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“Charlotte,”
“Wes, can we take a walk? I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes.”
“Why should I listen? Give me one reason why I should?”
For a second, I thought she might turn and run, but she didn’t. Her voice, while shaky, was strong and purposeful. “Because I love you, and I think you love me, too.”
I did love her, and that was the only reason I was going to listen to her. Had she said anything else, I might have sent her away. Hell, who was I kidding, I would have listened to her no matter her reason. We slowly began to walk away from the party for some privacy, and I waited. As much as I wanted to hear what she had to say, I wasn’t going to make it easy.
When she told me that she hadn’t known who the father was, my hackles went up, “How is that possible?”
I took another few steps and realized she had stopped. I turned to face her. “I was raped, Wes. I was at a party, and that guy Tom slipped something into my beer.” She continued on, but her words were falling on deaf ears. I would have to go back and replay this conversation over, but for the moment all I could think was that someone had hurt my woman. I couldn’t speak as she continued and slowly, my brain kicked back in, and I started processing what she was saying. She hadn’t known him, she had been drugged, and she’d been left with a horrible memory and pregnancy.
“Why didn’t you tell me this when I asked?”
“Because I was afraid too. I thought you would think bad of me, but I should have. I did nothing wrong, Wes. I was drugged, and I was raped, and yes, I have a beautiful daughter because of that ugly night, but I would not change a thing about that. I’m not sure what I would do without her.”
I wanted to pull her back into my arms, hold her, and tell her that I didn’t care about her past. But I had to know if that was the truth and if there was anything else. I’m not sure I could have been surprised with one more major trauma in her life. She told me she was being honest and even showed me her birth control implant. Had she really only been with four men in her whole life?
When she told me there were no more bad secrets, I had to ask about good ones. “Are there good secrets?”
She slowly nodded as she began to answer. “But I think I might have already spilled the beans. I do love you, Wes. I love you, and I want a future with you. I want to build a life and have those four kids—”
“Six.”
“Six?” She repeated.
“Yes, six. Six kids. I want to build a life with you and six kids.”
“Well, I already have one, so that means you want me to have five more kids?”
I stepped closer, “Yes, I do.”
“Five kids? You really want that many?”
“Yep, and it’s a deal-breaker. If you tell me you don’t want to fill our home with children, then I’m sorry it’s not going to work.”
She lifted her chin, “You would really resort to that? You would actually tell me that if I don’t agree to birth five more children, then you don’t want me?”
“Yes.” I nodded, and her mouth dropped
“Why?”
I put my hands on her waist, leaning down slightly to see her face better, “Because you are going to look so damn sexy carrying my children, and I’m going to want to see that as often as I can.”
Her hands drifted up to my arms, “Are you serious, Wes?”
I cupped her cheek, “I’m sorry for what happened to you, and you’re right, while it was horrible, it was a blessing, too. You have a beautiful daughter.”
“Wes, can we put this behind us? Can we move forward? I want a life with you, Marisol wants a life with you. Do you still want us?”
I leaned down until I was almost nose to nose with her, “Yes, I want a life with you. I want to marry you, I want to adopt your daughter as mine, and I want us to have a lifetime of happiness with our growing family.”
Her mouth dropped, “You want to adopt Marisol?”
“Yes, if you would let me.”
“But what about Tom? What about him wanting to fight me for custody of Marisol. I know he is going to demand a DNA test, and if he comes up as the father, what then?”
