The Nurse's Baby Secret

“About three months.”

His silence spoke volumes long before he looked up and met her gaze. “We always used protection.”

She snorted. “Obviously, it wasn’t foolproof.”

“Obviously. Damn.”

Tears stung her eyes. “No, not damn. I don’t want anything from you, so don’t go damning me or my baby.”

“You’re pregnant with my child.”

Her mouth twisted. “I guess I should be grateful you assume it’s yours.”

* * *

Charlie frowned at Savannah’s taunt. Of course he assumed her baby was his. “Who else’s would your baby be?”

“I don’t know.” She hung her head into her hands. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

Despite how his mind was reeling, how all of him was reeling, remorse at how upset she looked hit him. “We aren’t fighting. We are having a discussion about the fact that you are pregnant with my child, have known for two months, and failed to tell me.”

“Like you failed to tell me you never planned to stay in Chattanooga? That you had accepted another job?” Although her eyes were red-rimmed, her chin jutted forward defiantly. “Would it have made a difference if I had told you I was pregnant?”

“What do you mean, would it have made a difference? You should have told me.”

“What would be different if I had told you two months ago?”

He just stared at her tear-filled eyes and saw his mother. Saw the endless tears, the fights, the heartbreak. Heard the misery of what he’d caused his parents.

He wasn’t his father. He’d never be his father. Never.

Only he’d gotten Savannah pregnant.

He wouldn’t let Savannah be his mother. He wouldn’t do that to her.

He couldn’t.

“I’d like to think a lot of things would be different.”

“But not you leaving?”

“No, the fact you are pregnant isn’t a reason for me not to leave.” If anything, her being pregnant was reason for him to leave, to set her free from the misery that was his legacy.

She nodded. “Finally something we agree on.”

Her sarcasm was getting to him. “But we do have a lot of things we should’ve been talking about for the past two months.”

“It’s six months before the baby arrives. That’s more than enough time for whatever we have to say.”

Six months. Savannah would have

a baby. He would be a father. Six months. Six months. The two words strummed through him like a jungle beat, picking up in tempo with each beat.

“I can’t stay.” He wasn’t sure if the words were for her or as a reminder to himself. His heart pounded. His hands shook. His mind raced. Six months and Savannah’s life would change forever.

Her life had already changed forever.

Just as his mother’s life had changed forever when she’d gotten pregnant.