“I, um, I don’t want you to go. You can stay here, with us. We need to talk about this,” he said, nodding to her tummy.
“This is our daughter,” she said, rubbing her hands over her belly. “And if you don’t want to be a part of her life, tell me now. I can take care of her on my own, Chris, I just thought that you had a right to know about her.”
He didn’t even have to think about his answer. He wanted to be a part of his daughter’s life, and Wren’s too, if she allowed it. “I want to know her,” he whispered. He reached out a hand to touch her belly and when she took a step back from him, he let it fall to his side.
“I’m sorry, I’m just not ready to let you touch me again, Chris. You left me—you just left.” He got it. He fucked up and it was going to take some time to fix what he had done, but right now, he had the time if Wren was willing to stick it out in New York and give him a chance.
“Will you stay for a little bit? My mom has another spare room that you can sleep in,” he offered. She looked conflicted as she weighed her options. Wren finally nodded, and pulled open the trunk of her car, handing him her suitcase.
“I’ll stay for a little bit—just until we get things worked out. But then, I’m heading back to Alabama. I want to have the baby there, with a doctor that I know and trust.”
“That’s fair,” Yonkers agreed. “Thank you for agreeing to stay, Wren.” She breezed past him and walked back into his mother’s house. Yeah, none of this was going to be easy, but he already knew that Wren was worth every bit of trouble that she was about to give him.