Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Abby told Hudson she would meet him at two on Saturday afternoon, but didn’t give him a reason as to why. She chose a hotel café near Sadie’s house, where the tables stood far enough apart for privacy without making her feel trapped.
Hudson agreed to the meeting before asking why she wanted to meet. The speed of his response made Abby wonder how long he had been waiting for any invitation he could treat as surrender.
Sadie drove her and parked across the street. She had objected to the café only because the rear exit opened into an alley, then walked through the building with Abby before conceding that the lobby offered three visible routes to the street.
“You don’t have to sit at the table with me,” Abby said as they stood beside the entrance. “I want him to understand that I’m telling him because he is the father, not because I’m looking to get back together.”
“I’ll sit near the counter.” Sadie looked through the glass doors, checking the room again. “If he raises his voice, I’m coming over.”
“That may make him louder.” Abby adjusted the strap of her bag against her shoulder. “He hates being corrected in public.”
“Then he can embarrass himself in a better hotel than the last one.” Sadie held the door open for her. “At least this lobby has witnesses.”
Abby almost smiled, but the ultrasound envelope inside her bag pressed against her hip and kept the moment from reaching her face. She followed Sadie into the café.
Hudson was already seated when they entered. He wore a navy suit without a tie, and the bruise around his mouth had faded enough that only a thin mark remained along his lower lip.
His eyes moved immediately to Sadie. Irritation appeared before he rose, but he replaced it with a restrained smile as Abby approached.
“I didn’t realize we needed a chaperone,” he said as he looked beyond Abby toward the table Sadie selected. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
“We are going to talk.” Abby placed her bag on the chair beside her and sat across from him. “Sadie is having coffee.”
Hudson lowered himself into the opposite chair. His attention moved over Abby’s face and clothes, searching for some visible explanation for the meeting.
“You look better,” he said as he reached toward the menu. “I knew a few weeks away from the situation would help.”
Abby watched him open the menu without asking how she felt. He had already transformed her silence into proof that his assessment had been correct.
“I didn’t ask you here to discuss the engagement,” she said. “My decision hasn’t changed.”
Hudson’s hand stopped against the page. “Then why are we here?”
A server approached before Abby could answer. Hudson ordered sparkling water for the table and coffee for himself, then looked at Abby as if expecting her usual.
“Nothing for me, I won’t be staying long,” she told the server. “Thank you.”
Hudson waited until the man walked away. “You need to eat something.”
The instruction struck differently now that Abby knew about the baby. For an instant, she heard concern in it, but Hudson had been commenting on her meals long before either of them knew she was pregnant.
“I’ve eaten,” she said as she kept both hands beneath the table. “I asked you here because I need to say something and I need you to listen without interrupting.”
“That depends on what you say.” He leaned back, watching her with an expression of cautious patience. “I’m not agreeing to sit silently while you repeat accusations Sadie or Evan gave you.”
Abby felt the first rise of anger and let it pass. “I’m pregnant.”
Hudson stared at her. The café continued around them—the scrape of a chair, the hiss of the espresso machine, a burst of laughter from the lobby—but his face remained completely still.
“What?” he asked after several seconds.
“I’m ten weeks pregnant.” Abby took the ultrasound envelope from her bag but kept it beneath her hand. “The doctor confirmed it yesterday. The pregnancy appears healthy.”
His eyes dropped to the envelope, then moved to Abby’s stomach. The attention felt invasive despite the table between them.
“Ten weeks,” he repeated as he calculated.
“Yes.” Abby kept her answer brief because the date required no further explanation. “The doctor was certain.”
Hudson released a breath and covered his mouth with one hand. Abby waited for shock to soften him, for concern to replace calculation, or for any sign that he understood how frightened she had been.
Instead, he began to smile. Relief brightened his face as though the pregnancy had resolved a problem he expected Abby to solve.
“I knew we weren’t finished.” He lowered his hand and reached across the table. “Abby, this changes everything.”
She moved her hand before he could cover it. “It changes the fact that we’re going to have a child. It does not restore our relationship.”
“You don’t have to keep saying that.” His smile held, though impatience tightened its edges. “You’ve made your point. I understand why you needed to punish me before you could move forward.”
