“We’re not talking about lots of women. We’re talking about you. You and our baby.” The angry spark was back in his eyes. “Despite what you obviously think, the last thing I want is for you to miscarry. Although you’re giving a damned good impression that it’s what you want and I have to wonder why. Are you pushing yourself out of guilt?”
She reeled back, not believing what he was saying. “No,” she gasped.
“Then stop acting in ways that give the impression this baby means nothing to you.”
“How dare you?”
“Furthermore,” he said, ignoring her outburst, “you have to start thinking about the future. You can’t work like this after the baby arrives. At least for the first few weeks, you’re going to need to regain your strength. Who’s going to take care of your precious patients while you do that?”
“Haven’t you heard of the women who gave birth and went straight back to picking cotton?” she asked flippantly.
“Perhaps you might recall just how short those women’s lifespans were.”
Ouch.
“You think you have all the answers,” she accused, knowing that whether or not she felt up to another row, there was going to be one. “Well, you don’t. What am I supposed to do? Just let people die? That’s not who I am, James. I don’t turn my back on people.”
“You turned your back on me,” he said angrily. “On us.”
“You’re the one who walked when you found out I was pregnant,” she reminded him.
“Your pregnancy had little to do with the reasons I left. You turned your back on me months before that. My leaving just brought it to your attention.”
“You ran away,” she accused, pulling Norma’s Afghan to her protectively.
“I wanted to wake you up to the fact that you put every single person’s needs in front of mine. You killed our relationship.” He leaned in, his face inches from hers. “I want to know why.”
She pushed against his chest. “Because I wanted a baby and every time I looked at you, all I could think was that I’d never have a real family if we stayed together.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
JAMES stared at Melissa’s ashen face and couldn’t believe what she’d just admitted. Despite having been honest, having told her he didn’t want kids, she’d wanted a baby all along. If she weren’t such an ethical person, he’d suspect her of having intentionally gotten pregnant.
Her surprised, guilty-appearing face said she was just as shocked at her admission as he was. If having a family had meant so much to her, why had she agreed to no kids?
His gaze lowered to her swollen belly. “It looks like you get what you want.”
She grimaced. “Like this wasn’t what I wanted.”
“Regardless, you are pregnant. For the sake of our baby, we’re going to make changes to our current arrangement.”
“What kind of changes?” she asked suspiciously. “I’ve already told you that I’m not going to sell my practice.”
“I think we both know that your practice is yo
ur number one priority, so that’s out.” His statement sounded more like a slur even to his own ears.
“That’s not fair.”
“No,” he agreed, “but, then, no one said life had to be fair. I should move back in.”
“What about…?” She stopped, her face screwing up unpleasantly. “Nashville?”
“I’m going to ask for a leave of absence until after the baby is born.”
“From the hospital?” she asked, not bothering to hide her shock.
“Yes.”