But he already knew the truth.Had suspected that first time she’d puked, and then her puking again when news came of Sam’s death.She just wasn’t the fainting or puking kind of girl.
Not his Jenna.
She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.Then she reached up, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw.Her fingers on his skin felt like forgiveness.It was gentle, warm, and more intimate than anything they’d just shared.
She smiled.It was wobbly.But she smiled.That was a good sign.
“Not you, silly.”
“I know,” he replied.
“Nick told you?I asked him not to,” she said softly.
“Nick knows?Man, he kept your secret.Never said a word to me.Huh, he’s like a damned bank vault.I just suspected with you passing out and puking and when my palms swept over your abdomen and I felt the smallest little bump, I just knew.”
“Oh Axel, I’ll understand if you don’t want me.Don’t want me and the baby.”
Something fierce and protective surged through him.It was a certainty he hadn’t expected but felt down to his bones.He exhaled shakily, his forehead resting against hers.The tremor in her voice gutted him.She truly believed she could be unwanted, and that thought alone made his chest ache.
“Oh baby doll.I don’t deserve you.But you know me better than that.This baby is a part of you.This baby is ours.Of course I want the little pea.Oh, sorry, he or she is bigger than a pea.Maybe the size of a lemon?A peach?”
She gave him a wobbly smile.
“You don’t hate me?”Her big blue eyes were staring at him like he was some kind of god.
The question stunned him.Hate her?She was the one bright thing he’d ever had, the one person who’d believed in him when he didn’t believe in himself.She was pregnant and she was distraught.Of course she’d say things like that.She knew him better than this.
“Hey, I could never hate you.And I’m still here, aren’t I,” he replied with a low chuckle.Those words were the only reassurance he could come up with at the moment.
Jenna was pregnant.Hearing it out loud, just made it feel real.
Wow.A baby.
Jenna was going to have a baby.They were going to have a baby.
He was going to be a father.A dad to a little kid.
Oh boy.
This was going to take some time for him to wrap his head around being a dad.It was always something he’d wanted.Never had he imagined he would become one in this way.And with one foot still in prison, so to speak.
That his kid would know he was a felon, didn’t sit right, but despite that, he couldn’t help but smile as he began thinking about showing his kid, girl or boy, how to change the spark plugs, oil filter and oil on the tractor or the truck.Teach the kid how to cook and bake.Take him or her fishing.Teach them not to pull on the dog’s tail or her ears.
The images came unbidden.Small hands, curious eyes, teaching, guiding and for the first time in years, the future didn’t feel like a threat.
Oh wow, this was going to be so cool.
“Yeah.You’re here now,”Jenna breathed.
She was tired.He could hear it in her voice.Could feel it in the way her body was relaxing.Her breathing was softening against his chest, and a warmth spread through him.It was a quiet, fragile peace he hadn’t felt in over a decade.
And God help him, if he got sent back to prison, he knew he would die this time around without Jenna and their little baby.He pushed that gut-wrenching fear aside.He wanted that fragile peace growing inside of him.Wanted it to stay.He listened to her breathing allowing it to wash over him like a lullaby.
Soft, gentle.Slow.Peaceful.
The storm was easing.The thunder grew more distant, and the rain was tapering off to a soft patter against the roof.He could hear the soft neighs from a couple of horses from the stable area.
They didn’t say anything anymore and her breaths became a slow, steady rhythm.She was asleep.
