Four
Branwen
Present Day
Waiting on my phone to ring had my anxiety so ramped up that the knock on the door to our motel room caused me to jump up. Who was that? Housekeeping again? I’d sent them away two hours ago.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Stevie asked, her angelic face turned up to look at me from where she sat cross-legged in the middle of the double bed we had slept on last night while watching cartoons on the television.
She had thought staying the night in a motel was an adventure. Yesterday, we had gotten the supplies to make sandwiches and eaten them down at a park I’d found. Stevie took a slice of bread and tore off small pieces to feed the ducks, giggling with delight as they waddled over to eat them. It had helped keep my mind off things and get through the rest of the day.
This morning we had only gone out once to get her some breakfast. One scrambled egg, a slice of buttered toast, and two strawberries—it was her favorite thing to eat in the mornings. Finding that hadn’t been too hard. The first diner we went into had all three items available. That made her happy. I’d only drunk coffee. My stomach was in knots, and eating was not appealing.
“Nothing. I was just startled,” I told her, patting her leg as I walked over to the door.
I unlocked it and didn’t even glance in the peephole, although I should have. I would have been prepared for the sight of Linc when I swung open the door. He was just as ridiculously sexy, powerful, and rugged as he had been yesterday.
“I thought you would just call,” I blurted out, not sure if his coming here was bad or not.
I was veering toward it being negative. There were no signed papers in his hands. That was definitely not good.
“There are a few things we need to discuss,” he replied. Then, his eyes flicked over me and into the room, where Stevie sat, probably watching us. “Might be best if she doesn’t hear this.”
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Did he know?
I mean, other than guessing, how could he know? He’d left me a morning-after pill. He wouldn’t ask if she was his. He didn’t want a kid. That had been very clearly stated in his short note. I was overreacting. That was all.
Maybe the divorce was going to cost money, and he wanted to tell me how much I had to pay. That could easily be it. Although I didn’t know where I was going to get the money without Hudson finding out about this. It would be tricky. I didn’t have any jewelry left to sell. I’d sold all of what Bastian had given me after finding out I was pregnant with Stevie and losing my job because of it. Not that they’d told me that was why I was let go.
They said that my position was no longer something they had a use for and gave me three months’ pay, then sent me on my way. That was a lie. I’d worked my ass off for that company, taking up slack in many other areas. They had needed me, but Bastian had hated that I was pregnant.
I turned back and looked at Stevie, who was watching us. She waved at Linc and smiled. Guilt crawled up my back, and I fought against it. I couldn’t feel guilty for protecting her. Giving her the life she deserved. Keeping her from one that would likely break both our hearts.
“Stevie, I need to have a chat with Mr. Shephard. I’ll just be right out here, okay?” I told her.
She nodded her head, then turned her attention back to the television. Seemed she wasn’t going to argue or pepper me with a million questions. Small miracles.
I closed the door and looked back at Linc. He wasn’t wearing the cowboy hat today, and his hair was still like it had been five years ago. Thick, wavy brown locks, brushed back in a messy yet perfectly styled look that I doubted he ever spent much time on. Just one more unfair advantage in his appearance. Even the tiny touches of silver in his beard were sexy. Damn him.
“Her name is Stevie?” he asked me. His hard edge had softened some.
I was afraid to look at him.
I nodded. “Yeah,” was all I said wanting him to stop asking about her.
“Odd name for a girl.”
His words said one thing, but his tone said another. He liked it, but then I had known he would. The drugs or the high of holding her in my arms the first time had made me sentimental.
“Not if you grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac,” I replied, then bit my tongue before saying any more. Too much, and he might connect the dots.
He didn’t need to remember. In Vegas, I had wanted him to, but not any longer.
“That was before your time.”
I lifted a shoulder and stared out at the parking lot instead of him. “I didn’t have a normal childhood.”
And that was all he was getting from me about that. The days of him singing “Gypsy” to me while ruffling my out-of-control curls, which my father had no idea how to manage, were long gone.
“Is she mine?” The three words came out hard, laced with accusation.
Lying to him, I found, was going to be more than difficult with his dark blue eyes lasered in on me. I swallowed, straightening my shoulders. I had Stevie’s future to think about. Her life and everything that was almost hers. The two-story house that Hudson lived in that would soon have a swing set in the backyard. The private school he was going to pay for and the security that when it came time for college, she would get the chance I never had. Hudson wanted her. Linc had not. I couldn’t hurt her by telling her that she did have a father, but he didn’t want her. He had given up any right to her when he left me that pill.
