Sandra blinked but didn’t lose her beauty pageant smile. “What?”
“I said no.”
Her smile faltered. Good. Maybe she was finally getting the picture.
“Oh. Come on, Connor. Don’t be like that.”
She was not taking the hint. He didn’t answer.
Before she could push further, the bell over the door jingled again. Connor glanced up automatically. Bliss stood just inside the doorway, driving Sandra completely out of his mind.
Bliss’s hair was pulled into a messy braid, loose strands framing her face. A baby sling was hung across her chest, with Nori’s head tucked against her shoulder. Behind her, she maneuvered a double stroller through the doorway. There could not have been a starker contrast between Bliss and Sandra, yet Bliss somehow still looked more beautiful.
Connor’s brain stalled for a moment before he noticed the babies again. She had three babies, but every time he saw her, it hit him like it had the first time. He’d been in the grocery store. Before she could spot him, he’d left his almost full cart in the aisle of the Piggly Wiggly and bolted out the door like he was a doofus kid. Hell, even as a kid, he would’ve never done that.
His attention snapped back to Bliss’s face. Their eyes met. Surprise flashed across her features. Then something else. Something… softer.
And then her gaze landed on Sandra. The warmth vanished as if it had never been there. Bliss turned and hurried toward the bookstore side of the shop. Connor barely registered that Sandra was still jabbering away.
His focus was entirely on Bliss. On the soft sounds drifting from the other side of the shop. Bliss cooing gently, “Let’s look at the books, my sweet girls.”
Connor’s chest tightened. The coffee shop was still busy, but all he could think about were small giggles and babbling voices. At that moment, a brutal truth cut right through all the chatter and noise of the shop, and clean through Sandra’s unrelenting speech.
He still wanted her just as much as he ever did. But now she had three kids. Beautiful baby girls. What about them? He would be the worst thing in the world for them.
Connor’s jaw tightened. Nothing about her made sense. He knew from the night before that the youngest baby was hers by birth. There was no denying it. But what about Sadie and Sophie? Just thinking about it made him mad. She must have gotten pregnant the minute she went back to the compound.
If someone had told him she would have ever let the Society remove her contraception and pair her with one of the men there, he would have called them a liar. Yet there she was with a newborn baby plus two more.
Cold hit his chest when he thought of the other ways she could have gotten pregnant in that godforsaken compound. What if it hadn’t been her choice? What if they’d forced her?
His world was shifting, and for some reason, Sandra was still talking.
“…so you could come over around seven?”
“No.” He had no idea what she had just asked. The answer was still no.
She huffed. “You’re being rude.”
Connor didn’t respond, too lost in thought about Bliss.
Sandra tossed her hair dramatically. “Fine. I’ll just grab a drink at the counter and be on my way.” She sat there for a few seconds, evidently waiting to see if he would stop her. When he didn’t, she flounced toward the counter.
Connor leaned back in his chair. And listened. Bliss was talking again.
“Okay, sweet Sadie, you can look at this one.”
Happy squeals answered her. Connor closed his eyes briefly and smiled. Damn it.
A few minutes later, Bliss appeared on the café side again.
She maneuvered the stroller carefully through the tables. Connor noticed she hadn’t ordered anything for herself. Just a small plate with one pastry to split between the two older girls.
The place was packed, but this time he didn’t mind. Because he was a masochistic sonofabitch. The only empty table left was directly behind him. Perfect.
Bliss hesitated and seemed to come to that same conclusion. Sighing, she rolled the stroller over. Maybe it was the slight hint of her perfume that did it. He didn’t know, but Connor felt her presence like a physical thing.
He should talk to her. Explain why he’d walked out the way he had the night before. Just as he was pushing his chair back, Georgia and Tazzy sat down with her and slid a steaming mug toward Bliss.
