"Really," he said sincerely.
She met his eyes without the defense she had ready to fight against him, and his gaze seemed to soften even more.
He reached out and took her hand, caressing it lightly with his fingers. "We'll figure this out together, like we should have from the beginning."
Swallowing, Julie tried to remember why she shouldn't enjoy the feeling of his fingers twining between hers.
Oh, right. He was married. To the dragon lady, no less.
Immediately, she pulled her hand back and inched away from him, looking down at her lap. "You were incredibly mean to me, Matt," she stated.
"I know," he said, sounding remorseful. "I wish that I could redo that day, Julie," he said, moving the inch closer to her and taking her hand again. "I fucked that up royally, but I want to make it up to you. I want to make it better."
Cautiously, she let him hold her hand, but tried not to seem very enthusiastic about it. "And how do you propose you’re going to do that?" she asked.
"I'm going to support you like I should have through your pregnancy. I mean, right now I don't think I can move you back into the guest room, but I'm sure you don't want to stay here with Aaron either—he has to be acting like a bastard. Once everything settles down I'll see what I can do about helping you get your own place."
"Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of job you think I have, but I currently work a few 4 hour shifts, I definitely can't afford Chicago rent, not even in the projects at this point."
Frowning, he shook his head. "No, not the projects. We'll find you a nice apartment, and it doesn't matter if you can't afford it, I'll help you pay for it. Now I wanted to ask—just ask, don't get mad—if you would ever consider adoption."
Although she had absolutely nothing against it, she felt a faint possessive urge to curve her hand around her stomach as if to protect her poppy seed-sized baby. "I hadn't really given it much consideration. Not to be shallow, but I hate the thought of stretching my body out and going through immense pain, and then giving away the fruits of my labor. Maybe if I was like 16 and less capable of parenting, but… I don't know, I think I’m quite capable, so probably not."
He nodded. "Okay. Then I'll set you up a nursery when you get the apartment, and if you don't like the job with Aaron—that was absolute desperation, I apologize—I'll see what I can do about finding you a real job."
Eyeing him a little suspiciously, she said, "Why are you being so nice to me now?"
He let his head hang again as he shook it. "I am ashamed of how I treated you the other day, Julie. I do care about you, and it's as much my fault as yours that you're pregnant. I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did, that was wrong."
Then, he seemed to brighten. "Oh, before I forget, I brought you something."
"You did?" she asked, watching as he extracted a little black velvet box from the inside of his suit pocket.
Jewelry? she thought in disbelief.
"Just a little present to apologize for how I behaved," he said, offering the little velvet box.
Swallowing, Julie took the box and opened it to find a pair of beautiful diamond earrings staring back at her.
"They're beautiful," she said wonderingly, trying to remember the last time someone had bought her jewelry.
On her sixteenth birthday. Her father had bought her a ring.
He grinned at her, making a little bubble of happiness swell up in her chest. "I thought you might like them."
She smiled, touching one of the earrings, rotating the little bauble and watching the light hit it. "They're so sparkly."
"Didn't Jack ever buy you diamonds?"
Shooting him a disbelieving look, she said, "Yeah, right."
"Well, you deserve diamonds. Put them on, I want to see them on you."
A jolt of suspicion stole her happy thoughts away and she looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Why did you buy me diamonds? Does Emma know about this?"
With a slight roll of his eyes he shook his head. "No, she doesn't know about this, but why do I have to have a motive for buying you a present? You've been very special to me, and now you're having my child—don't you think you deserve a present?"
"Yes," she stated plainly. "But this is completely opposite of what you were like just a couple of days ago when you were backing me into a corner, trying to bully me into bending to your will."