Nine Months to Redeem Him

“But there can’t be.” To my horror, my voice came out in a whimper. I wiped my eyes hard. “There will always be a connection between us now. Because you have to know that I...”

“For God’s sake, stop it!”

“But I...”

“Not another word! If you won’t go, I will.” I had a brief view of his pale, stricken face as he rushed past me. Then he was gone, disappearing through the door in a few strides of his long legs.

I stared after him in shock. I heard the echo of the front door slamming downstairs. I looked out the window, and numbly watched Edward disappear down the street, walking out of my life forever.

A sob came from the back of my throat. I leaned against the window, my hand outstretched across the cold glass. Edward hadn’t even given me the chance to tell him about the baby. Just telling him I loved him had made him run.

Just as I’d always known it would. Though I’d tried so hard not to know.

Through the blur of my tears, I saw a black sedan silently pull up to the curb in front of the house. Nathan, coming to take me to the airport.

I finally understood why Edward had ended our relationship. Why he’d been so determined not to love me.

It was so he’d never have to feel like this.

“Are you ready, madam?” I heard the driver’s voice at the door. “Shall I bring your suitcase down?”

My hand closed to a fist against the window. Turning slowly, I gave him a shake of my head. “I’ll do it myself.”

“Very good, madam.”

Squaring my shoulders, I wiped my eyes. I’d thought I could teach Edward something about love. Instead, he’d taught me.

Love is a suckers’ game. The only way to win is not to play.

With a deep breath, I picked up my suitcase. I’d never weep over Edward again, I vowed. All that mattered now was our baby. No.

My baby.

CHAPTER SIX

“OUT HERE AGAIN?”

Looking up, I smiled when I saw my stepfather in front of the pink bougainvillea of the garden.

“I had the morning off,” I replied. “Jason’s coming to pick me up in an hour.”

“Always so busy.” Howard gave a mock sigh. “I should have gotten you to work as a zombie when I had the chance.”

“Sorry.” My smile lifted to a grin. “You’ll have to ask my agent now.”

The web series had been as good a launch as Jason had thought it would be. In just four-and-a-half months, I’d started to have a real career. I wasn’t a movie star like Madison—not even close—but it turned out I had lots of friends who were anxious to see me succeed for no other reason than that they liked me. I had already expanded into commercials, doing character roles and bit parts on television shows. It was enjoyable at times, at other times mind-numbingly boring. If it wasn’t quite the ecstatic dream I’d thought it would be, it at least had given me something to do after I left my real dream behind in London.

Or to be more accurate, he’d left me.

“Must be hard to be so popular,” Howard grumbled. Then, as he looked around, a smile spread across his tanned, wrinkled face. “You’ve made the garden come to life again. It’s exactly how Hannah had it.”

“Thanks.” I leaned back on my haunches, brushing dirt off my gardening gloves as I surveyed the red and yellow roses. At nearly seven months’ pregnant, my belly was so large now that I had to brace myself so I didn’t lose balance and topple over.

For the past four-and-a-half months, since I returned to California, I’d lived in my childhood bedroom at Howard’s house, a white colonial in Beverly Hills. Whenever I wasn’t working, I spent time in my mother’s old garden behind the house. In April, I’d enjoyed feeling the sunlight on my face, and now it was late July, I relished the cool shade.