What he had done.
And would no doubt want to do again.
Evelyne was humming to herself as she turned into the drive. Her monthly appointment with Dr. Stevens had gone well. She liked the doctor, even if he was a bit elderly. He was sweet and kind and asked no probing questions about the missing father of her baby—unlike some of the nosier ladies at the general store who wondered aloud why they never saw her husband.
Dr. Stevens answered all her questions with a calm patience that soothed her. He was like a father—or perhaps grandfather—figure. And when he gave her advice, she listened. Like when he’d told her to stop reading about pregnancy online—her anxiety had calmed quite a bit since she’d done so.
She found she fit in better with the elderly population of Bay’s Point. She did not know how to relate to people her own age, though she had tried. It wasn’t just that she was a princess, or had been raised so differently from the younger people of town, it was that she was pregnant, and alone, and, probably since everyone thought her incredibly wealthy, they viewed her as an oddity. Not a potential friend.
But the older people of the town seemed hell-bent on making sure she was hardly the oddest thingthey’dever beheld, and there was a great comfort in that.
“Maybe I do not have any young friends yet,” she said, talking to her baby bump as she often did. “But we do havefriends, and they will be very helpful when you arrive, I have no doubt. You’ll have better honorary grandparents than your actual grandfather, that is for certain. And then, perhaps when you are in school, there will be other children’s parents to befriend. Maybe by then, I won’t be so odd.”
It was a comforting thought, if a bit of a stretch. But kindergarten in the States started at five. She could enroll in a preschool before that. Itfelta million years away, but she was assured by anyone she talked to that the years would fly by.
And she would have a baby. A child. “You will be the light of my life,” she murmured as she drove up the winding drive to her house. There would be no cruelty. No punishments. There would be only love.
She reminded herself of that any time she considered calling Gabriel’s emergency number. That her baby would be wanted and loved and feel nothing butjoy. Maybe Gabriel would not reject a baby as he had rejectedher, but Evelyne refused to take that chance.
Still, it left an ache in her heart. For him. For home. For family.
“And maybe someday, when it is safe, I will be able to take you to Alis and show you your birthright.”
She thought of her home, her brother. Would Ines be pregnant yet? The only reason for Alexandre to get married was to produce an heir. Would they have children around the same time and never know it?
She shook that depressing thought away. “Only happy thoughts,” she told them both cheerfully.
But the attempt at cheer was immediately threatened by an unfamiliar car parked in her driveway and the worry that fluttered in her chest at all the possibilities.
But then she saw the man on her doorstep. He was not unfamiliar.
She sat in the driver’s seat, simply staring at him. Maybe in those first few weeks she had allowed herself the tiniest seed of hope that Gabriel might return, but once she had come to accept she was pregnant, she had not allowed herself errant thoughts of his return.
She did not need him and his rejections, and neither did their baby.
But there he was. Looking as handsome as ever. Visions of their night together tried to take up residence in her brain, but she shoved them away. For many reasons, but the most important one was the child of theirs she was growing.
Some small part of her wanted to get out, dash to him, throw herself at him and tell him everything. Beg forgiveness. Beg him to love her, take her, care for them.
And that was so sad and desperate she stayed where she was. She had to figure out a way to get rid of him without him seeing. She didn’t know what his reaction would be, and he’dleft. Never checked in on her.
So his reaction did not matter.
But she could hardly just ignore him. He wasright there, staring at her as he came down the stairs and toward her car.
Handsome. Sostern. She did not understand what aboutherbrought out the stern and tortured in him when what appealed to her was his charm and light with everyone else.
Tentatively she rolled down her window. “I do not recall issuing you an invitation.” He did not need to know about the gift he’d left her with.
Not until she knew why he was here anyway.
“We do not have time for childishness, Evelyne. Get out of the car. Pack a bag. You must come with me.”
Childishness. So disdainful, so demanding. After the way he’d left her. “Why should I?” she returned archly.
He studied her face in return, and her heart trembled. He was so serious, and clearly here against his will. This was definitely not reconciliation, so it had to mean something waswrong. “Is it Alexandre? Is something wrong?”
“Alex is fine. It is your father. He suffered a stroke.”
