“Because he’s always been careless, Mary. He was careless when he started with her, careless with his whole damn life, after everything we’ve done…”
I’d heard the way they spoke to him. The comments they’d make, even when I was standing right there. It was tragic the way they treated him. A justification for how he acted, but not an excuse.
“Daisy…”
I blinked, Max’s tortured face swimming back into focus.
He was still down on one knee, for me and my baby.
The perfect gentleman who deserved better than this—than his happy ever after becoming nothing more than an answer to afriend’s cry for help. Because that was all I was. A friend. A friend who was pregnant with another man’s baby.
“Max, I can’t ask you to do this.” I shook my head.
“You’re not asking, Daze. I’m asking you.”
“And what about you?” I blurted out and took the fork. It wasn’t an agreement. It was the safest time to take it without him thinking I was saying yes.
“What about me?” Max answered and slowly rose. Somehow, his standing only made things worse.
What about him?What about the man who towered over me, all heat and presence and perfection? What about the man who stepped in without asking? The man who gave without thinking? The man who thought—who was always thoughtful before acting?
The man who asked to marry me with a look in his eyes that felt like anything, everything, but charity?A look that felt like he wanted me.
No.
Wanting to help me. There was a difference.A very big difference.
“I mean you. Your life. Your…love life.” There were a hundred reasons my voice cracked at the end. A hundred I could and would list off before I’d ever admit to the kernel of expected jealousy that sprouted in my chest.
A shadow passed over his expression like a summer cloud. There and then gone. “I don’t have a love life, Daze.”
“Okay, maybe not now,” I acceded, burying the unwelcome kernel of happiness I felt knowing he wasn’t seeing anyone, and instead focusing on my guilt. “But…but you will. You’ll want to…”
“This doesn’t have to be forever.” That perfect curve of his jaw flexed.
Was anything?I caught myself before I spoke, my hand pressing a little tighter to my stomach.You are, little sprout. I will love you forever.
But this solution with Max came with an expiration date. It had to. Of course, it had to.Why would I think he meant our marriage to be forever?
“Just, you know, until the baby is here and?—”
“Five months,” I plucked the date out of the fugue in my mind and then swallowed. “Then I’ll be back from maternity leave and be able to get insurance as an employee.” Or figure out another plan.
“Five months,” Max repeated, his agreement bringing goosebumps to my arms.
A warning that I was starting down this path.Five months.How different things would be then. I would have a baby. Be a mom.Be married to Max.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked quietly. This was already more than he should ever have to do, and more I wanted to accept. “You aren’t responsible for Todd or for?—”
“Because I want to,” he said so fiercely, the words sent a shock wave of sincerity through the air, stopping me from speaking and clipping the thought right where it rooted in my brain. “I want to do this, Daze.”
Max’s fingers slid around mine, the fork still miraculously gripped in my palm as my heart turned and turned like a child spinning in circles.
“I want to marry you.”
“I guess we’re going to have to get married.”
Two proposals. Both because of the baby. But they couldn’t have been more different.Feltmore different. Todd’s proposal was a postcard of what could be. A picture to look at and hope for. Max’s was a heady promise of everything I’d ever wanted.
