“I wish you’d stay….”
“I can’t. I just—”
“He told me that he’s your donor, Annie.”
Oh. Well. For a noncommunicative man, Blake had sure chosen an inconvenient time to get chatty.
“He has a right to know.”
He did. Her mother was right. Annie just wasn’t in any state to see Blake. She’d spent the afternoon crying all over her mom’s shoulder. And felt as if she’d been run over by a truck.
“I have to go.”
“Ride carefully.”
“I will.”
“You’re going straight home?”
June’s glance was pointed. Unable to look away, like a deer in headlights, Annie stared for several seconds. And then gave a stiff nod.
“I’ll tell him where to find you.”
She’d been afraid of that.
BLAKE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO expect when he knocked on Annie’s door just before eight that evening. Was he going to be a father?
Had it all been for naught?Would Annie want to try again?
Would he?
The fact that she hadn’t called weighed heavily on him. Perhaps now that she knew he was no healthier than her father, who’d committed suicide, she’d decided he wasn’t acceptable as the father of her child.
If she asked him to bow out, to have nothing to do with the baby, to not be acknowledged as his father, would he?
Could he?
When she opened her door, every preconceived thought he’d had fled.
“You’re crying.” Without hesitation, he opened the screen door, let himself in, taking Annie’s shoulders in his hands and rubbing them as he peered into her eyes.
“What’s wrong, honey? If it didn’t take, that’s no big deal. It just means we get to enjoy trying again.”
And as he said the words, he knew they were true. If Annie wanted a child, if she still wanted him to father it, he would not say no.
Rather than comforting her, consoling her, his words made her cry harder. He wasn’t good with tears. Didn’t know how to make them go away.
And so he pulled her into his arms and just let her cry, holding on, with the hope that somehow he was helping.
And when her legs started to wobble, he lifted her, carrying her into the living room, where he sat with her on one of the large pillows on the floor. Leaning against a wall, he cradled her until he thought she’d fallen asleep.
“I’m scared, Blake.”
She hadn’t moved, and still had her head lying against his chest.
“Of what?”
“Ohhh…” The drawn-out word ended in a long sigh. “I…Everything,” she finally said. “Absolutely everything.”