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“Speaking of family,” Ty breathed, “I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but you’re going to be an uncle. Luci is pregnant.”
“Wow,” For said. “That’s fantastic. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, man,” Ty said. “So, it’s important that we patch things up before the little one gets here.”
“Agreed,” Ford said. The idea of being an uncle was one that had him thinking about his own future family. He wondered if Journey would be ready to discuss having kids and a future with him—the whole nine yards. He was really hoping that she would be ready to talk about everything that he wanted with her in the future because he had already wasted enough time with Journey. He was ready to start their future now.
“Give me a day or two to work out a place for us to meet and I’ll give you a callback,” Ford said. “We’ll get this worked out one way or another. I don’t care if we have to lock them in a room together until they both come out hugging. I want my family back, man.”
“Agreed,” Ty said. “Talk soon.” He ended the call and Ford tossed his cell phone to the counter. All he had to do now was come up with a way to get his sister and his girlfriend in the same room to work out their differences—piece of cake.
Journey
Journey wasn’t sure how Andrew had convinced the news department at CNN to send her on the assignment of a lifetime, but he had. It would be a life-changing story if she could land it and all she had to do was fly into a war zone and stay alive long enough to report back what she had witnessed. Her only problem was that Andrew had convinced CNN to send him along with her. Well, that wasn’t her only problem. Her biggest was the tiny secret that was hidden deep inside of her—a secret that she planned on telling Ford about tonight.
She didn’t mean to get pregnant, not that she expected Ford to believe her. Honestly, she was scared to death to tell him about the baby, but there would be no hiding it. She was about two months pregnant, according to her OBGYN. She wasn’t ever regular, so when she missed a couple of periods, she thought nothing of it until she started getting sick every morning. She could tell that Ford was worried about her every time she ran to the bathroom to be sick. When he asked her to go to the doctor, she never imagined that she’d have to report back to him that she was pregnant with his baby. She was going to be a mom, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that fact. The question was, how would Ford take the news that he was going to be a dad? She texted to check if he was at home, and when he told her that he was making dinner for them, and to hurry home, her tummy did a little flip-flop. Journey was going to face the music at some point, might as well be tonight.
“Hey,” she breathed, walking into his kitchen. He pulled her in for a hug and quickly released her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reading her like an open book.
“I have news,” she said.
“Good or bad news?” Ford asked.
“It depends on how you look at it,” she said. Journey took a deep breath and let it out. “I got offered the biggest assignment of my career. It’s the break that I’ve always wanted.”
“That’s wonderful, honey,” he said. “I mean, I’m not sure how you’re looking at it, but I think it’s great news.”
She held up her hand, “Let me finish,” she said. “I would have to travel with Andrew,” she whispered. “And that’s not the worst of it. It’s in a war zone.”
“No fucking way,” Ford shouted. “There is no fucking way that you’re going anywhere with that asshole. Not after everything he’s done to you in the past four months, we’ve been together. Hell, we think that he broke into our home to try to get to you.” A week ago, someone had broken into the townhouse but left no trace of evidence behind. They were sure that it was Andrew and told the police so when they showed up to take their statements. Since nothing was missing, just tossed about the place, the cops said that there was nothing that they could really do, especially since they had caught nothing on the security cameras.
“Right, but with no proof, there’s no way to prove that he was the one in our home, Ford,” she reminded. She hated that Andrew was smart enough to bypass Ford’s security system and get into their home. It creeped her out knowing that he had gone through her things while they weren’t home. But there was no way to prove that it was him. He’d never confess to being in their place and that was the only way to put him behind bars.
“I know that, Journey. But you and I both know that it was him.” He had all but admitted it to her when she questioned him in his office. His smug smile in place as he told her that he was disappointed in her for believing that he could do something like that. Her boss was a piece of work.
“Well, I’ve already turned down the job, if it makes you feel any better,” she spat.
“It doesn’t make me feel better,” he said. “I hate that you can’t take the assignment of a lifetime because of some asshole stalker. I want you to do what you love, but I can’t let that man anywhere near you, honey.”
She nodded and took another deep breath. “Are you going to ask me why I’m not taking the job?” she asked.
He shrugged, “I thought it was because you’d have to travel with your boss,” he said. “Was there another reason?”
“Yes,” she said, “I told you that it’s in a war zone, right?” she asked, trying to remember what she had already told him. Everything was starting to get jumbled up in her head, and she was having a hard time coming up with the words that she needed to tell him.
“You did,” he said, “but, that wouldn’t stop you, Journey. So, if it’s not about your boss, then why are you not taking the assignment?”
“Because it’s not safe for me and our baby,” she whispered. She couldn’t look up at him, her eyes fixated on the kitchen floor. She was afraid of what she’d see in his eyes if she looked up at him.
“Our baby,” he breathed. Ford hooked his finger under her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes.
She nodded, “Yes, I’m so sorry, Ford. I didn’t mean to get pregnant. It wasn’t a part of my plan. You know how important my job is to me, and a baby isn’t really something that I’ve thought about. But he or she is in there, ready or not,” she said, pointing to her still flat tummy.
“How long have you known?” he asked.
“I went to the doctor this morning. You know that I’ve been getting sick in the morning and I decided to go get checked out. I missed two periods but never really gave it much thought because I’ve never been very regular. I thought it was just a stomach bug, but I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
