“I don’t know.” Somewhere in the car ride, Maya had found her voice. Angry tears welled up in her eyes. “I love him. He loves me.”
Her mother shook her head, her voice full of hostility. “You know that means nothing,” she said. “He will not stay around and take care of you or this child. And do you really want him to? Never knowing if he stayed for you or out of a sense of duty?”
Sunita reached for Maya’s hand, pity suddenly in her eyes. “Your father left us with nothing. You know this. You cannot depend on a man—only yourself.”
“No, Mum. Sam is different,” Maya beseeched her mother. “He really loves me. I know it.”
“You don’t think your father loved me?” Her mother dropped her hand, her nostrils flaring, her eyes hard. “We ran away together. Left the country! Left our parents, our families!” She leaned toward her daughter. “All so that we could be together. That was love.” Her voice turned bitter. “And look how that ended.”
Maya watched a young woman walk by the coffee shop. She was laughing, and her eyes lit up as a young man approached and kissed her. Was it only yesterday that Maya had felt that carefree, that light? An image of Bridget’s frightened face flashed through her mind. Was that how she looked like, now? Frightened? And exactly how many other girls were there, right now, who had this same problem?
Her mother gently turned Maya’s gaze back to her. “Unreliable, Maya. Men are unreliable.” She sighed, her eyes pained from a lifetime of living with the knowledge that her love was not good enough, and worried that her daughter would suffer the same fate. “Maya, honey. At least if you don’t tell him, he can’t abandon your child, the way your father abandoned you.”
SAMSUGGESTEDApicnic dinner in the park that very night. It was just as good a place to tell him about the baby as any. Her mother was wrong. Sam would stand by her, she was sure. Mostly.
She pulled into the parking lot as Sam had instructed. He had been very specific about where she should park. The evening was warm and sticky, a typical August day in Maryland. She paced the sidewalk, allowing the scent of the lake to calm her while she waited for him. She wanted this baby, no matter that it wasn’t part of the plan. There had to be a way to make it work.
She paced a few more minutes and checked her watch. It wasn’t like Sam to be this late—or even late at all. She walked a bit farther around the parking lot, and sure enough, the powder blue Honda Civic was there. But no Sam. Puzzled, she looked around, and wandered down the path that circled around the lake.
She heard them before she saw them. Hushed voices, Sam’s deep voice low and agitated, Bridget’s high-pitched and urgent.
Maya froze. What were they doing here? Sam did not look happy; he actually looked angry. Before she could decide whether to interrupt them or wait by the car, Sam’s gaze landed on her, almost as if he could sense her presence. He looked relieved to see her, but did she see guilt flash across his face?
He turned back to Bridget, and shook his head. She turned and upon seeing Maya, she grabbed her bag and turned on her heel, stomping away from Sam and toward Maya. She paused as she passed Maya to shake her head at her, and Maya could see that she had been crying. What was happening? Had Bridget gotten the results of her test?
Before Maya could speak, Bridget continued walking away from her, and Sam came to stand by her. Maya was watching Bridget disappear around the corner when she felt Sam’s lips on her cheek. She leaned into him, as much from habit as for comfort. It had only taken one season to get used to him.
“Hey.” He wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey.” She let herself melt into him for a moment, inhaling the clean, masculine scent of him as she turned to face him. His hair was slightly damp from his shower, his face smooth from a recent shave. “What was that all about?”
“Just drama. Don’t worry about it.” Sam’s lips were soft and gentle when they touched her own, and her eyes filled with tears at how much she loved him. She deepened their kiss and Sam responded in kind by pulling her into him, until finally he pulled away, laughing. “We may need to get a room.”
“Was that about the pregnancy?”
His eyes darkened as he glanced in the direction that Bridget had stomped away from them. In the next instant, his brown eyes filled with amusement. “Maya, I did not invite you out here to talk about Bridget.” He bit his bottom lip and looked her in the eye. “She found me waiting for you—and I promise I will tell you all about it, but right now, I have dinner.” He enthusiastically produced a basket, grabbed her hand and led the way. Sounds of children playing and the scents of lake water and sunscreen filled the air as Sam searched for a spot of grass worthy of their dinner. He stopped at a small clearing with a few trees for shade that opened with a breathtaking view of the sunset over the lake. “I’ve been waiting for this all day.”
All signs of the fact that Bridget had been here were gone from him, and he was completely focused on her. But Maya couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up.
Dinner consisted ofdhokla, an Indian lentil cake, steamed and served with sweet and spicy chutneys, as well as fruit and wine. Maya offered to help lay it out, but Sam wouldn’t have it. She stood while he worked and stifled the urge to tap her foot nervously. Once he seemed finished, she prepared to sit.
“No.” Sam held her hands. “Don’t sit. Not yet.” Maya raised her eyebrows at him, but remained standing. “Close your eyes.”
“Sam, really?” Maya was getting irritated with his games. She needed to talk to him.
“Come on, Maya.” Sam was insistent. “Just one minute, I promise.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She closed her eyes. He seemed to walk away and return.
“Okay. Open them.”
Maya opened her eyes to find Sam down on one knee. Her hands flew to her belly and her breath caught. He had a small box in his hand and his dimple was in full display. “So, Maya.” Amusement and the sun added a golden spark to his normally melty brown eyes. “Heads, we get married. Tails, we break up.” He opened the box to reveal the small coin sitting where a ring should be.
Maya’s heart began to race, and then her blood began to boil, even as she felt it drain from her head. She had just seen his ex-girlfriend stomp off, crying, with no explanation from Sam. If Bridget was pregnant, too, they’d all be tied together forever, andthiswas how he planned their future? And who knew how many other girls there were? It was one thing to toss a coin to decide which movie to see, she thought, but marriage? If the coin turned up tails, they were supposed to break up?
“Is Bridget pregnant?” She spit the words out.
Sam’s eyes widened. “What?” Confusion took over his face. “What does that have to do with anything?”
