CHARLIE
After twenty minutes or so, he finally lost his patience and asked, “Anna, are you okay? What’s going on?”
She shuffled her feet and went on. “Was there… a reason you got cold right after?”
“Cold?” Of course, he knew what she meant, but he was stunned and he needed time to think. Asking for clarification would give him a moment to sort out what he was dealing with.
He shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”
She went on. “I was so confused. I talked to a friend who told me this sort of thing has happened to her lots of times. She said most guys, they just disappear after they get what they want. Got me thinking you would have ghosted me if I hadn’t been on your property every day.”
Anger rose up in Charlie when he heard that. “Firstly, I don’t know what you mean by ghosted, but I don’t abandon people after I supposedly ‘get what I want,’ especially not women. Okay? I would never do that, not to you or anyone else.”
She clenched her teeth and lost a little more height as her posture changed. “Then why? Why would you treat me like that?”
“I was protecting myself,” he said, showing his palms in surrender.
“I felt…” Now it was his turn to stumble over his words.
He was about to admit something that made him incredibly vulnerable.
“I don’t usually get attached to people easily, but I felt myself getting attached to you.
” He paused and corrected himself. “That’s an understatement.
Listen, I know you have a whole life, and I don’t want to get in the way of it, so I stepped back.
I’m only telling you this so you don’t feel I’m guilting you when I tell you that I…
had started having strong feelings. I was falling for you,” he finally admitted.
“I felt like I was falling for you, and I knew you were going to leave, so I… tried to stop it.”
“You tried to stop me from leaving by ignoring me?” She crossed her arms and glared up at him. What a monumental misunderstanding!
“No, no. Not that. I tried to stop myself from getting attached, from falling in love with you, because you have a life outside this town, a big life you shouldn’t be forced to give up.
” He chuckled at himself a little. “I don’t often get attached to people, but when I do, I don’t ever let them go. I wanted to be able to let you go.”
As far as he could tell, the relief that flooded her was unexpected.
She was suddenly breathing a sigh of relief and then looking baffled about it.
He couldn’t begin to guess what she was going to say next.
When she finally did say it, he realized that, even if he’d been able to guess, he would have been dead wrong.
All at once, she just spit it out. “I’m pregnant.”
The shock made it impossible to respond.
For several seconds, Charlie couldn’t even be sure of what he’d heard.
It went into his ears and got stuck in some kind of processing area, apparently.
Then the word pregnant found its way into his conscious thoughts, followed by the contraction I’m, and his heart started to race.
There were two possibilities here, and neither one was exactly desirable.
Either the baby wasn’t his, which meant she had been seeing someone else right around the time she was seeing him.
That made him want to punch whoever this faceless man was.
Then again, the baby could be his, and then what was he supposed to do?
She still wasn’t going to stick around, was she?
And he wasn’t going to fight her for custody, not when she didn’t even have to tell him she was pregnant.
But if he ever had children, he always knew he wanted to be in their lives. There was no question about that.
He braved a question. “Is it… mine?” That option made the most sense, after all. Why would she bother telling him otherwise? There would be no need.
“Unless I have pretty bad amnesia about some other relationship I had around that time, it would have to be.” When he didn’t say anything in response, she clarified. “I wasn’t with anyone other than you. I haven’t been, not in a long, long time anyway. I don’t date much. I’m pretty career-focused.”
Charlie nodded and said, “I can tell.” Then he thought better of it. “I don’t mean it like that. I just mean, you know, it’s obvious you care about your work.” He pivoted right away. “I’m the father?”
Anna nodded. By the look in her eyes, he could tell there was no chance she was lying.
She sighed and continued her explanation.
“I want you to know, right off the bat, I have no expectations. I don’t need any money, and you don’t have to be in the kid’s life if you don’t want.
I won’t even tell them you’re their father. ”
“Them? Twins?” There went his heart again.
She shook her head and laughed. “I doubt it. It’s just a gender-neutral pronoun. I don’t know the sex yet.”
“Oh, well…” He leaned back against his barn to try and look far more nonchalant than he felt right now. “I was going to say that would be wrong.”
“Having twins?” she asked.
This conversation was getting more awkward than it had been when it started, if that was even possible. “No,” he answered. “Not telling the kid who their father is would be wrong.”
“So, you want me to tell them?”
“Yes.” The answer felt so obvious to someone like Charlie, someone to whom family meant everything. “He should know who his father is.”
“I told you I didn’t know the sex yet.”
“Oh, right.” He cleared his throat and stood up straighter. “Sorry.”
She shook her head with a smile. “Okay, I’ll share your identity with the baby when it’s old enough.
I just wanted you to know that I’m not telling you this to get anything out of you, but I thought you had the right to know.
It might be nice to have a medical history, but outside of that, I can handle the rest myself. ”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to keep the baby and raise it, obviously.”
Charlie didn’t think that was as obvious as she did, but he didn’t want to say so. “You’re going to raise a child on your own?” he asked. “Why?”
“Why not?” She crossed her arms over her chest again.
He got the impression he was messing up somehow, and he seemed determined to dig himself out of whatever hole he’d gotten himself into. “Your job. You travel around a lot. Wouldn’t it be hard to raise a kid like that?”
“That’s how I was brought up,” she said. “Are you saying I didn’t turn out fine?”
“No,” he blurted out. “No, you turned out… I mean, you’re a wonderful person… as far as I know. I just thought maybe it would be harder to travel around with a kid, that’s all.”
She frowned, thinking over whether to continue the conversation, no doubt.
Finally, she came to a conclusion. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I plan to settle down a bit, find a small town like this one to raise my baby in.
Like I said, though, I’m only telling you because you have the right to know. ”
“You’re giving up your career?” He could hardly believe that part was true. She clearly loved what she did for a living. In fact, he’d rarely come across a person who took more pride and more enjoyment in their work than Anna did. “I thought your job was really important to you.”
“Of course it’s important to me.” Anna was starting to lose her temper a bit, and Charlie tried to remind himself that she was pregnant.
As he understood it, mood swings were part of that process.
She caught herself and started again in a calmer tone.
“Of course my work is important to me, but some things are more important. This baby is important, and I want to give my child the best possible life. That life includes an involved, loving mother.”
It was beautiful, that idea. Charlie had no argument for her, but her having to give everything up like that…
he could hardly stand the thought of it.
It just wasn’t right, as far as he was concerned.
She shouldn’t have to make sacrifices like that, not when he was equally responsible. “I need to think,” he muttered.
“You don’t need to do anything,” she assured him once more.
He groaned. “You’re right. I don’t need to think. I want to think. Sorry. Do you mind giving me a couple of days to work through this news? I want to decide how involved I’d like to be. You did say it was my choice.”
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I did say that. Okay. I’ll give you all the time you need. You have my number. Call me if you want anything more from me, but again, please don’t worry about any kind of obligation. You have none.”
“I understand.” He nodded, and then he escorted her back to her car.
It was the gentlemanly thing to do, and though he was a prickly kind of guy, he had old-fashioned values, bestowed upon him by his beloved parents, and he always followed them when he could.
After she sat down in her driver’s seat, Charlie said, “Thank you for telling me. I know you didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did. I’ll be in touch, okay?”
She nodded and started her car. “Okay.”
He closed her door for her and sent her on her way.