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“You’re—”
“You care for me. I know that, I can see it in your face. It’s not enough. This isn’t what I want.”
“Stop. Before you say anything else, hear me out. I—”
“I can’tdothis! No matter what you say right now, no matter how you look at me or make mefeel,I can’t handle a baby and a relationship. Especially one like ours would be.”
“How would itbe?Are you saying you won’t even give me a chance?”
“It would be awful.” She waved a hand to indicate the house. “I’ve been in there wandering around all night, listening to everyone talk about you and her and how soon you’ll be married. They’re all excited about it. Then there were the whispers about me that would stop when I got near. They love you, Garret. They’re concerned about you.” She smiled up at him, the effort costing her more than he’d ever know. “I didn’t want to like her but I did. Jocelyn could’ve been really mean and hateful toward me because of all the talk, because of what we’vedone.”
“Darcy—”
“But she wasn’t. She went out of her way to be nice, and that only made me feel worse.” Now she knew why Melanie irritated Scarlett O’Hara so much. All that goodness and kindness was hard to take.
“You’re both nice. You’re both beautiful and friendly but that’s what made this—”
“Garret,stop.She wasnice.Three years is too long a time to date someone only to throw it away when someone like me crashes into town and gets your attention by foisting myself on you. That’s all it was, too. You reached out to me, connected with me, because you thought I was safe. I’m pregnant, passing through. I was someone you could talk to. Mess around with.”
“Dammit, Darcy, it wasn’t like that.” Garret stepped close, but she backed away. He stopped with a low growl of frustration. “You’re more than that. Darcy, you have every right to doubt me, to be scared, but I need you to hear me. I’ve made this situation worse by being so indecisive, but I needed to bring Jocelyn tonight. I felt like I owed her that because—”
“Doesn’t that tell you something? Because it tells me what I need to hear, loud and clear. Garret, I have to put my baby first. And I’m doing it tonight.”
“Don’t do this. Not now. I just need a little more time.”
“Whatever we had is over, Garret.”
Darcy shook her head, tried to ignore the cramp growing stronger, taking her ability to breathe normally.
“Darcy?” His gaze narrowed. “Darcy, are you—”
The door opened behind them. “Darcy?” Toby’s low murmur couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I’m h-here.” She needed help. Knew she couldn’t walk away from Garret on her own.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No.”
“Dammit, Darcy—”
“Stop swearing at her,” Toby ordered, moving to her side.
“Tobe, stay out of this.”
The contraction finally ended and she released the breath she held in a gush. “Don’t talk to him like that. At least Toby knows what he wants.”
Toby helped her into her coat. “Come on.”
“No. Darcy, wait.”
She laughed, surprising both men if their expressions were any indication. “I said that to you,” she told Garret. “The night you found me in the snow. Now I wish you had kept driving.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yeah, I do. My baby deserves the best I can give it, and that means being with someone who can put us first. I refuse to be second anymore. I can’t be my mother, Garret. Not even for you.”
“You’re not your mother, sweetheart. You’re scared because you’ve convinced yourself the only person you can rely on is yourself, but that’s not true. Don’t do this. I needed some time to think, but I know what I want now. I know I wantyou,Darcy.”
