Page 43 of A Surprise Baby for the Wolf Shifter

I didn’t need that in my life.

Still, they were an option that I wasn’t going to refuse outright, especially since Tabitha was escalating in her efforts to keep me under her thumb.

“Maybe,” I finally said.

Hours passed by before I headed home. Tabitha wasn’t anywhere around me. But I did do something I wasn’t accustomed to, and that was locking my doors and making sure all my windows were shut tight.

Such measures were an unnecessary step for normal circumstances, but what I was going through was anything but normal.

I ended up heading to bed long after I should have and wished Gemma was sleeping next to me. But the night was long and restless, and by the time it was too late to go to sleep, I came up with the dumbest idea ever.

I got up to go see Gemma.

17

GEMMA

There was a lot on my mind as I sat at a small, round table, on the veranda of a local Italian restaurant. Cassidy sat in the other chair. The weather was comfortable for once. The summer was hell on my poor pregnant body, and I was grateful for the cooler weather.

Thankfully, I was coming to the end of this journey. Only a couple of months left. And Cassidy decided to take me out to lunch, not only so she could help me fill out the paperwork for the adoption, but to just get me out of the apartment. She was and would always be my moral support.

I felt huge sitting across from her. As it was, with my enormously round belly, I had to sit sideways in the chair, to keep it from bumping against the table.

“Are you ready to order?” Cassidy asked as the waiter stood next to our table. I scrolled through the menu looking for something that sounded good and wouldn’t give me horrible heartburn later.

“Mmm,” I mused as I continued to look. “I think I want the grilled veggies and chicken breast. No dressing. I also would love a tub of alfredo to go with the breadsticks.”

The waiter jotted my order down. Cassidy had already given her order. The waiter then took our menus and left us to our own company until the food was ready.

I stared at the paperwork and sighed.

“Are you sure this is the direction you want to go?” she asked. “It’s not too late to back out now.”

I shrugged. “This is the only thing I can do. I’m not prepared for a baby. Besides, this is for the best. Plus, I would have to give up my job and career and I can’t do that and take care of a baby with nothing to show for it.”

She nodded. “It sounded like they may even have a family in mind.”

I nodded. Though the thought left a pit in my stomach. “I think they tell every pregnant woman this, to help them with the intake.”

“Maybe,” she said with a shrug and replaced the papers. “But if you’re still not sure about this, and I mean one-hundred percent sold on it, I suggest you hold off on filling those out.”

“No, I’m sure. I can barely take care of myself, much less a tiny, helpless person,” I said. I wanted to use human being, but I realized how much of a lie that would be. I still hadn’t told Cassidy about the shifter thing.

What could I tell her that she would believe?

I kept all of those details to myself and hoped that one day, I would have more answers. As it was, I had kept my distance from Weylan. The distance was the hardest part of it all. It was his baby. I left in a hurry.

The next week, I wish I had stayed… if only to give him the chance to show me what he was and explain his world to me. It took as long for the shock to wear off, and I couldn’t bring myself to go back. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of a baby, to begin with.

I found myself wishing and daydreaming about him, hoping one day he would find his way to me this time. But after several months of nothing, I had given up. He made his choice, and so did I. Now I just had to live with it.

“I was getting used to Aunt Cassy, too,” Cassidy said.

I glanced up at her, meeting her gaze. She smiled. I smiled back. “You’ll still be an aunt someday. Just not with this baby.”

“Are you going to keep it open?” she asked. “So we can at least see how the guy is doing every once in a while?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure doing so is a wise idea.”

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