Page 7 of Lost in Yonkers

“I don’t need you to take care of me, Chris,” she spat. “I’ve been taking care of myself for five months now. Hell, I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life.”

“I get it,” Yonkers said, “I know that you don’t need me, but I want to be there for you and our daughter.” He looked at her tummy again and she could tell that he really meant what he was saying.

“I’m not sure what you are getting at, Chris,” she said. “I live in Huntsville, and you just bought a house here in New York. You’re correct about not being able to be in two places at once. So, what’s the solution?”

He shrugged, “You stay here,” he said. “You can move into my house with me, and I can help my mother, and you at the same time. You’re going to need someone to go to those baby classes, right?” She hadn’t given any of that stuff much thought.

“I guess that I will need someone to come with me to those, once I sign up for them. I’m a bit behind when it comes to baby stuff. You’re the first person I’ve even told about her. I’ve been hiding my pregnancy.”

“You haven’t told your brother or Trixie?” Yonkers asked.

“Nope,” Wren said, “I thought that you should be the first person to know—well, besides me.”

“That’s really sweet,” he said.

“Well, we made this baby together, so I thought that you should be the second to know since she’s inside of my body and I had no choice but to be the first,” she said.

“While I appreciate that, why did you wait five months to find me and tell me about our daughter?” he asked. She knew that sooner or later; he was going to ask her that. Honestly, she didn’t have a good answer to his question.

“At first, I was terrified to find out that I was pregnant. I wasn’t sure what to do about the baby. I mean, you were MIA, and I couldn’t find the words to tell my brother that I had screwed up.”

“You didn’t screw up,” Yonkers insisted. “I was the one who screwed up. I was the one who should have been more careful with you. Hell, I should have kept my hands off you, but we both know how that worked out. But this isn’t your fault, it's mine,” he said.

“No, that’s what I’ve come to tell you. It’s not anyone’s fault. We spent the night together, and we were two willing adults. This baby is a result of that night, but she’s not a mistake,” Wren insisted. “It took me five months to figure that all out, but I finally did and that’s when I came looking for you.”

“Thanks for saying that, Wren, but I still feel bad that I left you high and dry,” he said.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree, for now, because I have to pee and I’m starving,” she said. “This kid is laying on my freaking bladder. I have to pee all the time.” Yonkers helped Wren out of bed, and she made her way to the bathroom. She shut the door and he seemed to be waiting for her on the other side. “I can’t pee while you’re listening, Chris.”

“Okay, how about if you listen to me talk for a minute?” he asked. When she didn’t say anything, he seemed to take it as his cue to continue. “How about you stick around for a while? I know that I’ve already asked you to stay, but I really want you too, Wren. You can move in with me, and we can figure out what we’re going to do about raising our daughter together,” he said. She finished in the bathroom and took her time washing her hands, needing a few minutes to think. By the time she opened the bathroom door, she knew what her answer was going to be.

“Yes, I’d like to stay in New York for a while and move into your house with you,” she agreed. “Honestly, I can do my job remotely since my boss is pretty great, but I think that we need some ground rules.”

“Ground rules?” he asked. “Like what kind of ground rules?”

“Like, a rule about us not jumping each other’s bones on the kitchen table,” she said, loving the way that his eyes flared at the memory of the two of them doing just that on Christmas.

“Okay, but you might have to share a bed with me for a few nights until I can pick up a second bed. It’s only a two-bedroom place, so when the baby comes, we’ll have to figure out where to put her,” Yonkers said.

“I was hoping that she’d be able to have her own nursery,” Wren said. “I’ve always dreamed of having a cute little pink nursery.”

“Well, we can turn the spare room into a nursery, but squeezing a bed in for you won’t be easy to do. It will barely fit a dresser and crib.” The thought of building their baby’s nursery together had her feeling almost giddy.

“We can see how sharing a bed goes, but I reserve the right to make the final decision,” Wren said.

“Deal,” Yonkers agreed. “I plan on moving into my new place in two days. I’ve even arranged to have my stuff from Huntsville shipped up here. How about you move in with me then, and we can figure out our next step?”

“In two days?” Wren squeaked. “That’s so soon.”

“You were fine with it a few minutes ago, has something changed?” Yonkers stared her down as if daring her to come clean and tell him that she was afraid to move in with him. That was the last thing she planned on doing.

“Two days works for me,” she lied. Wren wasn’t sure if chasing down Yonkers and telling him about the baby was her best idea, but she was already committed to her crazy scheme.

Yonkers

They moved into his new house and Yonkers had to admit, he liked having Wren’s touches in the home. She made it feel like someplace that he wanted to come home to, and not just somewhere to kick off his boots every night to sleep. His place in Huntsville never felt like home—except when Wren was there with him last Christmas. In just a short time living with him, he knew that it was going to be damn near impossible to let her go again. He was right and running to New York seemed like a great escape plan until she showed up at his mom’s door looking for him.

Convincing her to move in with him was a delicate maneuver and one that he was happy to have won. That’s what it felt like too—like winning the lottery, getting Wren to move in with him. Getting her to sleep in his bed with him was a bonus and one that he planned on taking full advantage of.

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