He couldn’t even think about taking her to bed right now. “I’ve got some work to finish up before Christmas in a few days. I’ll plan a dinner. We’ll celebrate then.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. Do you need anything? Are you feeling well?” He didn’t know anything about a woman being pregnant, except they got morning sickness sometimes.
Kristi seemed perfectly fine. “You’re so sweet. I’m doing okay.”
I’m not.
“Then I’ll see you soon. Call if you need anything.”
Kristi held up her hand, flashing the ring. “We’re getting married!”
At least one of them was excited.
He smiled for her, because he didn’t want to rain on her parade.
She slipped out of the car, leaving him in blissful quiet as he drove home. When he drove past the empty dirt road, he hoped he’d find Brooke at the house. He desperately needed to talk to her, to explain how he felt about her, and why he was marrying Kristi. He had to make her understand that after all these years, he’d finally realized how much he loved Brooke.
This situation with Kristi hurt him as much as it hurt her. But he had a duty and obligation to Kristi and his unborn child.
He never got the chance. When he finally drifted off to sleep on the couch in the living room near four in the morning, she still hadn’t come home.
He spent the next two days calling, texting, worried sick because she wouldn’t answer him, angry at himself for making this happen, and feeling the loss of her with every breath he took.
Four days and nothing from Brooke. He hoped to find her at home, sitting by the Christmas tree this morning. No such luck. The cheerful decorations in the house mocked him. The angel at the top of the tree stared down at him with contempt.
It was all he could do to sit beside Kristi on the couch, her body snug against his side, and not leap up and scour the earth for Brooke.
Even worse, Susanne sat across from them, patiently listening to Kristi’s jubilant plans for their upcoming wedding, talking about the doctor appointment he had accompanied her to two days ago after she’d gotten lucky, taking someone else’s canceled appointment. The ultrasound confirmed they were having a baby. He had the picture of his little bean to prove it. Kristi had given him a Baby’s First Christmas ornament with the photo inside. It hung on the tree, front and center. They’d delivered the news to Susanne this morning when Kristi presented him with the gift. What else could they do?
They still hadn’t told Kristi’s parents and asked Susanne to keep the news to herself. But he saw it in her eyes. She knew Brooke had left because of this but congratulated them anyway. She didn’t fool Cody. Her polite but distant mood had worn on him the last couple days. Susanne blamed him for Brooke’s absence and ruining the holiday.
“Ah, the happy couple.” Brooke walked into the room, an instant piercing pain stabbing her battered heart when the huge diamond ring on Kristi’s finger sparkled in the firelight.
Knowing her mother had worried terribly, she went to her and kissed her cheek in greeting. “Hi, Mom. Sorry I’m late.”
“You’refour dayslate getting home,” Cody barked.
He knew exactly why she’d left and stayed away and he was mad at her. No fucking way!
“Well, geez,Dad, I was shopping at the mall, and they had this killer sale, and I lost all track of time. Then Mindy Sue asked me to meet her in Vegas for a couple of days, and I just couldn’t say no when she was so excited. I couldn’t let her go all alone. Besides, I won a hundred bucks playing poker, met an honest-to-God card sharp, and spent a night working off my bar tab wrapped around a stripper pole.” She put her hands up like a prayer and smiled snidely at him. “Please don’t ground me.”
“You aren’t old enough to gamble,” Kristi pointed out.
Brooke refused to look at Kristi. Apparently, the stripper pole was more plausible than her gambling.
She never took her eyes off Cody. He had no right to ask her where she’d been, or snarl at her about staying away.
“People here have been worried about you. The least you could do is call home.”
She saw past the anger to the worry that made him snap at her like that. It did assuage her own anger and she felt guilty for ignoring his texts and calls.
“Yes, well, I checked in with Mom and told her I’d be back today.” She refrained from using the word home. Soon, this house would belong to him, Kristi, and their children. They’d be a family. This would be their life.
She wouldn’t be welcome, or feel comfortable here ever again.
He kept staring at her, and she wanted to tell him he had no right to sit there implying he was worried about her when he had his fiancée cuddled up beside him.
