“Why would you lose me and tell me what?”
My head snapped toward the door that was open and there stood Paxton, his brows raised in question.
I hadn’t even heard it open because I had been so stunned by life-changing results I’d just seen on one tiny little stick.
“I think you just told him,” Brinley whispered from beside me.
I didn’t look at her. My eyes were glued to the man who had become as important to me as the air I breathed.
He stared at me waiting for me to respond but words wouldn’t come. His gaze dropped to my lap where the pregnancy stick sat on my thigh. His head whipped back up and he searched my eyes.
When he sucked air in through his nose and his blue eyes widened in shock, I knew he’d come to the correct conclusion.
I held my breath waiting to see what he would do.
ChapterTwenty-Two
PAXTON
My heart was racing.
I’d been going out of my mind with worry about how sick Capri was, but never in a million years had it crossed my mind that it was anything but the flu.
When I walked in and caught her conversation with Brinley, I was thoroughly confused as to why she would worry about losing me or about telling me anything. Then, my head tilted downward and there on her leg was a small object that I knew would change everything.
“I’m going to let you two talk,” Brinley said softly as she rose from the floor. “I’ll talk to you in a bit, okay?” she said to Capri, reaching out and touching her shoulder.
Capri nodded and Brinley started past me. I moved aside so she could slip out, but before she went, I asked for a favor. “Can you grab the keys behind the counter, lock the door, and flip the sign to closed? I’ll come over and grab the keys back when we are done.”
“Sure thing,” she said, a soft smile on her mouth.
It was quite telling the frame of mind my girl was in when she didn’t argue about closing the bakery. She must have really been upset because not even when sick as a dog, had she wanted her shop closed.
Moving into the small bathroom, I came up close to her and fell to my knees in front of her. We stared at each other for a moment as I tried to find the right words, but she spoke before I could.
“I didn’t lie to you,” she whispered, breaking our connection and dropping her head down to her lap. “I’m on my birth control and swear I’ve been taking it, but Brinley said me being sick may have lessened how effective it was because I wasn’t keeping anything down, like my pills.”
She managed to get all that out, but still wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
Taking her hands in mine, which were clasped tightly together in her lap, I said, “Look at me, darlin’.”
Her head raised slowly, her face etched with uncertainty.
I was going to get rid of that in a flash.
“Baby, you don’t have a deceiving bone in your body and not once did my mind now, or will it ever, think you lied to or played me.”
Capri’s expression softened, but still held an amount of concern. I needed to try harder.
“Sweetheart, I never thought about having kids because I always worried if my mother’s illness would pass down, if I’d even be a good role model, and I also never believed I’d find the one who would make me want a family.”
I blew out a gush of air and laid my heart out there.
“You were a surprise. And you make me want what I never thought about before. I sure hope our baby is okay and we don’t have to worry about my mother’s condition coming down the line, but I know we’ll be okay either way.”
I watched her expression turn hopeful. Her eyes started to light up and sparkle with a few tears, but I didn’t think it was bad. I was pretty sure they were happy tears.
Damn, my nerves were tingling through my whole body. I wanted to say and do everything right.
