I sigh. Albie can’t keep a secret to save his life. No doubt he’s told the whole of the Ark by now.
“That’s irrelevant,” I tell Marc, lifting my chin.
“It’s not,” he states. “You’ve been hurt badly, I can see that. And I understand why it’s making you feel that you don’t want to get involved with anyone again. But you can’t let a fucking idiot like that ruin the rest of your life.”
His description of Daniel brings a small smile to my face. “I appreciate your concern,” I tell him. “But as I said, that’s irrelevant. That’s not why I asked you in today.”
He doesn’t like the answer. He narrows his eyes and glares at me. But he doesn’t push the matter. “All right,” he says. “So why did you ask me in?”
I lean forward on the table and examine my hands for a moment. “I’m wondering if you can help me out.”
“Of course,” he says. “Anything.”
I give him a wry look. “I think you’d better wait and see what I want first.”
“Okay…”
I take a deep breath and finally reveal the dream that’s been on my mind, and in my heart, for a long, long time. “I want a baby.”
Chapter Two
Fitz
I stare at Poppy. “What?”
“I want a baby,” she repeats, finally meeting my eyes. There’s a look of steely determination in them. She’s not joking. She means it.
“I’m confused,” I tell her. “You want me to kidnap you one or something?”
“No, Marc,” she says, slightly exasperated. Even though everyone else at the Ark calls me Fitz, she’s always called me Marc. “I’m asking you whether you would agree to being a sperm donor.”
I’m so taken aback I can’t think what to say. If you’d asked me to guess what she was going to come out with, this would have been at the very bottom of the list. Probably not on the list at all, in fact.
The beautiful woman sitting before me chews her bottom lip. For the first time, she looks unsure, maybe even wary. She’s worried about how I’m going to react. I’m not surprised. I’m not sure how I’m going to react.
Because I’m not sure what to say, I don’t say anything. Instead, I sit and study her for a while. My God, she’s beautiful. I know she turned thirty back in March, but she has flawless skin and a slim figure, and she looks five years younger. I wish she’d said yes to a date, but I know her ex killed her confidence. Albie admitted Daniel said some incredibly cruel things to her.
Like Albie, and their father, Charlie, Poppy’s on the spectrum, and obviously struggles with communication and social issues. Because of this, she’s extremely quiet, and possibly the most private person I’ve ever met. Although she’s happy to chat to me, she rarely shares details of herself, and even though I’ve known her for a while now, most of the information I’ve gleaned about her has come from the other members of her family.
Albie told me that Daniel accused her of being a frigid ice queen who shouldn’t be allowed out into society. I don’t know what prompted him to say that; I suspect he didn’t understand that although she might not always show emotion, she does feel it. And that if her feelings are hurt, she undoubtedly withdraws. Frigid implies something went wrong in bed, too, but I sincerely doubt she was passionless. Nobody with eyes as expressive as hers has a lack of passion in her soul.
I’d really hoped that as time went by, she might come around to the idea of dating me. But instead, she’s come out with this. She wants me to father her child.
I’m a confusing mixture of flattered and puzzled. Part of me understands why she’s made this decision. She’s been hurt, and she doesn’t want to enter into another relationship, but she obviously wants children, so she’s decided that being inseminated by a sperm donor is the best method.
But she’s chosen me. Out of all the guys she knows.
“Why?” I ask, baffled.
“Why do I want a baby?” she clarifies.
“No. I mean, Christ, why on earth do you want me? I can’t imagine any woman choosing me to be the father of their baby. Why not just go to a sperm bank?”