Chapter 3 #2
“I’m pregnant,” she said. “You’re the father.
There’s no one else it could be,” she tacked on, in case he intended to argue with her on that score.
Unlike Raf, who’d clearly wasted no time filling his bed with women like the stunning brunette, Elodie had not done a repeat performance of that night.
If anything, she’d turned up to every shift in the bar half-wondering if Raf might come back again. But he hadn’t.
She’d expected him to be surprised. Of course she had. Elodie had run the gamut of those emotions herself; it was only reasonable.
But she hadn’t expected the visceral reaction of seeing all the colour drain from his face, and for his body to half slump to the wall beside him, as if needing its support.
“Obviously, it wasn’t planned,” she said, haltingly. “I was on the pill. We used a condom. It shouldn’t have happened. But I took three different tests to be sure. I’m pregnant.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said, the words quiet and deafening all at once. “It’s not possible.”
“It shouldn’t have been,” she agreed.
His nostrils flared. “I don’t believe you.”
She thought then of his tattoo, a statement in opposition to the entire idea of trust, and felt the reality of that slamming into her. He didn’t believe her, because he didn’t trust her. And never would?
“I wouldn’t make this kind of thing up.”
He cursed silently but looked dangerously pale beneath his tan. “You’re a waitress in a bar; I have more money than you can even dream of. Am I supposed to think you wouldn’t make up a pregnancy to get something out of me?”
She gasped at that, his accusation so vile and unwarranted that she saw stars of rage dance across her lids.
“I didn’t come here to ask you for anything,” she denied flatly, immediately rejecting even the idea of proposing a small amount of financial assistance.
She would do this on her own before she’d let him help, if that was his attitude.
“I just don’t think it’s right to have a baby and not tell the other parent.
But you don’t have to worry about us,” she said, hating that her voice quivered a little. “We’ll be just fine without you.”
She turned then, impossibly glad that he hadn’t acquiesced to her suggestion of going to the living room, because it meant she was right by the front door and could easily slip out. Away from him. Away from the mistaken idea that he would react in a way that was responsible and mature.
She turned, grief a bubble she wouldn’t let burst while she was still in his house.
She couldn’t. She was too proud to let him see how his words had cut her.
But before she could even reach the huge, dark timber door, his hand was around her wrist, pulling on it, so she stopped walking and spun, almost banging right into his chest. His face was still pale, but closer to his usual tan, and his chest was moving with each rapidly drawn breath.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“You’ve made your feelings perfectly clear,” she sniffed.
“You think you can waltz into my home and drop this kind of bombshell, then leave again?”
His nostrils flared, his features shifting into an expression she didn’t understand, and his accent was thicker in the flood of his emotions.
“I barely waltzed into your home. You gave me a couple of minutes in your entrance foyer,” she pointed out.
And then, because indignation had her going on the attack, she continued.
“I only came here because I thought it was right that you should know. I didn’t come to ask you for anything, I didn’t come because I expect you to roll up your sleeves and become some kind of super dad. ”
“Stop talking.” His eyes had closed, as though he was physically rejecting every word she said.
Elodie pulled on her wrist, releasing it from his grip.
But anger was still spiralling through her, so she had to fight the temptation to lift both palms and press them hard to his chest. “I am not going to have this conversation until we have the facts established.”
“I’ve told you the facts. I’m pregnant. You’re the second man I’ve ever slept with, the only man for several months. There is literally no one else who could be the father.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t sign up to a life of parenthood based on your claims alone.”
She gasped, his scathing treatment of her so totally unwarranted she wanted to punch him. The instinct terrified her. Elodie took another step towards the door.
“It’s not a ‘claim’, but the truth. I’m pregnant. If you don’t believe me, then that’s fine. I’ve done what I set out to do and told you about our baby.”
His skin blanched once more, and now he strode across the foyer, his huge body dwarfing hers.
“We are going to go to a hospital, where a doctor will confirm this. Once I have that confirmation, and only then, we can discuss…the situation.”
“You can go to a hospital and speak to as many doctors as you’d like,” she muttered. “I’ve peed on three sticks already today, and I’m pretty confident I’d recall sleeping with anyone else.”
His jaw shifted as he ground his teeth. “Be that as it may, given the particulars of our situation, you’ll forgive me for wanting an outside confirmation.”
“I don’t think I will forgive you, actually,” she responded tautly. “You have been nothing but condescending and rude to me since I arrived here today. If you think I would go to the hospital with you now, you need your head read.”
Surprise shifted on his face, then, ever so briefly, something like regret. But it was gone away again so quickly, she wondered if she’d imagined it.
“Then a doctor will come here,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “One way or another, I’m having this confirmed today.”
“You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that you’re somehow in charge of me.”
“If you are indeed pregnant with my child, that’s exactly how I see things.”
She stared at him with disbelief.
“If you are pregnant, and the baby is mine, then that baby—and by extension, you—are very much my responsibility.”
“What does that even mean?”
His eyes bore into hers. “There’s no sense having that conversation until we’ve got confirmation. Are you ready?”
Her lips parted. “I just told you, I’m not going with you.”
“And I told you, a doctor can come here. So, which is it?”
She shook her head. “You’re crazy. You’re…this is…”
He pressed a finger to her lips then, and despite the tenor of their conversation, sparks burst through her body.
“I’m the last man on earth you want as your enemy, Elodie.
Far better that you do as I say for now.
If you’re very, very lucky, this will turn out to be a mistake, and we never have to see each other again. Capisci?”
No, she didn’t understand. This was the very last way she could have predicted he would act. The very last way she’d imagined a man like Raf taking the news that he was going to be a father. “You sleep with women like sex is life. Are you really so surprised that this has happened?”
“I always, always take precautions, to make sure this outcome doesn’t eventuate.”
“Yeah, well, what can I tell you? Your precautions didn’t work, and neither did mine.” She felt his warm breath against her forehead and ignored the way a spark of desire ignited in her bloodstream. “We’re having a baby, Raf. But if you need proof, then fine. Let’s go get it for you.”