Chapter Twenty
Laurie
I held my breath, waiting for the impending explosion I could see building within him. The steam was all but pouring from his ears as he quite literally began to tremble and almost shake violently.
“Uh.” I took several steps backward, my worry growing as Rip continued to say nothing.
He was between the door and me, preventing any sort of easy exit if he grew violent or angry at the news. Eb was probably nearby, but I wasn’t sure if he could get there in time if Rip came for me. I would have to defend myself, and—
“WHOO!” Rip exclaimed, pumping fists in the air and bellowing at the top of his lungs. “I’M GOING TO BE A FATHER!”
The entire room reverberated as he whooped and hollered, jumping around, grinning like a maniac, and smashing the air with his fists over and over again. I watched it all go, a smile tugging at the corners of my face as I expelled the anxiety that had been building within me.
At that moment, Eb burst through the door, alert and ready to take action. Once he saw nothing was wrong, he relaxed and leaned against the doorframe.
“Don’t say it,” I said, lifting a finger to point at the older man. “I can see it on your face, just don’t.”
Eb, however, wasn’t deterred. “I told you it would be okay.”
I sighed, but there was a burble of laughter to it. “Okay, okay. You were right. There, fine.”
Rip had stopped his celebrations to look back and forth between us in a mixture of suspicion and confusion.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “What am I missing?”
“Nothing,” I said, waving it off, not wanting to explain my fear of his potential reaction.
Rip, however, wasn’t entirely convinced. “Is this a joke? Are you two playing some sort of prank on me?”
I crossed my arms. “Why would I go through all of this just to be like, ‘Ha! Gotcha!’ or something like that, Rip? I didn’t want to see you again after you tricked me. No, this is real. I am pregnant.”
Some of his joy waned at my reminder of our first encounter, but not much. The goofy grin returned in a flash, and he jumped around again a few more times, shouting, “Yes!”
Then he stopped so abruptly I worried he’d hurt himself. A look of trepidation flickered across his green eyes, the first time I could recall him ever not appearing completely comfortable with a situation.
“I don’t want to seem … indelicate,” he said, tiptoeing around his question. “But you did have a fiancé. Before me. Could it be …”
“No,” I said confidently. “It could not. I hadn’t seen him for close to a month, and the last time we were together, I was still on birth control. You’re the only one since, so, by process of elimination, that makes you the father.”
“I’m the father,” he whispered elatedly. “I’m going to be a dad.”
“Yep. And I’m going to be the mom,” I said.
“You’re positive?” he asked, still in one stage or another of disbelief.
“Yeah,” I said, biting my lip. “It’s been a few weeks. I missed my period, and since we didn’t use protection, ‘cause I’m an idiot, and I wasn’t on anything—”
Rip was waving that away. “Yes, I know how it works. I’m not upset. I just want to make sure you know and that this isn’t just some sort of feeling or hunch or your period being late.”
“My period is late,” I said. “That’s the feeling that started it all. Three pregnancy tests later, over two days, and that’s how I knew.”
“Okay,” he said. “Just wanted to be sure.”
“It’s as sure as I can be at this stage,” I told him. “I haven’t been to a doctor yet, or anything like that, so no ‘medical’ confirmation, but I’m as sure as I can be.”
“A father,” he said mostly to himself.
“It’s still early,” I warned, feeling bad about pouring cold water on his elation. “Anything could happen still. These things aren’t guaranteed, okay? Lots can go wrong. There’s even a chance it could be some false positives. I just felt I had to tell you based on the evidence.”
Rip grinned, picking up Eb and slapping him on the back. “I’m going to be a father, Eb! A daddy!”
The older man just laughed and hugged him back.
The mood lightened considerably but then cooled just as fast as Rip put Eb down and focused on me.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’ve been celebrating over here, and I haven’t spent a single second asking about you. How are you doing? Are you happy? Do you want to keep it?”
“Everyone keeps asking me that,” I said, wishing they would stop.
“I know it’s not conventional. That we’re not in any sort of relationship and we barely know each other, but I really don’t care.
I’ve wanted to be a mother for years. If this is the way it’s going to happen, then this is the way it’s going to happen, I guess.
Did I envision being married and in a long-term relationship first?
Yes. But I’m not going to turn this miracle away.
Especially when life has privileged me in such a way that I can give it a good upbringing. No, I’m keeping it.”
As I spoke, I rubbed my stomach. I knew it wasn’t sentient in any way yet, but I still wanted it to know it was loved. That my baby was loved.
“Okay,” Rip said, not bothering to hide his relief. “So, what now?”
“What do you mean? Baby is going to grow, and then I’ll have it.”
“I meant about us,” Rip said. “You made it fairly clear the last time I saw you that you wanted nothing to do with me. That you weren’t interested in anything.”
I frowned at Rip. It was true, I had said that, and in my mind, I’d figured it was probably the best for both of us. That entire day had been a clusterfuck of everything and anything. Moving on had seemed easiest. But the way he spoke …
“Are you interested?” I asked.
“Very much,” he said with a seriousness that surprised me.
How could he be that interested when we’d never had any normal interactions? It didn’t make much in the way of sense to me, at least.
“But you don’t know me,” I said, deciding to point that out.
Rip’s jaw worked several times, as he worked through his thoughts.
“I’d like to,” he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Very much. That is, of course, if you’re up for it.”
“I actually hadn’t considered that part,” I admitted.
Rip glanced at the clock on the wall. “Well, I know it’s a bit early, but how would you feel about letting me take you to dinner?”
“Like a date?” I asked, wondering why my heart was suddenly fluttering wildly.
“Not ‘like’ a date,” Rip said. “But actually a date. You and me. First date.”
I mulled it over.
A first date? I was only a few weeks out of a truly serious long-term relationship. Was my mind really back in the space to date again? It had been so long since I’d experienced that phase of things. Did I know how to flirt and such? More importantly, did I want to do that with Rip?
Looking at him, I couldn’t deny my attraction. Not just physical, either. While my mind had been preoccupied with telling him about the pregnancy, I hadn’t entirely been able to ignore my memories of how I’d gotten pregnant.
As I’d told Mel, he was good. Really, really good. A large part of me wouldn’t mind experiencing that again.
Bonus, you can’t get pregnant this time.
I snorted, unable to stop myself.
“What?” Rip asked, looking slightly wounded.
“Oh, no,” I said, waving both my hands. “That wasn’t about you. Just a stray humorous thought. I promise.”
He didn’t seem overly convinced, but he didn’t push it.
“Okay, fine, one date,” I said, caving and giving the answer I’d been leaning toward the entire time.
Rip grinned, and my heart added a beat. Or skipped one. I wasn’t too sure. I was too busy trying to figure out if it was a good idea or a really, really, really bad one.
I never did come up with an answer.