Chapter 67
CHAPTER 67
BETH
“A re you okay? Are you hurt?” Martin asks full of worry as he speeds down the long driveway leading away from the Gray mansion.
“I–I–I think so? I might have a small bruise,” I admit as I touch the sore spot on my arm where Nolan grabbed and yanked me out of my seat, nearly dragging me across the room. He didn’t get to do that last bit because Martin saved me. “Are you going to get in trouble for that?”
“Absolutely, I will,” he admits without hesitation as I put on my seatbelt.
“Was he about to hurt me?” I ask, hating how meek my voice sounds.
The car is silent for a while before… “Do you want the hard truth, or do you want me to sugarcoat it?”
“Hard truth.” My words crack as I fix my sleeves back into place.
“Yes, he was going to hurt you…really fucking badly.”
My heart hammers and rattles around in my chest as I try my hardest to calm my breathing. “Thank you.”
Silence deadens the air as he yanks his wheel to the right, turning onto a back road leading to the central part of Grove Hill.
“You shouldn’t go against what he says. It’s a lot less painful if you go with the flow. He knows what he says is law, and he will hurt you if you go against it. The last thing I want is for him to hurt you, Beth.”
Martin just saved me from his father even though he’s still mad at me. He put himself in harm’s way to protect me and I’m still harboring a secret from him.
No more.
No more lies.
“I need to tell you something, but you can’t tell anyone. I mean, not a soul. It doesn’t leave this car.”
His head snaps to me, confused, before he looks back out at the road. “Shoot. Your secret is safe with me. You know that.”
I take a deep breath before I speak it into existence. “I’m pregnant.”
He jumps the gas before settling back at his normal speed. His eyes widen and he looks pale. Martin speeds into a gas station and parks at the pump before turning to face me.
“What? What did you say because I could’ve sworn you said you were pregnant?”
“I…did. I mean, I am. A blood test, ultrasound, and a very incompetent obstetrics specialist confirmed it.”
He just blinks over and over as he stares at me, not saying anything, like he’s waiting for me to say something else.
Then, he opens his mouth. “Is it…mine?” he asks, his words choked up.
It probably seems strange that he went through this with Casey a few weeks ago and now we’re having a similar conversation, but he isn’t flipping out on me about it. Is that simple because he has romantic feelings for me and he didn’t feel that way about her?
“No,” I admit. “The doctor said I conceived seven weeks ago so it’s a toss up if the father is Oliver or…Nigel.” I frown while pressing my hand to my lower stomach. “I don’t know what to do, honestly. I’ve just been ignoring it, like that would just make the situation go away. I’m waiting on a paternity test to make a decision on what I’m doing.”
“What do you mean by make a decision?” he presses as he reaches across the car and presses his hand over mine. The single move makes me relax.
“Whether or not I terminate the pregnancy,” I admit.
His eyebrows fly to his hairline, but I don’t give him the chance to say anything.
“I can’t have a baby with Nigel. After everything that has happened, I don’t think he would be a good father and…I just can’t.”
Martin wraps his arms around me like a security blanket and I melt into his side. “We’ll figure this out, okay?” I nod against his shoulder before sighing.
“I’m scared,” I admit.
“I know. Me, too, but we’ll get through this. I won’t sugar coat it…This is really bad. The best thing you could do to have the least amount of issues would be to terminate the pregnancy. I know that sucks, but my father won’t let you keep it. He’d rather kill you than let that happen. Doesn’t matter if the baby is mine, O’Reilly’s, or my cousin’s. He’ll kill it just to hurt you.”
“Because hurting me hurts you?”
“Yeah.” He runs his fingers through my hair as tears collect in my eyes. I hate this, but at least I have Martin here.
“I don’t think I can do that if it’s not Nigel’s.”
“Okay, then we’ll deal with everything else. We’ve got this. I’m here.”
I cling to him as tears fill my eyes. “Aren’t you still mad at me though?” My bottom lip trembles as he runs his fingers through my hair.
“I can be upset with you and accept that you need support. This is bigger than our problems.”
He’s got that right. This is beyond any issues we have. It’s an ugly, nasty fight that we have to face sooner or later.
* * *
Martin brought me back to my hotel. I offered to let him hang around for a bit to avoid whatever his father was going to do to him for getting me out of there, but all he said was, “I’ve got this” before he left.
It was an early dinner, so it’s still light outside when I slip off my heels, massaging my feet. My phone buzzes on the bed beside me. I’m fully prepared to ignore Oliver’s call like I have every other time, just like he did to me, but when I look at the screen, a number flashes across it that isn’t saved in my phone. Narrowing my eyes in confusion, I pick it up, answering the call.
“Hello?”
“Good evening, Miss Mercer. This is Dr. Marsh from North Houston Obstetrics. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
It’s my OBGYN.
“Oh, no. You’re not interrupting. How can I help you?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level.
“I’m calling because the N.I.P.P. results came back earlier than I anticipated, which isn’t a bad thing.”
My eyes widen, and my heart hammers between my spine and my ribs as my hand falls to my lower abdomen.
The N.I.P.P. results.
The paternity test.
“It wasn’t a match, right?” I knew that would be a more likely event than not. Ollie and I only had sex three times over a day and a half of the week that I would’ve conceived. That just means I need to try to mentally prepare myself for terminating this pregnancy.
“Actually, that would be an incorrect assumption, Miss Mercer.”
The muscle beating in my chest completely stops. “Come again?”
“The gentleman who gave his DNA sample, Mr. Oliver Doyle, is a match. These tests have a ninety-nine point nine percent accuracy, which means that there would be a one in a million chance that the biological father of your unborn child would be anyone other than Mr. Doyle.”
The baby…isn’t Nigel’s after all. This baby belongs to Ollie.
My head spins from the revelation as I grip the edge of the bed. Then, relief washes through my body.
“Thank you, Dr. Marsh. I really appreciate you letting me know at your earliest convenience. I’ll see you on Monday.” Quickly afterward, I hang up and stare down at my phone in complete shock.
Ollie is the father of my baby. Oliver was right there, holding my hand, as we watched our baby come on the screen for the first time…together.
We’re in this together.
I grimace from the words he said not that long ago. I believed them then, but he abandoned me and this baby. He left and broke my already fragile heart in the most disrespectful rejection I’ve ever experienced. He left me to deal with all these emotions and this turmoil by myself while he was doing god knows what.
He didn’t even explain. He just…ignored the problem like it would fix itself.
Even though I’m still angry, hurt, and feeling petty as fuck after what I’ve been through tonight, I know Oliver deserves to know the paternity results.
After giving myself a decent pep talk, I call myself a cab before shooting off a text to Oliver.
Bethany:
We need to talk. Meet me at the Waffle House.