“Doing what here?” I asked, starting to get frustrated. They were shutting me down, not willing to let me talk.
“This.” She emphasized her word by waving her arm at me and then Ford. “He took advantage of you and the situation you were in, and now you’re pregnant and—”
“Are you serious?” Ford ground out, taking a step toward me.
“Yes, I’m serious,” Mom replied, planting her hands on her hips. “She’s twenty, and you’re forty-two. You’re more than twice her age.”
“Twenty-one,” I murmured, aware I’d spent my last birthday away from home, but it was as if she hadn’t even heard me.
Ford chuckled. “Are you forgetting you were only nineteen when you met Brody.”
“Don’t go there,” Dad warned, stepping closer to Mom.
“Why?” Ford asked. “Why don’t we go there? Are you forgetting that I was in and out of that house on the daily? Are you forgetting the shit I went through to protect my family? And then the shit you put me through?” I blinked at Ford, not sure what he was talking about. “I was the one who looked out for Lola. The one who tried to protect her from Hut and his beatings. Then along you came, undercover agent with a kid and wife to boot, but you didn’t care, did you?”
“Ford,” I whispered, but he didn’t hear me. I already knew everything he was saying, but the way he was talking sounded so different from the stories I’d been told. But he’d been there with them. He’d watched it all play out.
“She was nineteen, sixteen years younger than you, but that was okay, right? Do as I say, not as I do, huh?”
“That’s differe
nt,” Mom said to Ford, her voice lower now. “You know it’s different. She’s our daughter, and we trusted you.” She paused and flicked her gaze to me. “You took advantage of her.”
“No,” Ford growled out. He turned to face me, his eyes not guarded in the slightest. “I fell in love with her.” My breath caught in my throat at his words, but he didn’t give me the chance to say anything, because he continued, “I’m gonna go. Call me if you need me, okay?”
I nodded, not able to get any words out, and watched as he sauntered across the lot and got into his car. I saw the shadow of something inside, and as he pulled out, I realized it was Lottie. And I wished he hadn’t left, at least not without me. He was trying to defuse the situation, I understood that, but the moment his car left the lot, I felt alone once again.
“Let’s go home,” Dad said. “You need to rest.”
I didn’t have the energy to tell him I didn’t want to rest, so I shuffled toward Mom’s car and started to make a plan of action. They knew now that Ford was the baby’s dad, and they’d made their feelings perfectly clear, but most of all, so had Ford.
Chapter Eight
FORD
I’d been wandering around my house with Lottie following me for several hours. The empty shell didn’t feel like a home, but I felt the need to make it into one after today. It had always been a place for me to stay between undercover jobs, so I’d never really looked at it as anything but that. But now I had to treat it like a home.
I’d started off with a small list in my head of things I wanted to do to it, but somewhere along the way, I’d ended up getting a notepad and making a list of things. The kitchen was fairly new, but the flooring and tiles needed to be updated. And some new sliding doors needed to be installed that led out into the backyard.
The hallway needed a fresh coat of paint, and so did the living room, as well as new furniture. But it was as I walked up the stairs and toward the three bedrooms that it really sank in. In a month, I’d be a dad. I’d have a living, breathing tiny human to help take care of. And although it was sudden and a shock, I couldn’t deny how happy it made me, which was why, as I stood in the doorway of the second largest bedroom, I knew this would be the baby’s room.
I’d start with a neutral tone and build a crib. I’d need furniture and possibly a chair when we were feeding the baby. The empty room was nothing but a square with four white walls and a window which looked out onto the street, but when I thought about the baby sleeping in here, I imagined Belle at my side staring into the crib while we watched it.
I hadn’t thought about what I’d said earlier that day because it had been the truth. I’d fallen in love with Belle, and I knew deep down I was still in love with her. I had no idea how she felt, and no idea the things she’d been through, but what I did know was I would be there for her and the baby as much as she’d let me. I just wasn’t sure what that would be.
We needed to talk—that much was obvious.
I crouched down and pushed my hand through Lottie’s fur, and she stared up at me, her head tilted to the side. She’d seen Belle earlier too, and she’d been clawing at the passenger door trying to get out. But she had to wait to see her.
I had no idea what would happen from here, so all I could do was my best to make this house a home, and hope it would be good enough for the baby and Belle.
Huffing out a breath, I stood and scribbled some items into my notepad under the header Baby’s Room. I was just writing "changing table" underneath "rocking chair" when Lottie shot down the hallway and the stairs, barking twice to let me know someone was coming up the driveway. One good thing about having a dog was I didn’t need a doorbell, at least with a dog as alert as Lottie.
A few seconds later, a couple of knocks sounded on the door, and I ambled down the stairs, laughing at the way Lottie’s tail was wagging. She sensed who it was, and it must have been someone who would give her plenty of attention.
“Move back, Lottie,” I told her, trying to reach for the front door, but she wouldn’t move aside, so I pulled the door partially open and froze. The sky was darkening even though it was still relatively early. Fall had given way to winter, and the early dark nights were firmly upon us. But I didn’t need the dim light to tell me who it was. “Belle?”
Lottie moved aside, finally letting me open the door fully, and she ran toward Belle but stopped at the last second. She barked three times, her tail wagging so fast it whipped me across the legs.