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“She can come and stay with me or Dad,” Fleur said. She pushed off the doorframe. “We’ll look after her. And I live near a major hospital, so if anything happens we’ll be well placed.”
Carl didn’t look too keen on the idea. Elena sat up and shifted to face him.
“I can’t stay here,” she told him. “Right now, Jason is treating me like a dirty little secret, and I can’t do that forever. It’s one thing when it’s just the two of us, but it’s something else entirely when a pregnancy involved. I’m not about to cover anything up for him just so he can save face with those he’s trying to impress.”
“I did say his priorities are screwed right now. He’ll realize eventually.”
“Maybe he will. And maybe me leaving will be the kick up the backside he needs.” Elena tugged the blanket aside and stood up gingerly. “Besides, Mom is in town, and it’s only going to be a matter of time before she finds out where I live. How she hasn’t found me already is nothing short of a miracle, and I don’t want to wait around for her to actually catch me at home.”
“Given what you’ve said about your mother, I don’t blame you.” Carl got to his feet, giving her a resigned look. “Okay, I won’t argue with you. And I’ll make sure you have your job here when you get back.”
“What?” Elena couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m probably going to be on bedrest by that point.”
“You can be the admin lady. The guys will miss you, so that will pacify them for a while.”
“You’re sweeter than you give yourself credit for, Carl.” Elena hugged him and kissed his cheek, which made him turn a little red. “Thank you.”
“Yes. Right.” Clearing his throat, Carl turned away. “Is there anything else you need? I might as well make myself useful while I’m here.”
CHAPTER21
JASON
Jason was aware of someone ringing the doorbell, but he ignored it. If it was one of the reporters who had been hounding him for updates, he wasn’t going to entertain them. There were two local journalists who covered the games, while the other one kept looking for something to drag Jason through the mud.
Nearly four months since he bought the Wenstown Wolves, and they were still looking for something to make him look like an idiot. Jason thought they would have gotten bored by now.
He stared at the TV; a basketball game was on, but he wasn’t really watching it. Nothing was registering with him as the news of Elena and the pregnancy floated around in his head.
He was going to be a father. To six children. Jason hadn’t really given much thought to having kids. He was only thirty-five, so there was plenty of time. But if he was to have children, he would have had just one or two. That was enough for a perfect family, in his mind.
But six? All at once? That sounded like a nightmare.
Jason didn’t think he would ever be ready for that, even once the babies were here. He had held babies before, but everything else was a mystery.
All dads start in the same position. You’re no different from them. And you’re not the only one going through this.
That made Jason wince. He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had almost forgotten about Elena. She had never said anything about becoming a mom, and now she had this thrown on her.
And Jason had walked out on her. He had turned off his phone and slunk away like a coward. Jason hated thinking of himself like that, but he didn’t really have any other word to describe it.
He should contact Elena again. They needed to talk, definitely. But Jason didn’t even know what to say.
The doorbell rang again, and Jason growled.
“Go away!” he bellowed. “I’m not interested!”
For a moment, there was silence, and Jason thought that whoever it was had gone. Relieved, he went to take another gulp of his whisky, only to find that the glass was empty. Groaning, he got up and went over to the drinks cabinet.
As he was pouring out another drink, he thought he heard the front door opening and closing. He paused and listened. Did he imagine that? When he didn’t hear anything else, he put the decanter aside and raised his glass to his mouth.
Only to fumble with it, whisky sloshing over his hand, when he heard his mother’s voice.
“Is this how you behave when you know your mother is at the door?”
Jason managed to catch the glass, but the whisky had mostly ended up on the floor, splashing across the wood. He glared at Sarah.
“Seriously, Mom? Did you have to scare me like that?”
