Sylvie blinked back tears. “I don’t. YouknowI don’t.”
Alex lifted her hands and kissed them. “I know. George and Cynthia are your parents because they’re the ones who loved you and took care of you when you needed them.”
“Damn straight they are. And you’re just like them that way.”
He gazed into her eyes. And that’s when it happened. That was the moment he fell completely, unequivocally, in love with her.
“So, what happened then?” she asked after a while. He went back to work untying the knots and telling his story.
“I made another realization. The baby hadn’t lost a father, but he or she had lost any chance at having a decent mother.” He held up his hands. “Birthmother, let’s be clear.”
Sylvie just grinned and nodded.
“I calmly finished up and put the vacuum cleaner away. When I heard her car pull up, I went out to bring in the groceries. Told her to go in, sit down, take a load off. It took everything I had not to scream the words.”
“I bet.”
“She had no idea. She just smiled, kissed my cheek, told me what a good husband I was and what a great father I’d be. After I’d put everything away, I came and sat across from her. And that’s when I told her about my visitor.”
“Oh, God. Alex.”
“She turned pale as a sheet. And then she turned red with fury, even though I kept my voice down and my expression neutral. I just presented the facts as they happened. She asked if I was going to kick her out, throw her on the street penniless with a baby on the way. I calmly told her no. I told her she could stay here, stay married to me and on my healthcare until the baby was born. Then, we’d be getting a paternity test, just to make sure. If the baby wasn’t mine and the bio father didn’t step up, I’d sue for adoption. If the baby was my flesh and blood, I’d sue for full custody. Then, either way, I’d kick her out.”
He took a deep breath. “That probably makes me sound batshit crazy, but at that moment, I was in full-on protector mode, and I was so afraid that baby would end up emotionally manipulated and abused by my soon-to-be ex.” Alex closed his eyes and tried not to shake with old rage made fresh with memory.
He felt Sylvie’s warm, gentle touch on his arm. “I understand. Just from the little you’ve told me tonight, I think I probably would have done the same thing.”
He opened his eyes to see Sylvie looking at him with nothing but love and encouragement. No judgment. No fear. His heart overflowed with emotion.
“What did she do after that?” she asked. Then she added gently, “If you want to keep going.”
Alex did. He wanted all the poison out. “She told me what a horrible person I was and that she’d do everything she could to make sure I never even saw the baby. When she realized that wasn’t getting through, she switched to telling me how kind and understanding I was for not kicking her out immediately. At some point, I got up and made us dinner while she kept on. I fed us a healthy meal for the baby and then I went to bed about five hours early. She never came in, slept in the guest room instead.”
Only a couple knots left. “I got the call at midnight that we’d be wheels up in four hours so I grabbed my bag and left. Did a little middle-of-the-night banking while I waited and just about emptied our account into another one I’d set up for the baby that she didn’t know about, and switched over all the automatic payments to that one. I left enough money in the original account for her to buy essentials. If she wanted more, she’d have to ask and I’d drop it in. At the time, I thought maybe it was a dick move, but I felt like I had to protect myself.”
Alex grimaced at the stubborn knot he’d tied just a little too tightly. “And I was right. When I came home three weeks later, she was gone and so was most of the furniture. She left the refrigerator door open and the house reeked with the smell of rotting food. Looked like a wolverine had torn through my bedroom closet. I didn’t have a shirt or pair of pants that weren’t cut up into rags.”
Sylvie grimaced. “That’s awful.”
“She left a note saying she’d gone to be with the baby’s real father. That was lying on top of a pile of divorce papers.”
There, the knot came loose and he pulled more cord away from Sylvie’s body.
“At least she did you one favor.”
“I still had the guy’s card so I called him to check and see if she was there. I didn’t want her going without medical care through the pregnancy. She of course had twisted the story all around and he thought I was a monster and threatened to kill me if I came near her.”
That part of the story always got to him. He closed his eyes and felt Sylvie’s touch, soft and warm and reassuring.
“I talked to a lawyer and waited to sign the papers until I knew who the baby’s bio father was. Again, it didn’t matter to me. I was going to make suremybaby was taken care of. Those final months were hell.” Alex smiled. “But all worth it when I finally got to meet my baby girl.”
Several expressions crossed Sylvie’s face at once, so quickly that Alex couldn’t read all of them, until she settled into an expression that made him think she was trying to look happy for him and hide her apprehension at the same time. And no wonder—she was probably worried he’d been hiding the truth from her.
“We found out Amanda’s not my bio daughter, she’s his. He and I talked at the hospital while Jenny was in the delivery room and sorted a few things. He wanted me to divorce her so he could marry her but he looked nervous about it. I chalked that up to worry over the delivery. After the paternity test came back, we had another talk. Long story short, I divorced Jenny and gave up my claim. I knew Amanda was in good hands with her father, at least. As for Amanda’s mother, she wore out her welcome pretty quickly with her new man before she left both of them for a third guy.”
“Oh, that’s horrible,” Sylvie said.
One knot left. Alex began untying it.
