“I’m married to your daddy,” she said, her heart twisting at the tears swimming in those blue eyes. “What is your name?”
“Alex.” He sounded scared, and anger at the mystery mother swelled inside her.
“Are you tired?” A rhetorical question because his thumb had crept into his mouth. “Why don’t you lie down, and I’ll pull the covers over you.”
“I want Eddie.” His bottom lip trembled as he looked around the room.
Suddenly the clues made sense. She scanned the room, her gaze alighting on two bags. In one, she found a battered teddy bear. She held it up. “Is this Eddie?”
Alex nodded, reaching for the soft toy. He settled back, the bear clutched in his arms. His thumb drifted back to his mouth and his eyes fluttered shut. Julia backed from the room, leaving the door ajar so they’d hear him if he woke again.
Caleb and Ryan were in the lounge, both holding a beer and speaking in low voices. They stopped on seeing her, faces blanking. She’d been the topic of conversation.
“Is he asleep?” Ryan asked.
“He was crying because he didn’t have his soft toy.”
“Hell, I never thought of something like that. He didn’t say. Was there a toy with his stuff?”
“A teddy bear.”
“Thanks. I poured you a glass of wine,” Ryan said, gesturing at the glass on the wooden coffee table.
Caleb stood. “I’ll leave the two of you alone.”
Julia took a sip of the white wine. It was crisp and tart and delicious. She wandered over to the window and made out the brick wall of the building next door before taking a deep breath and turning to face Ryan. “Alex takes after you.”
His expression turned rueful, but when he focused on her, there was an edge of caution, as if he worried about her reaction. “It was like jumping back in time and looking at my reflection.”
“What happened in Sydney?”
He puffed out a breath of air and rose from the leather couch. “I received word of the DNA test results. My lawyer rang with them. As soon as it was official, Alex’s mother delivered him to my lawyer like a damn parcel.” He sucked in a quick breath, anger echoing in his voice. “Her lawyer drew up a legal document, and she signed away her parental rights. Evidently, her fiancé doesn’t want to raise another man’s baby.”
“She gave him away.” Julia struggled to understand a woman who rejected her child because he was an untidy interruption in her life. Adoption at birth—sure—but Leah K had kept Alex until it suited her, then disposed of her son, casually tossing him away in exchange for the man and the perfect life she sought.
“Yeah.” Ryan sighed again and nailed her with a determined look. “I’m keeping him, raising him as my son. He’s an innocent kid. None of this is his fault, and he shouldn’t suffer for it.”
Julia nodded, agreeing with him even as familiar anguish brought a rush of moisture to her eyes.
“Will you stay the night?”
“I…” Thoughts tore through her mind, tangling and tripping over each other. This was too much to take in right now. “No. I need to get back to the club and I want to check on Mum.”
“You’re running away.”
The words, stark and true, drew her up, sparked her temper. “What do you expect? You’ve thrust your son on me without warning, and I feel as if I’ve had my feet ripped out from under me. I need time, to work things out in my own way.”
Ryan stared at Julia, aware of the fear rushing into him. From the moment he’d seen Alex in the lawyer’s office he’d known he couldn’t walk away. Yeah, he’d suspected Julia would be upset, but he’d decided once she saw Alex and heard the details he’d talk her around.
Fuck, how the hell was he meant to realize Julia was dealing with all this other stuff, still grieving for the loss of their child?
Emotions shifted inside him, blindsiding him with their rawness. His hand tightened around his beer bottle while he struggled to find solutions, to battle the pissed sensation he experienced every time he recalled Julia’s confession.Damn it!Giving up Alex wasn’t an option, but he couldn’t lose Julia over this either.
He glanced at her pale face, took in the tense lines of her body. Part of him wanted to draw her into his arms and offer comfort, but her expression screechedback off. Hell, maybe she was right. They both needed time because the other part of him wanted to rip into her, to tell her he’d had a right to know about the miscarriage. It had been his child. His loss too. The familiar twangs at his temples signaled an oncoming headache.
“How long do you need to think?” Agreeing to her suggestion was a bad idea. Time apart was what started this cluster fuck.
She met his gaze this time, and the grief in her eyes almost buckled his knees. They needed to get past the hurt.Honesty. Yeah, they both needed a good dose of candor.
