“All this time—” Emotion saturated her words. “—I thought she was dead. And you had her. Youhadher.” Lifting her hands, she pounded on his chest as the tears rolled down her face.
What she said wasn’t making sense. How could she not have known?
He let her continue the abuse, wondering if he deserved it. Her whole body shook uncontrollably, hiccups interspersed with the sobs.
After a while, the blows weakened, yet she still rocked back and forth crying, “My baby, my baby.”
Finally, she collapsed against him. “I never even got to hold her.”
The high-pitched words shredded his heart. Her pain was palpable and tore into him like a machete. Rubbing her back, he let her continue. Hysterical cries lessened to soft whimpers, though the tremors didn’t subside. The words, “my baby,” were whispered over and over again like a mantra. God, he wanted to rip out her father’s heart and stuff it down his throat. Pity the man was already dead.
Drawing her in closer, his own heart pounded a rapid beat in his chest. “Did you honestly not know about her?”
The eyes she turned toward him were filled with agony. Her lower lip trembled as she shook her head. “My father said there were complications, and she was stillborn.”
“You never saw her?”
“They put me under for the birth. By the time I woke up, it was a few hours later. He said—” She collapsed into sobs again.
He wouldn’t argue that no reputable doctor did this to a patient. Her father had enough money to buy not only a few doctors but a whole hospital if he wanted.
Burrowing into his chest, she sniffed and tried to catch her breath. God, what the heck was he supposed to do? If this was true…he didn’t even know what to think. He’d been so angry with her for so long and now…
“I’m not imagining it, am I? That little girl…is my baby girl.” Her eyes begged him to say yes.
All he could manage was a nod. This scenario had never entered his mind. Mostly, he’d thought she’d show up and finally be interested in their child. But to not have known about her…
“How did you get her? What’s her name? I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to begin.”
The stream of tears hadn’t stopped, but her breathing was slower. They were still sitting on the floor where she’d collapsed.
“Let’s get a bit more comfortable, huh?”
Helping her up from the floor, he settled her on the couch, then reached in his pocket and fished out his phone. After sending off a quick text to his boss saying he’d be late, he sat next to her and picked up her hands.
“Her name is Jordan Marie.”
That set off a fresh round of crying. They’d talked about giving that name to their first daughter.
“My father told you I didn’t want the baby? How could you ever think that of me?”
“He didn’t tell me. He sent some flunky to deliver her when she was only two days old. The message was you were too young to be a mom and needed more time for yourself. I was so flabbergasted with having to take care of a newborn, I didn’t have time to question anything. All I knew was that you hadn’t wanted to stay married to me.”
For the first time since she’d shown up this morning, Chelsea looked strong as she sat up straighter.
“What do you mean, I didn’t want to be married to you? You were the one who regretted what you called afling.”
“I never said that.”
Her eyes blazed, then doubt crept in. It was obvious as soon as she started to question herself. Maybe now wasn’t the time to get into too many details of their failed relationship.
“Do you want to see baby pictures of Jordan?”
Her head bobbed up and down rapidly. The baby book was on the shelf next to the fireplace. After getting it, he opened it to the first page and scooted closer to Chelsea. Her sweet scent was driving him crazy, but she had a right to see her child. How had he never suspected? Was he that stupid and gullible that he believed her father? Had he had so little faith in Chelsea?
Flipping to the front of the book, he pointed to the pictures of their child when she’d first arrived here. “I took her to the pediatrician right away. I wanted to make sure she was healthy.”
“How much did she weigh?’ Chelsea touched the picture lovingly, her eyes never leaving the page.