“I wasn’t punishing you.” Abby drew her hand into her lap. “I left because the relationship was over.”
“You canceled the wedding, moved out, and refused to answer me for three weeks.” Hudson glanced toward Sadie. “You have made sure everyone knows how angry you are.”
“I ended the relationship because you had an affair.” Abby kept her voice low enough that the nearby tables could not hear. “That remains the reason.”
“And now we have a reason to handle this like adults.” He lowered his voice as though offering the privacy of reason. “A child should not be born into this chaos just because you’re unwilling to forgive one mistake.”
The server returned with the water and coffee. Hudson thanked him, waited until he left, then poured sparkling water into both glasses despite Abby saying she did not want anything.
“It’s eighteen months of mistakes.” Abby said. “You keep trying to condense it into one.”
“The number doesn’t matter anymore.” Hudson pushed one glass toward her. “We need to discuss the practical decisions.”
“That is why I came.” Abby watched him settle into the conversation as if he had regained control of it. “We need practical boundaries.”
“Good.” Relief entered his expression as he mistook agreement for compliance. “You’ll come back to the apartment this week. We can convert the guest room into a nursery, although I’d prefer we buy something larger before the baby arrives.”
Abby looked at him. “I am not moving back.”
“You cannot raise an infant in Sadie’s guest room.” Hudson dismissed the possibility with a turn of his hand. “That was never meant to be permanent.”
“I’m finding an apartment.” Abby held his gaze. “I’ve already started looking.”
“You won’t sign a lease without speaking to me.
” Hudson said it automatically, as if their separation had no effect on his authority over her finances.
“Anything nice enough will be too expensive on your salary alone, and I’m not having my child raised in some marginal neighborhood because you need to prove a point. ”
“I can support myself.” Abby pushed the untouched water aside. “I have supported myself for years.”
“This isn’t only about you.” He picked up his coffee and immediately set it down again. “My parents will expect the baby to have access to the life our family can provide.”
“Your parents do not need to know yet.” Abby watched surprise disturb his face. “I wanted to decide how to tell them.”
Hudson looked surprised by the restriction. “They’re the baby’s grandparents.”
“I wanted to tell you first. I haven’t decided when or how to tell anyone else.”
“Sadie knows.” Hudson glanced toward the counter again. “You trusted her with this before me.”
“She was with me when I found out.” Abby refused the guilt contained in his observation. “I needed my sister.”
“Evan?” Hudson’s expression sharpened around the name. “Did you tell him too?”
“I haven’t told him.” Abby had no intention of discussing when that would change. “You are the first person I told after Sadie.”
Hudson relaxed slightly. “Good. There is no reason for him to know anything about our child.”
“He is my friend.” Abby kept both hands beneath the table. “I will tell him when I’m ready.”
“He is a man who assaulted the baby’s father and has been using your vulnerability to interfere in our family.” Hudson leaned forward, lowering his voice again. “Whatever fantasy you’ve built around him ends now.”
Abby thought of the diner, the hardware store, and the quiet distance Evan maintained whenever she needed room. Hudson could not imagine care without a claim attached to it.
“You don’t decide who my friends are,” she said. “You also don’t get to use the baby to resume making decisions for me.”
“The baby is ours.” Hudson placed his palm against the table between them. “You cannot make decisions about his future as though I’m irrelevant.”
“Yes. The baby is ours.” Abby forced the words past the fear they awakened. “My body and my home remain mine.”
Hudson’s expression hardened. “You’re already trying to keep my child from me.”
“I told you about the pregnancy less than five minutes ago.” Abby glanced at the clock above the counter. “and you have already accused me of excluding you. Not off to a good start.”
“And every sentence since then has been about how you plan to cut me out of my child’s life.” He said the words with contempt, as though Abby had erected obstacles for pleasure. “You came prepared to exclude me before I had a chance to react.”
“Your reaction was to tell me where I would live.” Abby watched his face harden. “You never asked what I wanted.”
“Because you clearly haven’t thought this through.” He gestured toward the envelope. “You went to an appointment without me. You heard my child’s heartbeat, and I didn’t even know the child existed.”
The accusation found the guilt he intended it to find. Abby had watched the screen with Sadie while Hudson remained unaware that he was going to become a father.