“We should get married.”
She snorted. “Funny.”
“I’m serious.” He wrapped her hand around his. “I think, deep down, you know you can be a good mother, but you’re scared to raise her alone, but you don’t have to. We can get married and give our daughter a family. Her family.Weare what’s best for her.”
Her jaw tensed, and she swallowed. “I’m not marrying you.”
“Why not?” He couldn’t stop pressing. In his gut, he believed this was the course to take.
“Marriage is forever, and I know even less about keeping a marriage going than I do raising a child.” She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and paused a second. “We’d end up divorced and bitter, and I won’t put our daughter through that.”
“We can have forever if we enter this with a clear head. What stronger bond is there than a child together?”
“Love, Jared. Plenty of people have kids and get divorced. Even people who are in love get divorced.” She shook her head, her eyes filling with regret? Longing? Anger? “Marriage is messy. I want nothing to do with it.”
“Of course it will fail if you go into it with that attitude.” For all the progress he thought he’d made in getting close to her, he realized her walls were impenetrable. For now. But he wasn’t giving up.
“It’s not happening.” She yanked her hand from his and crossed her arms.
“Will you consider it at least? Look at the great time we had tonight.” He gently touched her chin and guided her face to look at him. “Can you deny that we connect on a deep level?”
The muscle in her cheek twitched. “Take me home. Now.”
She was up and almost off the pier before he came out of his stupor—leaving him scratching his jaw.
He jogged to catch up with her. “Was I wrong to ask you to marry me?”
“That’s not it.” She turned around, hurt etched on every plane of her face. “You manipulated me.”
His voice dropped to a controlled whisper. “What are you talking about?”
She threw her arms in the air. “This. Tonight. You didn’t want a date, but a chance to lure me to your side of keeping our daughter. You’re no different from every other man—you all have ulterior motives.”
Stunned, he couldn’t formulate an immediate response. Although he desperately wanted to keep their daughter, he wouldn’t use her to get his way. He could tell she wouldn’t believe him, so how much explaining should he attempt?
He reached to lay a hand on her arm, but she jerked away. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I in any way led you to believe I had any intentions for tonight other than spending time with you. The idea of marriage has floated around for several weeks, and when I saw how well we connected, it seemed the time to ask; but I promise, I’d never mislead or use you.”
“Please just take me home.” She turned around, but not before he saw her brush a tear from her eye.
“Okay.” Dejection hovered over him. What could he do if she refused to believe him?
Help me out here, Lord. What do I do?
Trust in Me, came the still nudge to his soul.
He walked beside her to the land side of the pier.
She refused his assistance up the steps andwalked to the truck without a backward glance at him. When he unlocked the doors, she jumped in and hurried to shut the passenger door beside her.
The silent treatment continued the entire ride home. When he parked in front of her house, he expected at least a brief comment, something like “we’ll talk later,” or “see you at next week’s appointment,” but she got out without a word.
As always, he watched her until she’d safely entered her house, and then drove home, frustrated and disappointed with the evening’s outcome. He should have kept his mouth shut. He’d spoken too soon and scared her away.
Later that night, as he lay in bed replaying the events, he sent her a message, apologizing again.
He fell asleep waiting for a reply.
Chapter Ten