“She’s mine,” I finally said.
His eyes narrowed. “She’s not Jesus. There was no immaculate conception. Who is her father?” he snapped at me.
I took a deep breath. He would not intimidate me.
“I’ve never had a paternity test done,” I replied, leaving out there was no reason for a paternity test.
I had slept with three men in my life—Bastian, him, and Hudson. There was only one man it could have been; at that time, it had been a year since I’d slept with Bastian, and I hadn’t met Hudson yet.
His nostrils flared, and his eyes darkened with distaste. What? Did the idea that I might have slept with other men around the same time make me a bad person in his eyes? Hypocrite. His body count was in the hundreds or possibly thousands. Like he had the right to judge anyone.
“Then, I will require one before I sign anything.”
My flash of anger spun into dread. What would happen when he found out? How could I explain this to Hudson? I’d told him Stevie’s father was dead. Because to me, he was. I’d rationalized my lie to make it something I could sleep with at night.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed a number before holding it to his ear while his gaze bored into me like he wished he could grab me and toss me over the railing. When he knew the truth, he just might do that. Or worse. I shouldn’t have come here. This was a mistake. I could have found a way around this if I’d tried. Maybe an annulment. But he’d have had to be contacted for that too, right?
GOD! Why had I brought Stevie with me? If he had never seen her…
Sweat trickled down my back as I scrambled for a way to save this situation. Stop him from doing this. He didn’t want a child. Why was he so set on knowing if she was his?
“Burl.” His gravelly voice heightened my fear. “I need a paternity test done. I’m at the Madison Inn. Room 210.”
Who was Burl? Was he asking him to send a doctor or lab person here? To our room?
I wrung my hands in front of me. What would I tell Stevie? She thought her dad was dead too. I’d told her the same lie to protect her. I hadn’t wanted her to go looking for him one day and find…well, this. The man in front of me. The one who hadn’t wanted her.
Linc shoved his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. The fury in his gaze narrowed on me. “You’d better fucking pray she’s not mine.” The threat was the last thing he said before turning and walking away. Back toward the stairs.
I watched him go, wanting to ask, What if she is? What then?
He wouldn’t kill me, would he? My death wouldn’t change anything. Maybe I should run. He was leaving. We could go. Drive north and not look back. No. Hudson would send out a search party, and we’d be on the news. I couldn’t do that to Stevie. I wanted to give her a perfect life. The one I hadn’t gotten.
When he was gone from sight, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing before going back inside. I had to explain this to Stevie or prepare her that someone was coming to do…well, I wasn’t sure. I needed to google how a paternity test was done. If they were going to take her blood, then this was about to get dramatic. There were few things that Stevie hated more than needles.
Taking my phone, I quickly did a search on what to expect with a paternity test. Finding the answer, I sighed with some relief. He would just need to swab inside her cheek for a sample of her tissue. There would be no wailing from her. I could solely worry about my potential upcoming death.
I read the last text from Hudson. He was checking on us. Making sure we were doing okay and asking if I needed him. He was the first real security I’d had since…well, since my dad.
Once, I would have balked at marrying a man who didn’t give me butterflies at the sight of him. But that had all been before Vegas. That night had changed me. I’d woken up the following two months. Realized that love wasn’t tingles and flutters in your stomach. That was silliness that the little girl in me had had to grow up and move on from.
Love was being safe. Knowing you were wanted. Love was being comfortable. It wasn’t about hot sex and multiple orgasms. It was having someone to raise your child with, build a life with, and grow old with. Not worrying that you’d lose them or that they would leave you.
When Hudson looked at me, it was as if he saw no one else. I was it for him. He wanted to be my safe place and Stevie’s father.
I could lose it all. Linc Shephard was about to blow up my carefully laid plans.
Since my first day of working as a dental hygienist for Hudson, I’d seen a future for me and Stevie. He couldn’t take his eyes off me. Finding reasons to have me in the room with him. Seeking me out to talk about the simplest things. Then, he asked me to dinner. It escalated from there. Within a month, we had started dating exclusively. Before him, I hadn’t dated since Bastian. Being a single mom made it hard, and having to work and go to school for my dental hygiene degree was enough time away from Stevie. I hadn’t wanted to add to it by bringing a man into our lives.
Hudson had been the perfect fit. He took me and Stevie on dates. We became a family—or the closest thing to one that we could be.
But my lies were all coming back to haunt me now, and I was pressed into a corner.
Tears stung my eyes, and I fought off the need to cry. I was going to let Stevie down in more ways than one today, and it was all my fault.