“Where’s the babynow?”
Linx unveiled the second picture. It was Jessie within a few hours of birth. Her eyes were closed and her tiny fists were clenchedtight.
Grady drew in a thick breath. “Who isthis?”
“Your daughter,Jessie.”
“You gave her away? How could you? You never told me.” Grady’s words lanced through Linx’s heart as she clutched his shirt and collapsed onto her futon. Her pulse thudded behind both ears, and she gasped forbreath.
“You didn’t want anything to do with me. What else could I do?” Linx averted her gaze, unable to withstand the way Grady’s narrowed eyes drilled into her soul. “You said Ilied.”
“Dates, Linx. Tell me thedates.”
“She was born inJuly.”
“Was sheearly?”
“Full term. I thought she was early, but she was actually late. So late, she almost died.” Linx turned her face into her pillow as Cedar came up behind her and nudged her, trying to comforther.
It no longer mattered what Grady thought about her. Nothing mattered other than Jessie. She’d given her a better life with normal parents—the kind who went to church and read her bedtime stories. A father who coached softball and a mother who doted on her, celebrating every birthday with a party and showered her with love, pretty dresses, cookies, dance lessons, andtoys.
“I, I don’t know what to say.” Grady laid down next to her. “Why did you wait so long to contactme?”
“I didn’t know if I was still pregnant.” Linx wiped her eyes. “I had bleeding. I thought I wasn’t pregnant, so I counted from the wrong date. I didn’t know until she was born that she was fullterm.”
“You didn’t get prenatal care?” Grady swept her hair aside, his voicekinder.
“I didn’t want anyone toknow.”
“You didn’t tell yourfamily?”
“Not at the time.” She didn’t have a mother who cared, and Tami was off in college. She was a nineteen-year-old—she was in denial, wishing it would goaway.
“Only Salem knew, and she said if I had a miscarriage, then no one needed to know. But then the baby keptgrowing.”
“Salem was withyou?”
“Yes, she was the only one who knew. I didn’t even tell my family I was back. They thought I was smokejumping with you. Salem got all my groceries and I basically hid fromeveryone.”
“And you tried to contactme?”
“Yes, I texted and tried calling—left messages. You didn’t answer.” Linx turned her face away from the concern, years too late, written on Grady’sface.
“When wasthis?”
“December, around Christmas when Salem said you were back in SanFrancisco.”
Grady blinked, jolting and stiffening at the same time. “I didn’t come home that Christmas. I was in Australia. Why would Salem know where Iwas?”
“She said she kept in touch with you. She gave me your phone number, and I called, but you never answered. I texted and texted, left youmessages.”
“I never heard from you until March.” Grady’s voice was tight. “Why solate.”
Blood drained from her head as horror flooded her heart. “I never called or texted you in March. I gave up bythen.”
“No, I definitely got text messages from you, accusing me of knocking you up and threatening me with a lawsuit. You were texting me so much, I had to change my phone number. You even blackmailed me, said if I didn’t pay for your pregnancy costs, you’d accuse me of sexual harassment. I even called you and told you to backoff.”
“It wasn’t me you called.” Linx clawed at Grady and pounded on his chest. “I would never blackmail you. Never. All I wanted was you to let me know what to do with the baby. You have to believeme.”
