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“You think I don’t want to see you? Jillian, I ache for you. I’m obsessed with you. I need you.”
“Funny way of showing it.”
For a second, I almost let my heart believe those words. I had to remind myself of the hunt I’d gone on for him. I hadn’t had Facebook or Instagram, but I’d tried to find him there anyway. He’d ignored my messages there too.
“I’m not the man for you,” he drawled hopelessly. “You deserve so much more than this. I’m so scared, Jillian. I wish I were strong enough to get through this, but I’m a mess.”
“Stop speaking in code. What are you talking about?”
“Good-bye, Jillian.”
“I’m pregnant,” I spit it out, desperate for him not to hang up the phone. I’d tried too hard to reach him.
Silence fell upon his end of the phone, yet I could hear his heavy breaths. A part of me hoped his actions would turn around, and he’d go back to being the man who had wooed me not too long before.
I was a fool to wish such a thing.
“No.” Panic etched his words. “You can’t be.”
“I can, and I am. I have an appointment tomorrow at a clinic.”
“Get rid of it.”
His harsh tone was a shot to my chest. I gasped, unable to breathe. It wasn’t that I was completely against the idea. I was almost six weeks along. I had options.
Still, his adamant tone was crippling.
“What?”
“Get rid of it. Make it go away. It’s tainted. It’s bad. You can’t have that baby.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s mine.”
I stifled the gasp of a woman who had just been struck in the heart with cruelty. I had to be sure. “You don’t want our baby?”
His answer took longer than needed, and when he answered, our fate was sealed.
“No.”
Now, he’s here, and while the past has been foiled with choices we made, I can only hope the ones we make today are the best for my daughter.
Yes, I still say she’s mine because even though Luke is doing and saying all the right things, I can’t fight this nagging feeling that something is about to go horribly wrong.
That he’ll abandon her.
That he won’t want her … again.
Until I can be sure, protecting her heart is the most important thing. The walls around my own were put up with steel cages long ago. I can handle Luke.
Ainsley’s going to fall in love.
She’ll be shattered.
My cell phone vibrates with a text. I groan when I see my mother’s name and click to read the message.
You’re having dinner with Dr. Eric Hollenford Thursday night at 7 p.m. Meet him at the Wolfson Estate. Don’t cancel. Wear something pretty.
