Her Festive Baby Bombshell

She’d been betrayed? Anger pumped through his veins. Was it some guy that she’d loved? How could anyone lie to her and hurt her so deeply? The thought was inconceivable until he realized how he’d unintentionally hurt those that were closest to him. And he realized that if he wasn’t careful and kept her at a safe distance that he would most likely hurt her, too. The fire and rage went out of him.

Still, he had to know what had cost Holly her ability to trust in others. “What happened?”

Her gaze lifted to meet his. “What makes you think something happened?”

“I think it’s obvious. I shared my past with you. It’s your turn. What’s your story?”

She sighed. “It’s boring and will probably sound silly to you because it’s nothing as horrific as what you went through with your brother.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. But if it hurt you, I highly doubt that it’s silly. Far from it.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re really interested, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. Everything about you interests me.”

Her cheeks grew rosy as she glanced away. “My early childhood was happy and for all I knew, normal. My father worked—a lot. But my mother was there. We did all sorts of things together from baking to shopping to going to the park. I didn’t have any complaints. Well, I did want a little brother or sister, but my mother always had an excuse of why it was best with just the three of us. I never did figure out if she truly wanted another baby and couldn’t get pregnant or if she knew in her gut that her marriage was in trouble and didn’t want to put another child in the middle of it.”

“Or maybe she was just very happy with the child she already had.” He hoped that was the right thing to say. He wasn’t experienced with comforting words.

“Anyway when I was ten, my father stopped coming home. At first, my mother brushed off my questions, telling me that he was on an extended business trip. But at night, when she thought I was sleeping, I could hear her crying in her room. I knew something was seriously wrong. I started to wonder if my father had died. So I asked her and that’s when she broke down and told me that he left us to start a new family. Then he appeared one day and, with barely a word, he packed his things and left.”

“I’m so sorry.” Finn moved closer to Holly. Not knowing what words to say at this point, he reached out, taking her hand into his own.

“My mother, she didn’t cope well with my father being gone. She slipped into depression to the point where I got myself up and dressed in the morning for school. I cooked and cleaned up what I could. I even read to my mother, like she used to do with me when I was little. I needed her to get better, because I needed her since I didn’t have anyone else.”

“That must have been so hard for you. Your father...was he around at all?”

Holly shook her head. “I didn’t know it then, but later I learned my stepmother was already pregnant with Suzie. My father had moved on without even waiting for the divorce. He had a new family and he’d forgotten about us...about me.”

Finn’s body tensed. He knew what it was like to be forgotten by a parent. But at least his parents had a really good excuse, at first it was because his brother was sick and then they’d been lost in their own grief. But Holly’s father, he didn’t have that excuse. Finn disliked the man intensely and he hadn’t even met him.

“When the divorce was finalized, my father got visitation. Every other weekend, I went to stay with him and his new family. Every time my parents came face-to-face it was like a world war had erupted. My mother would grouch to me about my father and in turn, my father would bad-mouth my mother. It was awful.” She visibly shuddered. “No child should ever be a pawn between their parents.”

“I agree.” Finn hoped that was the right thing to say. Just for good measure, he squeezed Holly’s hand, hoping she’d know that he really did care even if he didn’t have all of the right words.

“I don’t want any of that for our children. I don’t want them to be pawns between us.”