AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The desire to put his arms around her never left.
But he had gone too fast the last time. He had pulled her into his arms, and she swept him off his feet. Or maybe, maybe she had just wanted to lose herself somewhere, somehow, to dull the pain. Maybe she was still in love with her ex.
But that baby was his. He had rights. And the fact that she had told him, had made a special trip over and climbed the stairs above the stable just to tell him, made him feel that maybe she wanted him to be a part of it.
“Why did you tell me?”
“Why did I tell you?” She turned slightly, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Yeah.”
“Don’t you mean, why did it take me so long? Aren’t you going to ask that? I’ve known for five months.”
“You knew it at Iva May’s funeral.”
“I did.”
“But I went with your ex.”
“Right. And his new wife.”
“They got married the day he signed the papers.”
“I figured as much.”
It wasn’t hard to tell that that hurt her. That made him feel that she wasn’t over Todd. The thought sliced deep, and he almost put a hand over his chest where the pain pinched hard.
“Do you still love him?” He couldn’t help the words as they came out. Everything he wanted hinged on the fact that she wanted a new life. Something different. Of course, he was Todd’s business partner, and maybe she wanted a break from everything that had to do with Todd, including him. But he hoped not.
“No. I... I guess I long for what might have been. When I said vows, I didn’t mean to break them. I didn’t mean to watch my husband walk away. To be with someone else. I... I meant for that to be my lifetime love. Forever and ever.”
“I don’t think anyone ever says vows thinking that they’re not going to keep them. At least we shouldn’t. I certainly understand the fight you had.” He didn’t know how to comfort her, didn’t know what to say to make it better. “I want to be a dad.”
That was a total change of subject, but if she wasn’t still in love with Todd, if she wanted to move forward, there was hope. But he wasn’t going to do it in a slapdash way. He’d messed up once. He couldn’t go back and fix it, couldn’t escape the consequences, if he even wanted to, but he could learn from his mistakes and do better this time.
Beginning with an apology.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened that night. I’m sorry... Okay. I’m not sorry about what happened. I... It was a beautiful night. Everything was perfect. Except for the fact that...it was wrong. I’m sorry I didn’t give you the respect you deserved, took something from you that wasn’t mine to take.”
It was a terrible apology. Terrible. But he didn’t want her to think that he didn’t love everything about that night, except the sin, what it said about how he valued her, and the guilt that had been eating at him ever since.
“I’m sorry that you have the consequences to deal with. I can’t help you right now, but when she’s here, I want to. I want to be a dad.”
It hadn’t taken him long at all to go from never expecting to have children to wanting with his whole heart and soul to make the world a beautiful place for his daughter. Hopefully, for his daughter and her mother. His wife.
That was definitely getting the cart ahead of the horse. He had to focus on Kim and what he could do to prove to her that what he had just said was true. He was sorry for not respecting her like she deserved but wasn’t sorry for the amazing memories he had.
