Nathan took off after Emma, but it was too late. She’d vanished. Retrieving his car, he headed to her loft. But when he arrived, she wasn’t there. Nor was she answering her cell phone.
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. Dammit. Why did the woman have to be so stubborn? He could give her a wonderful life. They would be happy if only she’d stop holding out for something he couldn’t give her.
After a fr
uitless visit to Addison, he called Cody and left a message. Out of options, Nathan headed home rather than returning to work. Knowing she was pregnant. Knowing he’d screwed up with her again. There was no way he could concentrate until he’d made things right with her.
He paced his empty condo for hours, watching the sun set, then rise. At seven, he seized his cell phone to try Cody a second time when it came alive in his hand. He answered the call without checking the number.
“Emma?”
“Not even close,” his best friend said, sounding giddy and half out of his mind. “I got your message. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, but I’ve been a little busy watching my son being born.”
Cody’s words hit Nathan like a baseball bat. A son.
Was Emma carrying a boy, too? His lungs constricted as he considered all the things he’d miss if he couldn’t convince her to marry him. He wouldn’t be around when she felt the baby’s first kicks. He wouldn’t be there to fetch her all sorts of edibles in the wee hours of the morning as cravings hit her. And what if she didn’t let him participate at the birth?
“Congratulations,” he garbled into the phone, reeling at the unexpected punch of reality.
Misery tied his midsection in knots. I love you. Her words drilled into his head. A wake-up call he couldn’t ignore.
She loved him. And he’d done nothing to deserve it.
She loved him. And all he’d offered her was a marriage based on logic and reason.
She loved him. And he’d not once admitted that he felt the same way. And he did. He loved her. Very much.
What a fool he’d been not to realize it before this. She’d enthralled his body and captured his heart, and he’d been too caught up in business schemes and ancient family history to see what was really important.
“Have you heard from Emma?” Nathan asked.
“She drove up last night.”
Then Nathan was heading for Dallas as well. “What hospital are you in?”
He jotted down the address and threw some things in an overnight bag.
Four hours later, he left the car in the hospital parking lot and took a deep breath before heading up to the maternity ward. Finding Jaime’s room, Nathan hesitated on the threshold and surveyed the tableau before him.
Cody sat on the edge of the bed, his back to the door, his attention split between the tired but radiant woman propped up by pillows and the bundle of blue cloth in a rolling bassinet. The pastel walls vibrated with the couple’s happiness and jealousy rocked Nathan hard.
Emma was not in the room, and he was about to see if he could go find her, when Jaime spotted him and nudged her husband. Grinning like a lunatic, Cody left his wife’s side to greet Nathan with a crushing handshake.
“How are you coping with fatherhood?” Nathan flexed his hand and scanned his friend’s appearance, noting the dark circles beneath his eyes, the spot of throw-up on his shoulder.
“I’ve got the diaper-changing thing mastered.”
“He’s sleep-deprived,” Jaime said, tossing her husband a fond smile.
Cody might be exhausted, but he looked happier than Nathan had ever seen him. Which said a lot. Cody embraced life with more enthusiasm than pragmatism.
“Nathan, I’d like you to meet Evan Michael Montgomery.” Cody scooped his son out of the bassinet, handling him with the same confidence he’d once handled a football. “Here, why don’t you hold him?” With a sly grin, Cody deposited the fragile bundle into Nathan’s hands. “Get in a little practice.”
Nathan’s stomach dropped to his toes at Cody’s reminder of his own impending fatherhood. He stared at the newborn, marveling over his tiny fingers and toes. Would his son or daughter be this perfect? With Emma for a mother, why not?
Cody wrapped his arm around his wife. The look Jaime bestowed on her husband was equal parts pride, contentment and desire. Love. Nathan recognized the expression. But more than love. Completeness. As if together, the two were stronger than either could be on their own.
Would Emma ever look at him that way? Or had he blown his shot at deserving her love a dozen times or more already? Caught up in protecting himself from hurt, he hadn’t wanted to admit that he needed her. He’d never let himself trust her the way Cody trusted Jaime.