Page 210 of The Single Dads Club
“Makes sense.” I sighed. “Whatever she becomes, we know she’ll be smart.”
“If she has half your brains, she’ll be just fine.”
“I would say the same about you.” We stopped in front of my complex, and he leaned down and kissed me just as a raindrop fell on my shoulder. Slowly I wrapped my arms around his neck and fell into his kiss, pushing and pulling along with his tongue until my head swam.
I didn’t know if I was stalling or simply taken by the moment, but whatever it was, when he pulled away, the last thing I wanted to do was follow him inside.
Instead I wanted to stay out here in the rain, in his arms, breathing in the uncertainty of a family that I only just now realized how badly I wanted.
It had been so long since I’d had a family that was whole and happy and good. To have this baby…to have the chance to mend the broken pieces of my heart that my father’s death had left behind…it would be such a blessing. But I had to take that terrifying first step.
Mason took my hand and led me into the building, stopping only when we reached my front door.
I pulled out my keys and unlocked it, then led him inside, ignoring the sudden tightness in my chest.
“Time for round two,” I said, then found the matches and lit every candle in the room until the whole place was filled with glowing yellow light. Mason ducked into my bedroom, and when he reappeared, he held the white envelope—and our fate—in his hands.
I took a deep breath then turned on the indie folk station again, closing my eyes as the music filled my head and dulled the insistent pounding of my heart.
“We don’t have to do this.” His deep voice rumbled through the room, and I opened my eyes again to find Mason waiting for me.
“No,” I said, taking another step toward him and the tall pillar candle in the center of my coffee table. Thought nerves swam in my belly, I knew it was time. “I want to know. Once and for all.”
He nodded. “Then let’s find out.”
He handed me the envelope and I blinked back at him. “But I thought—”
“You’ve been patient with me and you agreed to my crazy scheme. You should be the one to open the envelope.”
I swallowed hard, then nodded. “Okay, fine, but come close so we see it at the same time.”
He took another step toward me, wrapping one of his arms around my shoulders as I held the envelope in my now trembling hands.
This was it. The moment of truth.
“Whatever this paper says…” I started, but I had no words. Shaking my head, I wet my lips, then said, “Maybe we ought to count down?”
“That’s a great idea. On three?” he asked.
“On three,” I agreed.
“One,” he said.
“Two,” I sighed.
“Three.” We said the last word in unison, and I tore the final scrap of paper from inside the envelope and stared down at it as Mason’s arm squeezed me close to his hot, hard chest.
But the words weren’t right and they blurred before me. They weren’t the ones I’d been expecting. And when I closed my eyes at night?
The words weren’t the ones I’d seen in my dreams.
Mason’s arm loosened from my shoulders and he stepped back before I turned to face him.
“Not pregnant,” I said through numb lips, though the words alone made me suddenly want to burst into tears. “Are you relieved?”
I could hear myself talking and it sounded echoey to my own ears as I tried to quell the sudden wash of nausea that swept over me.
“No,” he said simply, his blue gaze searching mine. “Not at all.”
