I didn’t argue or push for more. Had she suggested I leave, it would’ve been another story. “We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow,” I said, trying to help her get settled without being intrusive.
“There are sweats and a T-shirt in that drawer,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed and pointing.
I got them out and helped her put them on when she looked at me like she expected me to.
“Tomorrow, I have to tell Thomas.”
“Understood. Let me know how I can help.”
Rather than make a move toward the bathroom, she grabbed the blankets and crawled under them.
“Okay if I sit here for a few minutes?” I asked, motioning to a chair near the window.
She nodded, and I watched as she rested her hand on her stomach.
“Any pain?” I asked.
“No. I just like to”—her voice trailed off—“talk to her sometimes.”
“Her?”
She shrugged. “For now.”
Rather than taking a seat, I knelt beside the bed. “Mind if I do?”
Her eyes met mine, then she reached for my hand and rested it on her stomach.
“Hey, baby,” I whispered. “I’m your papa. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
I heard Isabel sniffle and reached up to brush away a tear.
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Mama.”
Her smile was genuine and warmed my heart, then her expression changed.
“I found out on Christmas,” she began. “Three hours after my father delivered an ultimatum, saying if I embarrassed him again, caused a scandal, he was finished with me. That was the only time he spoke to me all day.”
“Jesus, Isabel. I’m so sorry. I wish you would’ve felt like you could talk to me.”
“What was I supposed to do? Say, ‘surprise, remember that one night, well, now, we’re having a baby’?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do.”
“I don’t want you to feel obligated.”
“I feel a lot of things, but obligated isn’t one of them.”
“No?” She turned to face me. “You showed up at Whitmore because my father was worried. You refused to leave because you feel guilty. And now, you’re claiming to be the father and promising to take care of me because that’s what a good man does, right? The honorable thing?”
Rather than stay on my knees, I stood, walked around the bed, and lay beside her. I eased my arm under her shoulders and drew her to me.
“I’m going to say this once, and I need you to hear me. I didn’t come here because of Baron. I came because, when he told me you never arrived in Italy, I was terrified something had happened to you. I didn’t sleep or eat because the thought of you—” I stopped and took a breath. “I’m not here out of obligation. I’m here because there’s nowhere else I want to be.”
“Would you have wanted to know?” she asked. “If I’d told you about the baby the day you took me to the airport, would you have wanted to be part of this?”
“Yes. I can say that with no hesitation. Not just because of the baby. I spent every minute of that drive trying to figure out how to get you to let me back intoyour life. That had nothing to do with a baby. It was about you, Isabel. Just you.”
Isabel’s headwas on my shoulder when I woke.
