My eyes jumped to meet hers. She knew. The bitch knew.
“I know,” she said. She laughed lightly. “You could have pushed her away for good, Mason. You understand that, right? Your carelessness might have made her go away and not come back.”
I wasn’t careless. I’d never been careless. Lynn was on birth control. She always had been.
“I made an appointment to take Ash—or whoever is around—to the doctor. I think she needs a check-up.”
“Thank you, but I’ll take her myself.”
“Now, now, Mason. That’s not very fair, particularly since I’ve been taking such good care of them.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled.
She leaned toward me. “Fuck you, Mason. Fuck you.”
The bedroom door opened and Ash stepped into the room. Her hair was wet and combed back from her forehead. She was wearing what I recognized as a pair of my boxers and one of my t-shirts. “Mason!” she cried. “What are you doing here?” She started toward me, but stopped when Shelly made a noise deep in her throat.
“Ash,” I said. I held my arms open to her and she walked into them. I held her close, the ache in my chest easing a little when I held her in my arms.
“What are you doing here?” she asked again. “Shelly hates you,” she whispered.
Yeah, I didn’t feel very kindly about her, either. “I’m here to take you home. With me. Where you belong.”
She smiled, her head tilting as she regarded me with a quizzical expression. “What? Why?”
I caught her hands and held them. “Until Lynn comes home, I’d like for you to stay with me. And only me. Would that be okay with you?”
She smiled wider and I thought I had won her over, but then her face fell. “That’s not my house,” she said. “It’s Lynn’s. And yours. Both of yours together. I feel like a guest. I’d kind of rather be a guest right here.”
She pulled herself out of my arms and went to get a bottle of water from the fridge. “Wait,” I said, taking it f
rom her. I checked the seal and passed it back.
Shelly laughed from behind us. I ignored her.
“I really would like for you to come with me.”
She turned to get something from the cabinet and I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. I laid my hand upon her belly.
“I want to take care of you,” I whispered.
She laid her hand over mine. “You know?” she whispered back.
I nodded and set my chin on her shoulder. Her stomach didn’t have the smallest bit of swell to it, but I knew there was a life in there. I could feel it.
“Do you want to keep it?” she asked quietly.
Did I want to keep it? Of course I wanted to keep it. Then a cold chill slipped up my spine. What if Shelly talked Ash out of keeping it while Lynn was gone? What would happen to our child? Shelly could be very persuasive. She was conniving and vindictive. She was devious.
“I want it. And you. And everything.” I kissed her cheek, but the cold grip of fear still clutched my heart.
“I love you, Mason, but…I don’t know.”
I needed to act. I needed to do something. I held her face in my hands and I kissed her. “I need for you to know that I love you so much,” I said to her.
“I love you,” she said again. Like I hadn’t heard her.
“And I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do.”