“Like I said, it takes a while to set in. It seems a little surreal to me all over again, with you being here,” she admitted.
For a stretched second they looked at one another. Then Ryan inhaled and returned to his task. “I’ll come and help you with the den after I finish here. Do me a favor?”
“What?” Faith asked.
“Don’t lift anything heavy or overexert yourself.”
She crossed her arms at her waist. “You make it sound like pregnancy is a frailty. I’m very healthy.”
He arched his eyebrows at her defiance, his mouth twitching in a grin. “I agree. I’d just like to keep it that way.”
She couldn’t help returning his small smile. It was difficult to get miffed at him when he was so charming. Still, she wouldn’t want to set a precedent with him for allowing heavy-handedness.
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. And the baby,” she said, quietly but firmly.
“There’s no doubt about that. But I’m the baby’s father, and I want to help. No reason for me not to do the heavy jobs,” he said, pulling on the hammer and prying the nails out of her back door like it was made of butter instead of wood. He gave her a sideways glance. “I’m capable, too, Faith. And willing.”
Faith couldn’t argue with that. He was, indeed, capable...at many things. She wasn’t sure how to respond to that knowing look in his eyes when he’d admitted to being willing, as well. She felt her cheeks heating and figured it was best to retreat for now.
“Would you like me to make you some coffee?”
He shook his head, his attention now so entirely on his task she might have imagined the heat in his eyes right now. “I’m good.”
“Then I’ll be in the den.”
“I’ll be there in a while,” Ryan replied briskly.
* * *
True to his word, he joined her in the den a little less than an hour later. Faith glanced up when he entered the room and towered over where she sat on the floor next to her old hope chest.
“All finished in the kitchen,” he said, glancing around the room. His gaze stuck on an old Holland High School booster banner tacked on the bulletin board. “I thought you said this was the den. It looks like your old bedroom.”
“It was,” Faith admitted. “When I bought the house from Mom and Dad, it sort of became a combination den and storage room. I have another guest bedroom for visitors, and I moved into the master suite. This room gets the best morning sunlight, though, so I thought it’d be ideal for the nursery.”
She held up the high school report card she’d found in the trunk. “I can’t believe my mother saved some of this junk,” she said before she started to throw the card into a plastic garbage bag. Ryan halted her with a hand at her wrist. She glanced up in surprise when he took the report card from her. He stood there, examining it, an amused expression lighting his carved features.
“Straight A’s in trigonometry, chemistry, AP English and economics.” His eyebrows went up. “A C minus in gym class?”
Faith blinked in embarrassment and stretched to snatch the card out of his hand. She tossed it into the garbage bag and gave him a rueful glance.
“We had softball that quarter. I can’t hit a ball for anything. Let’s hope the baby gets your athletic abilities and reflexes, and not mine,” she mumbled, smiling grudgingly. She looked up in amazement at the sound of his deep laughter. He knelt on the carpet next to her, still chuckling. Her grin widened. She went still when he leaned toward her and picked up a curl that had fallen over her shoulder. She didn’t move as he rubbed the coil of hair between his fingers, his expression growing thoughtful.
“I hope the baby gets your curls.” He met her stare. “And your smile.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. Suddenly, the space between them seemed very small. The air itself seemed to grow heavy, like a pocket had just been formed around them and was shrinking by the second. She couldn’t think of what to say.
She couldn’t think, period.
“Can I ask you a favor?” he asked in a subdued, serious tone.
She just nodded, her lips falling open. He met her gaze solemnly.
“Can I touch our baby?”
Chapter Five
When she didn’t speak immediately, she saw his muscular throat tighten as he swallowed. “It’s just that it’s been really hard for me to absorb this. It might help me. It might make it more real somehow...”