She’d been quiet on the way home, looking out the window more than she’d talked. He wondered what was going on in her head and almost didn’t want to ask. But his gut told him they were coming to a point where she would have to make a choice and he wouldn’t like the one she picked.
He sighed, left the luggage by the stairs, and walked into the kitchen. The envelope Amy had signed for waited for him on the counter, and he was drawn to it like a beacon. Inside was the answer he’d been waiting for, but in his heart, his decision had been made.
“Are you going to open it?” Quinn asked.
He leaned against the counter, staring at the white rectangular paper. “You know it doesn’t matter, right? I mean, of course it matters, but the answer is going to make it easier or harder for me to fight and win.”
She smiled and nodded but her heart wasn’t in it, which meant his hurt knowing they were reaching the end.
“Open it,” she murmured. “At least you’ll know.”
To his shock, his hand shook as he reached for the envelope. He picked it up and held it in his hand. A little over two weeks ago, he’d been a bachelor and content with his life. The thought of raising a baby had given him hives. Now the thought of turning Jenny over to anyone else made him physically ill.
He tore into the envelope and looked at the information on the page. He read through and his knees buckled. Quinn was there to grab him and wrap her arms around him as she peered around to see for herself.
“She’s mine.” His voice broke as the words came out. “Jenny’s my baby.”
“I’m so happy for you.” She squeezed him tight, and he felt in her voice how much she meant the words.
Knowing he was choked up, he changed the subject somewhat. “Feel like going baby room shopping?”
She froze and he realized this was it. The moment he’d been dreading.
“I think I should go home,” she said.
He stepped out of her embrace and turned to face her. “Why?” He’d already decided he wasn’t going to make it easy for her to leave him. If she was going to walk away, she’d have to admit it was because of the baby.
Facing him, she drew a deep breath. Her eyes were rimmed red, and he knew this hurt her as much as it did him.
“You don’t need me to care for Jenny anymore and we both know it. You’ve taken and passed the master class.” She forced a grin but he didn’t smile back.
“Anything I learned, it was from you. And I’ve seen you with the baby. Maybe you didn’t go into this wanting kids, but can you deny how you feel about her now?” he asked, as if he could will her to admit her feelings.
“Of course I love her!” she blurted out.
His heart beat heavily in his chest. “Then stay.”
She grasped on to the back of a kitchen chair, her fingers curling around the leather. “This was always a temporary arrangement.”
Because they weren’t a couple, and later he’d discovered she didn’t want children of her own. But all that was before them. Before they’d come together in an explosion of passion, desire, and deep caring. For him it was love, but as he stared into her eyes, he remembered her telling him no one in her life cared about what she wanted. No one ever gave her the chance to make her own decisions. Which meant if he loved her, he needed to allow her that freedom.
He reached out, took her hand, and clasped it in his. “Jenny adores you. And I … care about you, Quinn.” He wouldn’t admit that he loved her and use it as blackmail to make her stay. “And I know you care about me and Jenny.”
She sniffed, as she nodded. “I do.”
“Well, I believe we have a shot at something great, but you have to be ready. You have to want the same thing I do. And most importantly, it has to be your choice.” He brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “So if you need to go, I understand.”
* * *
A couple of hours later, Quinn found herself in her apartment. She’d only been gone a short time, but the entire place felt foreign to her, as if she hadn’t slept there in months. With a sigh, she tried to remember her old routines but nothing came to her. Nothing but sadness as she recalled walking out of Austin’s home, but she’d felt like she had no alternative.
For the last however many years, she’d bemoaned the fact that she’d raised her siblings and cousins, that she’d done her duty and didn’t want kids. She’d ended her engagement to Daniel for that very reason. So faced with Austin, a man she cared for in a way she’d never felt for her ex-fiancé, and a baby she absolutely loved, she found herself looking at the life she’d claimed she did not want. And she’d run scared.