The Nurse's Baby Secret

Something that should be so beautiful, so wonderful, wasn’t. Not to him. She refused to let him keep stealing her joy at becoming a mother. He didn’t want to be a part of her and the baby’s life. Fine. “I don’t expect anything from you.”

She didn’t want anything from him. Sure, she wanted her baby to have a father’s love, but if he couldn’t give that, then so be it. She’d love their baby enough for the both of them.

Charlie sucked in a deep breath. “It’s the expectations I have of myself that are the problem.”

Trying to calm the anger surging through her, she took a deep breath. “What are your expectations of your role with our child?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth. “Financially, I’ll take care of you and the baby.”

She let what he’d said sink in. “I don’t want your money.”

“It would be unfair on you not to give our child the advantages I can provide.”

“You gave me your house, Charlie. That wasn’t necessary.”

“To me, it was. I don’t want you to worry about where you raise our child.”

Where she raised their child.

“I can give our baby everything he or she needs,” she assured him, daring him to claim otherwise. Chrissie did it, and did it well. She could, too.

Charlie shook his head. “I will help you financially, but otherwise it would be best if I stay out of the picture as much as possible.”

A vice gripped her heart and squeezed it dry. Money. That was what he was offering their child. Not fatherly love. Not to be there to see a first smile, hear a first word, witness a first step. Money.

Disgust filled her.

“Best for who? Our baby? How is it best for a child not to know his or her father?”

His face was ashen, his eyes hollow pits of pain that poked holes in her anger. “Not all fathers are worth knowing.”

What he said sank in and she realized how little she truly knew of his childhood. He didn’t talk about his parents. Never. She knew they’d both passed on but, other than that, nothing. “Was your father not a good father?”

His lips twisted wryly and he shook his head. “Not on his best day.”

“I’m sorry.”

His shoulders lifted, fell in a half-hearted shrug. “It’s no big deal.”

But obviously it was and she wanted to ask more, to know more, to understand him, but he seemed done with their too emotional conversation. He stood from the chair and picked up the empty food containers.

“You need anything?”

She shook her head and watched him disappear into the kitchen, knowing he wasn’t capable of giving her what she needed.

* * *

Savannah was getting around better and better. Charlie didn’t doubt that her specialists would soon release her to go back to Chattanooga. Perhaps they even would today at her appointments. Currently, they sat in Dr. Trenton’s office, waiting for him to recheck her leg.

Charlie had wheeled her into the hospital in a wheelchair, but she was walking around his apartment more and more and depending on his help less and less. Mostly, she was still resting, following her obstetrician’s recommendations, but otherwise Charlie felt she’d be pushing herself full force.

“Your leg is doing great,” Dr. Trenton praised after he’d done pulse checks. “I’m very pleased with your progress. The repaired artery and the surrounding muscle tissue will continue to heal from the puncture wound. I’m releasing you from my care unless you have further issues.”

“That’s good news,” Charlie immediately said, earning him a glare from Savannah. One that said she’d misunderstood what he’d meant. She thought he was ready for her to leave.

He wasn’t.