Brynnon’s eyes fell on the small, broken heart covering his own. Grant prayed she couldn’t see how hard it was beating as he wondered what the hell to say next.
“Is that for your mom, too?” she asked, slowly tracing the dark, jagged edges.
His chest tightened. Part of him knew he’d have to talk about it at some point, but he’d always assumed it would be with one of the guys.She should know.
The tiny voice was right. If he had any thoughts at all about starting an actual relationship with this woman, she needed to know the truth.
“It’s for my son.”
A set of wide eyes shot to his. “You have ason?”
“Would have.”
Understanding sadness washed over her. “You lost him.”
No, he was fucking ripped away.“In a manner of speaking.”
She hesitated before asking, “What happened?”
The pressure in his chest increased, but soon Grant heard himself sharing the whole, twisted story.
“You asked me once if I’d ever been married. I haven’t, but I came close once. About nine years ago.”
Grant became focused on a lock of hair brushing against his skin. Taking it between his thumb and forefinger, he concentrated on that. Brynnon stayed quiet, giving him the time he needed to get through this.
“Her name was Baylee. I met her two years before I left the Teams. She was the only serious relationship I’ve ever been in.”Biggest mistake of my life.“We’d been dating about eight months when I asked her to move in with me. She’d just started law school, and I was making enough, so I told her I’d cover the expenses so she could focus on her schoolwork.”
“That was nice of you.”
“I was an idiot.”
With a scowl, Brynnon asked, “Why do you say that?”
Grant filled his lungs before letting the air out slowly. “I’d planned to propose on our year anniversary. The week before, our team was granted an unexpected leave. I didn’t tell Baylee. Thought it would be fun to surprise her. Turns out, the surprise was on me.”
He pressed his lips together, the anger he still felt towards the other woman very much present. “I walked into the house we were renting and found it empty. Furniture, dishes...even the fucking toilet paper was gone.”
Brynnon’s jaw dropped again. “You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was.”
“What a bitch.”
A low chuckle escaped from his chest. “You have no idea.”
“Did she at least leave a note or something explaining why she left?”
“Oh, she left a note. Along with a pile of bills she’d racked up while I was off busting my ass, including two credit cards she’d opened in my name and then maxed out.”
“That’s horrible.” Brynnon shook her head. “What did the note say?”
“That she wasn’t cut out to be a military wife after all. Or, a mother. That part confused me. She was on the pill and in school and I was always gone, so we figured we’d wait a while. It wasn’t until a different bill came to the house with her name on it that I understood what she meant. It was from a women’s clinic located a couple towns over.” Grant swallowed against the painful knot in his throat.
“She had an abortion,” Brynnon whispered the words he couldn’t bear to say out loud.
He nodded, blinking away the moisture suddenly forming in his eyes. “I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I drove straight to the clinic, expecting them to slam the door in my face, but Baylee had put me down as her emergency contact and had initialed the box stating they could share her information. I don’t think she really cared if I found out after the fact, because she knew she’d already be gone.” His jaw clenched. “Anyway, they told me everything.”
Pausing, Grant gave himself a moment to regroup before continuing on. “She was about ten weeks along, which meant she got pregnant shortly after we moved in together. She’d gotten sick the week before we moved in, and the doctors had prescribed some antibiotics. Apparently, they can affect the strength with which certain birth controls work.” He shook his head. “The doctor I spoke to said he was required to do detailed lab work prior to the procedure, in case anything concerning came back. That’s how he knew it was a boy.”
