Now all she had to do was open the door and tell the father of her unborn baby the good news. Or the horrific news. The happy-slash-terrifying news. How would he take it? When she’d left him in the doorway, he’d been the color of pea soup. She had no idea if she should open the door and just announce her findings, or bring him in here and show him the evidence. How would he need to process? How did she need to process?
Right now her mind was an utter blank. Other than getting through the next sixty seconds, when she was forced to face Landon. Her fling. Her fun-night stand. She shook her head. She was such an idiot. There was a lesson to be learned here. Sex was anything but string-less. They’d knowingly played with fire… several, several times. What had they expected? But. She wouldn’t turn this relationship with Landon into something it wasn’t just because there was a Baby on Board.
She’d made the mistake of lashing Mick to Hobo Chic; had tied the ropes into double knots. And now they were stuck with a business one of them wanted and one of them didn’t. They were trapped. Much like her mother had felt in the marriage to Kimber’s father. She had given up everything when she’d learned she’d had Kimber in her belly. She’d shelved her dreams for duty. Then her parents had gone from happy people separately to miserable people together.
Kimber wouldn’t repeat her mother’s mistake. She wouldn’t allow a baby to mandate her and Landon’s combined future. Her focus was on becoming the best mother she could. Kimber knew she’d be an amazing, caring mother. And she’d share custody—assuming he wanted it—with the incredibly capable man outside of this door. But she refused to force herself into a familial unit destined to fail. She wouldn’t lead Landon down the aisle only to watch his resentment for her deepen over the years.
What they’d had together was beautiful. What they’d made even more so. No sense in ruining it. She thought of the I love you she’d thrown out a few weeks ago with a wave of sorrow.
She couldn’t allow herself to love Landon. Love was messy. A tangle of emotions he obviously didn’t return. And she wasn’t going to allow her soft heart to feel that way. For her baby’s sake. For her sake. She was going to have to be stronger, grow up… all at once, it would seem.
Kimber tried to smile at the bathroom mirror as she smoothed her shirt over her flat stomach. She managed… until she thought about all the things that could go wrong. So many things could happen. To the baby. To her. To Landon. The best course of action was to take things as they came—a day at a time. She could plan for this day. For this moment. And she could decide not to get overly emotional and sentimental about what Landon and she had shared in the past.
She found him sitting on the bed, elbows on his legs, chin in his palms. He’d lost the jacket, loosened the tie, and cuffed his sleeves. If this little bud growing in her tummy made it, the kid would be absolutely gorgeous. Her tummy fluttered as she pictured a boy with color-changing hazel eyes and a sandy mess of hair, then later as a lean, lanky teenager with freckles like hers. Tears sprang to her eyes.
Swiping her eyes, she blinked them back. Landon stood and scraped both hands through his hair and paced over to her as she fought to compose herself, to deliver the news in the best way possible. He reached for her hands, his expression grave.
She waited until his eyes had locked on to hers, then she told him. “I’m pregnant.”
Of all the reactions she’d anticipated, not a single one was a silent nod. He licked his bottom lip and swallowed. The slightest tremor shook his hands in hers. “Will you keep it?” he mumbled, his voice barely audible.
She didn’t hesitate. “Of course.” Was there ever a doubt she would? There wasn’t in her mind. Had there been in his?
His composure cracked, and he pulled her into arms that had no softness to them at all. Caged against him, she smoothed her hands along his taut back muscles. She rested her face against his chest as they held each other. “Are you okay?”
“Am now,” he said into her hair. He hadn’t let go. She didn’t think she wanted him to.
“I wasn’t sure what you were hoping to hear.”
“Neither was I.” His voice shook the slightest bit.
That was when realization struck. Like a flash of lightning revealing what once was dark.
His girlfriend in college who’d had the abortion… All the hurt and regret in his eyes made perfect sense. “You didn’t know,” she said, holding him tighter. He rubbed a palm up and down her back without answering. But he didn’t need to answer. She knew the truth. She felt the truth in every thud of his heart.