“Oh my God.” I leaped from the stool, throwing my arms around Lucy’s small form. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Really?” She sobbed against my shoulder. “I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I had a feeling, but I didn’t have the money to buy the pregnancy test until today, so I just found out.”
“Lucy…” Tears sprang to my eyes. “Gosh, I would have given you the money for the test. Oh my God, a baby!”
Lucy pulled away, hands cupping the imagined swell of her abdomen. “I know I shouldn’t be happy. I know bringing a baby into my situation, well, it’s not really ideal. But, Tressa—” her eyes locked with mine, dark irises swimming with real tears “—I’m so happy.”
We both burst into smiles, tears sliding down our cheeks as we hugged again. “You should be happy. You made a life.”
Silence slipped between us, the last unspoken question hanging in the air.
“Is he the father, the guy you were talking to on the steps that night?”
Lucy nodded, swiping at her eyes before turning back to the salad on the counter and tearing apart lettuce with new determination. “Yes.”
I didn’t say anything else, knowing it wasn’t my place to probe any further.
“Lucy, I—”
Three loudboomsrattled the door frame.
Lucy slipped across the kitchen, opening the front door before her eyes widened and she looked to me and then away. “I’m… I think I left my phone in the day care room. It’ll probably take me a while to find it, so just…take your time. Talking. Or whatever.”
Confusion still slowed my brain before Lucy was gone and a tall, dark figure was walking across the room, his aim, me.
“Tressa.” His tone was a command.
“What?”
Father Bastien’s eyes narrowed on my bottom lip, then slipped down my throat, before hovering at my chest.
I shivered, suddenly aware that I was still in a towel, still dripping all over the floor, hair wet and makeup free and so, so enamored of everything about the man standing across from me.
I was under his spell, and I resented him for it.
“Perhaps you’d like to change into something more…?” He arched an eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t. Can I help you?” I crossed my arms, defiant.
“You left your jacket the other night. I just thought I’d return it,” he answered, passing me my winter coat robotically.
“Oh.”
His eyes darted across the room, taking in the small space and the few items I’d added it to make it more a home. “Looks cute. Everything.”
“Thanks,” I whispered, suddenly feeling so short of brave and every part the tortured thirteen-year-old girl.
Bastien’s eyes swung back around to mine, a new defiance simmering in his cocoa irises. “I wouldn’t have come, but I thought…” He paused, thrusting a hand through the dark waves of his hair. “I thought maybe something was wrong, or I’d done something…”
I stood, the conflicted look on his face causing my heart to open up a little further to him. My hands stretched to his forearms, eyes pleading for him to understand that this wasn’t personal. “When I saw the cardinal, I just froze. Every fear flooded my veins. I know we haven’t done anything, but…”
“I wouldn’t sayanything.” Bastien’s rogue eyes cut to mine, grin deepening on one side and getting as close to a cocky grin as I’d ever seen on him.
“Well, not really.”
“Really?” His eyes twinkled with satisfied amusement. “I would definitely call it something.”
I shook my head.
