“I’m happy for you, Heath. You deserve to be whole. And content. But it doesn’t have a single thing to do with me.”
“This is ridiculous. Can’t you just open up the door to me? What are you afraid of?” he asked as his frustration peaked.
“Go away, Heath!” she replied in a curt tone. “I’m serious.”
Bella!” He shouted her name. Although he’d told himself to tread lightly with Bella, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. “I don’t want to talk to you through a door. Open up!” He pounded on the door with his fists. “Mrs. Carruthers is on her porch staring at me. It’s only a matter of time before she calls the sheriff’s office. Do you really want law enforcement at your doorstep?”
He heard the clicking of the lock and watched as the knob began turning. The door slowly opened. Immediately, his eyes honed in on the fact that Bella’s hair had grown out several inches. Her eyes were more green today than blue. And her figure looked different. Heath let out a shocked gasp. As Bella came into full view, Heath couldn’t ignore her rounded stomach. The T-shirt she wore left nothing to the imagination. There was no disputing it.
Bella was pregnant. And from the looks of it, she was pretty far along in her pregnancy.
“Come inside and stop gaping at me,” Bella barked. She flung the door all the way open and waved him inside. She turned her back on him and walked away from the door.
Heath staggered inside, almost tripping over the entryway. He somehow managed to close the door behind him. Pregnant! She was pregnant. Expecting. An expectant mother. With child. Preggers! His mind was whirling with a million different thoughts.
She whirled around to face him with her hands on her hips. She pointed to her stomach. “I was planning to tell you, but I’ve had a few complications. I wanted to make sure the baby was going to be all right before I told you the news.”
“A-and is the baby okay?” he asked, his throat as dry as sandpaper. Please, Lord, let our baby be all right.
She nodded. “According to Doc Sampson, the baby is healthy. The worst has passed.”
Heath felt sick to his stomach. Bella had been ill and he hadn’t even been aware of it. He should have been there to support her. He should have been notified.
“I should have been told, Bella,” he said, his voice sounder sharper than he’d intended. It hurt to know he had been so far out of the loop. If he’d known that Bella was pregnant with their child, he would have walked through fire to be at her side. All this time he’d been under the belief that he had been doing Bella a favor by stepping out of her life. It had been an act of love, but in retrospect, he wished he’d handled things differently. He still loved her. Always had. Heath knew he always would. But he had messed things up so badly. He had pushed her away at her most vulnerable time.
Bella folded her arms across her chest. “You broke up with me. It wasn’t what I wanted, but that didn’t really seem to matter to you. I begged and pleaded with you not to end things, but you did it anyway. I suggested we go to counseling with pastor Johns. You said no. I tried to get you to talk about your past before you were adopted. You said it was water under the bridge. You never wanted to talk about Vinny’s day even though it haunted you. Everything I tried to do to save our relationship was rejected by you. In the end, you walked out of my life.” She let out a brittle laugh. “Correction. You ran out of my life. As I said, I intended to tell you about the baby. I wasn’t going to hide it or anything.”
Heath really wanted to tell her that she had basically hidden it for months, but he was desperately trying to keep things drama-free between them.
She let out a sigh. “Why don’t you come into the kitchen? I can put the kettle on for tea. There’s also lemonade.” Without uttering another word, Bella began walking toward the kitchen. He noticed for the first time she was wearing an oatmeal colored robe and a pair of pajamas underneath. Now that he knew she was pregnant he felt guilty for disturbing her.
He followed after her down the hall toward the kitchen. “I hope you weren’t sleeping when I rang the bell. I’m sorry if I woke you up.”
Bella turned the knob on the stove to heat the kettle. She shrugged and said, “I wasn’t sleeping, Heath. I was drinking a cup of hot tea and relaxing before turning in for the night. For some reason I can’t get enough of tea these days. It settles my stomach and makes me feel calm.”
He felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I take it coffee isn’t good for the baby? I know what a coffee fanatic you’ve always been.”
“It’s probably not the best thing, but Doc Sampson didn’t forbid it or anything. I just know that I needed to switch over to tea since it’s better for the baby.”
He watched as Bella took two mugs from the cabinet, then pulled milk from the fridge.
“Earl Grey, mint tea or orange?” she asked.
“Orange is great,” he said. She busied herself taking out the tea boxes and sweeteners. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so incredibly beautiful, the most stunning woman he’d ever laid eyes on. Her blond hair hung past her shoulders now. Although there were slight shadows under her eyes it didn’t take away from her beauty. It made him want to wrap his arms around her and take care of her. Was she eating enough? Taking her prenatal vita
mins?
“Are you getting enough sleep?” He blurted out the question. He didn’t know a lot about pregnancy, but he knew for certain expectant mothers needed plenty of rest.
She frowned at him. “Yes, Heath. I get plenty of sleep these days. I’m just a little iron deficient. I’m taking iron pills as well as prenatal vitamins and making sure I incorporate iron into my diet. I’m eating loads of spinach.” She wrinkled her nose.
He let out a chuckle. Bella hated spinach. “I know how much you love the green stuff.”
“I’m not a big fan, but I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure this child’s good health.” She tilted her chin upward and met his gaze head-on. He couldn’t help but think she looked a bit defiant.
Tension crackled in the air between them at the mention of the baby. Heath had so many questions he wanted to ask Bella. They were burning his tongue. “How long have you known?”
She shifted from one foot to another. “I found out not too long after we broke up.”