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James picks up the photograph and holds it up for me, utter confusion on his face.
“You were a cute kid,” I say, forcing a smile.
“Uh huh.” He shakes his head. “What the fuck, Nancy? How can this be real?”
I shrug. “Honestly I have no idea. It’s like some cosmic joke. But in a way it does make sense. I mean, Mason named his cat after a hockey player. When he saw that your sperm was an option, who else was he going to pick? Hockey player, good IQ, good physical stats, healthy. You were the obvious choice, at least as far as he was concerned.”
“It’s just…”
“You never told me you donated sperm,” I tell him. “Maybe if you’d said—”
“I didn’t think it was important. It was a way to make a few bucks at a time I needed it. I only did it once, it didn’t feel right. And you can’t tell me this would make sense even then. What were the chances...? I thought it was Mason’s, you never said that it wasn’t.” He shakes his head. “I thought it was Mason’s sperm.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, biting into my bottom lip. “I should have told you exactly how it all happened, I was just afraid that if you knew it was some random guy. Someone I didn’t even get to pick… What are you doing?”
He’s on his feet, turning around, then back. The look on his face… It’s unreadable.
“Wait here,” he says. “Jesus, I need to…Just wait here.”
“Okay…” My heart sinks at the dead look in his eyes.
“Wait. Right. Here.”
With that, he’s heading for the door, making his way outside. I’d chase after him, but running was never really my thing and now? And, what would be the point?
He just found out my child is his. Like, really his. Through some cosmic twist of fate his sperm ended up being used to make our baby. And he’s going?
Obviously, he’s going, I tell myself.
James hates children.
He’s going because he never wanted children. Even Laura and Bel, girlfriends of his teammates, know that James “The Savage” White hates children. And now he’s just found out he’s having one.
Of course, he wants out. And I can’t blame him, can I?
It was one thing to take on a child without a father. He could walk out anytime he wanted without any real tie to the baby. But now he knows it’s his own child.
“So he’s gone,” I say to myself as I hear the door close, then his engine start up. “That’s it. He’s gone and I…I need to get away from here.”
CHAPTER 16
James
The grin on my face is so wide as I walk in, I’m surprised my cheeks fit through the doorway. I’m soaked from the rainstorm that started while I was out, but I don’t give a shit.
Taylor greets me as I step inside, and I crouch to fuss the top of his head and rub his nose. Honestly, I never wanted the responsibility of having a pet, but now I know I was missing out. They rely on you, and love you unconditionally, and that’s worth cherishing.
“Nancy, I’ve got a surprise for you. Come on out here.” For the first time in my life, I feel like dancing. I mean, just literally letting loose right here like Kevin fucking Bacon. She’s going to be pissed, probably, at first. Then she’ll thank me.
And that bit, I can’t wait for.
“Nancy!” I call out as I shove the living room door open to emptiness and silence. “Lil’ bit! Where are you?”
I turn around, glancing up the stairs, expecting her to be standing there in all her pregnant sexy glory.
But there’s nothing.
Nobody.
Silence.
“What the fuck?” The smile fades and I start to frown. Something isn’t right. My heart is thundering. “Sis? Lil’ bit?”
It’s then that I spot it, a folded piece of paper on the table by the door.
With my name on it. Seriously, what the fuck?
I snatch it up and read it through twice before I start to crumple it absently in my fist. I can barely believe what I’m reading. An apology. A fucking apology. Like she’s done anything wrong.
She thinks I’m mad because the baby’s mine?
I’ve never been happier in my entire life. I would have loved that baby like my own, no matter who the father was, but to find out by some massive twist of fate that I’m the biological father too? Nobody could have given me a bigger gift. And she thinks I’m mad about it?
A soft growl escapes my lips as I think about her hurt and alone, thinking things are over between us.
“They’ve only just fucking begun, little girl,” I murmur, then pull my phone out of my pocket as I smooth out the note again.
She wrote it, and anything that she ever does I want to cherish like it’s treasure. I want to save it as an heirloom to pass down to our grandchildren. Doesn’t matter if it’s hurtful, I’ll keep it like it’s a fucking love letter.
