The Child Who Changed Them (Parent Portal 5)

Her life really was moving forward. She wasn’t

sure she was ready, not that she had any choice in the matter with a baby growing inside her, but she was certain about not wanting to be stagnant anymore.

“I’m off tomorrow,” he said. “I’d like to get started then. I already have a lot of things packed. I had a mover lined up for later in the month, to get me to LA. I can arrange with the company to make that a local move. But I’d like to get shelves in the shed, first.”

He really did rush right in. In her world of dragging her feet and letting things ride, that adrenaline wasn’t a bad thing. Feeling almost...invigorated—a sensation so foreign to her current life she’d almost forgotten what it felt like—she tried to slow herself down.

To focus on the one thing in front of her as she’d taught herself to do, so that the periphery didn’t crowd the air out of her lungs.

The one thing. First, her focus had been grieving for her parents. Then Peter. Falling in love. The wedding. Getting him through medical school. Grieving again. Marrying Wood. Learning to walk again. Medical school. Wood leaving. The baby.

The baby. That was the one thing. Except...here was Greg. A person. With feelings. Who made her feel things. Moving in. Temporarily of course, but he wanted to put shelves in the “shed.”

“It’s not a shed,” she said. “It’s a workshop.” The designation mattered. Wood had found his own survival out in that building. She’d finally figured that out when she’d brought lunch out to him one afternoon and saw how lovingly he was working on Alan’s crib. That day had been a no-turning-back moment for her. She’d seen what she’d unwittingly been doing to him. Holding him captive in a life that was going nowhere. Because she’d felt safe there. Content to go nowhere.

“There’s already a full wall of shelves. And a built-in workbench. There are drawers from floor to ceiling on one end, full electric...” Her heart cried a little as she thought of the years that Wood had given to her. And knew she couldn’t allow herself to use the man seated with her. Wood meant so much to her. And Greg...he was waking things in her...and in so doing, meant more to her than anyone else in her life.

“Would you rather I not use it?”

“Of course I want you to use it!” she said. “I just...want you to be careful, Greg. Don’t let me suck you in...”

His grin took some of the sting from her thoughts. “You keep defending your independence as you do and I won’t get sucked in,” he promised her. “Seriously, Elaina, I feel good about this. We’re two intelligent, aware adults who’ve learned from our mistakes and are heading into an exciting adventure. One that will probably be one of the most remarkable of our lives. Instead of saving lives, we’re creating one.”

Yes. That comment made her feel more whole than she had since her parents had been killed. As though she had a full life. As much to offer, and to do, as anyone.

And as much accountability as anyone, too. No more letting her get away with things because of all she’d suffered. All she’d been through. No more allowing herself to accept pats on the head instead of kicks in the butt. She was a survivor. Not a victim. And owed society as much as anyone else...

Shivering again, she leaned closer to the fire. And then started to sweat when he asked, “You planning to tell Wood that I’m moving in before I actually do so?”

Greg’s question put her back on the hot seat.

She hadn’t been on one for so long she wasn’t sure how to stay put there. But she knew she must. For the baby’s sake.

“You haven’t given me much time if you’re planning to start the move tomorrow.”

“I was going to buy shelves. Now I think I’ll just look at the workshop and finish up packing tomorrow. Maybe bring over canned goods and perishables from the kitchen—”

Completely inappropriately, Elaina felt a bit of fire shoot between her legs at his comment, as if mingling their kitchen goods would be akin to how they’d mingled their bodies that had produced the baby that was now mingling them together. She’d shared food with Wood—shopping lists even—for years and never once felt that.

“Yes.” She said it abruptly, stopping him midstream. “I would like time to speak with Wood and Cassie before you move in. And...maybe you should meet them, too. They’re my family. They’re going to be hugely involved in this baby’s life. And Alan. He and this baby will grow up close, being cousins and all...”

She stopped, realizing that she’d segued to the old plan—where Alan was supposed to be biologically related to the baby she was carrying. Through Peter’s sperm.

“I’d be happy to meet them,” Greg said. Whether he’d realized her misfire or not, he bridged the gap for her between what she’d planned and what was. At least in that moment. Between the two of them.

She nodded. Assimilating. Trying to catch up with movement in a life that had been stagnant for so long.

There was so much she hadn’t realized, hadn’t considered, while she’d floated nowhere, personally speaking, at least.

“You think he’s going to have a problem with me moving in?” Greg asked, squinting at her over the fire as darkness had begun falling around them. Cloaking them in an intimacy that she didn’t find distasteful.

And yet, that closeness threatened everything that had kept her going for so long, the peaceful nothingness that had become her private life.

He was making her uncomfortable. All of the sudden need to share themselves with each other...and yet, she didn’t want him to leave, either. The fire was...nice. Comforting. And setting a mood that could have been romantic had the two of them still been involved that way.

He was suddenly her biggest danger. And he was her safest place, too.

When he wasn’t supposed to be anything to her except the father of the child they were going to raise together.