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Tears prick my eyes. “Really? I know this complicates everything.”
“That’s why you ran.” When I slowly nod, he yanks me into his arms, wrapping me in a secure embrace. He blows out a harsh breath that sweeps over my temple. “God, Callie, if you weren’t pregnant, I’d kidnap you and never let you leave.”
“If I weren’t pregnant, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” I say, my words muffled against his coat.
He places a kiss on my hair. “I’m sorry, baby. You must’ve been scared, but you don’t have to worry anymore. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
I pull back and give him a wry smile. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Hayden doesn’t speak to me again. But he does communicate with everyone else: telling the driver where to go, ordering the receptionist to fit us in for an emergency appointment, and even demanding that the doctor do a sonogram when we walk into the exam room.
I look at Dr. Sheridan with a shrug. The faster she falls in line, the better off we’ll all be.
“It’s good to see you again,” she says to me. “Why don’t you lie down, Miss Gr—”
“Mrs. Bennett,” Hayden says.
“My apologies.” She looks at me with a calm expression. That makes one of us. “Mrs. Bennett, please lie down and lift your shirt to expose your stomach.”
I do as she says, my nerves bouncing inside me. Hayden stands beside me like a sentry on duty, his jaw set in a hard line.
The doctor squirts a cool gel on my belly and guides the ultrasound wand across my skin. The room is silent except for the whooshing sound of the baby’s heartbeat. The tears that have been threatening to fall since I first saw Hayden again trail down my cheeks.
I don’t have the gumption to tell him this is the first time I’m going to see the baby because I was hiding. Although I’ve done everything else to protect him or her. It helps that Harper practically shoved prenatal vitamins down my throat.
“There we go,” Dr. Sheridan says gently.
An image appears on the screen, irrevocably changing my life. Our baby, nestled safely inside me. Tiny arms that will one day wrap around us. And tiny legs that will one day run to us.
Hayden takes my hand in his trembling one. He turns to me, his rough exterior finally cracking. “That’s our baby,” he whispers brokenly.
My heart swells. In this moment, the darkness of our past doesn’t matter. All I see is the family we’re becoming. I was lonely for so long, but not anymore.
Never again.
“Yes,” I whisper. “That’s our baby.”
The doctor clears her throat. “I’ll give you two some time alone.”
She leaves the room, but neither of us acknowledge her, both of us too caught up in each other and the life we’ve created.
“This is really happening,” Hayden says, his voice full of wonder.
“I’m sorry I hid this from you.”
He nods slowly and lifts my hand to press a kiss to my knuckles. “I forgave you the moment you told me.”
His immediate acceptance takes me by surprise. I wipe my damp cheeks and attempt to smile at him. It wobbles on my face. “I was scared,” I say softly. “Scared of how you’d react. Of what you might do…”
“You were right to worry.”
My eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to do this in public.”
* * *
I fight nauseathe entire drive back to Hayden’s penthouse. And it’s not because I’m pregnant. My nerves zip along my arms and legs until I feel like I’ve stuck a fork in an electric socket.
