“Do you want more than that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I think you should find out,” Willow commented. “We need to start wrapping up this company, put someone in charge to manage it. We need to be home within six weeks at the latest.”
“Oh, nice,” I said dryly. “Put more pressure on me.”
“You can handle it. After all, this is your birthright.”
Birthright or no, I would not like to leave Hayley behind when we depart. She might be carrying my offspring even now. Once I go, all contact with her, save monetary transactions, will halt. I’ll never know about my child if she has it.
She’s my wife. She belongs with me.
Still, I can’t force her to come with me if she refuses.What a clusterfuck. I thought gaining my inheritance was all I needed. Now, I’m not so sure.
At the end of the day, I escorted Hayley to my truck. She smiled her thanks as I opened the door for her. Like the last few days, she refused to meet my gaze, or speak, while I got in beside her and started the engine.
“Hayley,” I began, feeling like I was walking blind in a room filled with sharp objects, “we should talk.”
“About the divorce?”
I shot her a sharp glance. “Why would you ask that?”
“You got your inheritance. You don’t need me anymore.”
“How’d you know?” I shut my jaw. “Never mind.”
Willow. Of course, Willow told her. My annoyance rose despite the knowledge I’d planned to tell Hayley myself during this very drive.
“No. I don’t want to talk about the divorce.”
“Then what?”
I dragged my hand through my hair, frustrated that I had no idea how to approach Hayley. “I’ll have to go home soon. Now that I’m – that it’s a done deal.”
“Oh. I see.”
I cast another sidelong look at her, but saw only the back of her head. Hayley gazed steadily at the city traffic, the stores, the restaurants, we passed by. I hoped to see an expression of regret on her lovely features, but when she turned her head at last, all I saw was a mild neutrality.
“You’ll want the divorce before then,” she said. “No worries, I won’t contest anything.”
“What if,” I began, my tongue tangling on itself, “what if, you know, you’re –”
“Pregnant?”
“Yeah.”
Hayley shrugged. “Then I’ll surrender custody to you. I can’t be a single parent.”
“Oh, man.” I sucked in a sharp breath. “This isn’t going well.”
“Look, we have a business arrangement. That’s all. There’s no reason we can’t talk about a baby we don’t even know has been conceived.”
I blurted the question uppermost in my mind. “Will you come with me?”
Now I received the full, astonished stare from her emerald eyes. “To your country? With you?”
“Well, yeah.”
