted to believe that she'd known he would have done the honorable thing three years ago, not because of what society would say, but because of the woman she was.
"I've always known it," she said, quietly.
Without thinking, he reached out and pulled her close in a bear hug. He held her tightly to him and knew deep in his soul he wasn't letting this woman or their son walk out of his life. "I hope this isn't a mistake."
Jake let her go. "It's what's best for Peter. So are you going to stop arguing and move in with me?"
She stared at him. Her eyes were wide and questioning, still holding secrets that he wondered if he'd ever uncover. "I will."
Satisfaction flowed through him. She belonged to him and so did their son. The sooner he had them under his roof the more settled he'd feel. "Good."
She crossed her arms over her chest again and he realized she was trying to put a barrier between them. She didn't realize that running only made him want to chase her. And catch her. His mind filled with images of what he'd do when he caught her. When he coaxed her willingly to his bed.
"I'm going to call Nicola, Uncle Abe's PR person and advise her of this current situation. My folks are going to want to meet their grandson. So after you get off work tonight, we'll head over there, if that's okay with you."
"I'm not sure I want to meet your parents."
"Why not?"
"They're bound to be mad at me."
"They're nicer than I am."
She hadn't even considered the family that Peter would now call his own. Her own dad hadn't spoken to her since she was six and her mom had died during her first year of college, so he'd never had any grandparents. "I doubt that."
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything. Trust me," Jake said.
"You keep saying that."
"I'm going to continue to until you finally believe in me."
"I wish I could, but it's not that easy."
"What's not?"
"Trusting a man."
"I'm not just any man. I'm the father of your child."
"I know," she said. He couldn't know that made it even harder for her to trust him.
Four
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After Larissa and Peter left, Jake called his lawyer and had a lengthy conversation to put in motion a bid for custody of Peter. The first thing Marcus had suggested was a paternity test to give them a legal leg to stand on. Jake didn't doubt that Peter was his son. He knew Larissa. And he'd looked into his son's eyes. Peter was his. But he liked the idea of having the documentation to prove it.
Nicola had been out of the office so Jake had left a message for her to call him. Then he drove to Larissa's house. Riverside was a nice suburb of Savannah and as he neared Larissa's house he realized she wasn't just eking out a living. She'd made a life for herself and their son that was comfortable.
He felt a little bad about the plan he had put into motion with Marcus. But he wasn't going to give up his son now that he'd found out about him. Being a father felt right deep in his soul and if he had a few doubts that he wouldn't be up to the job, he'd get over them. There had never been anything he couldn't achieve when he put his mind to it. Except for gaining his father's respect.
