Page 12 of A Little Thankful

“You had a baby without telling the father?”

“I didn’t tell my parents either.”

I slammed back in my chair. “What? You mean they didn’t know until today, until you showed up?”

She nodded.

“Let me get this straight. You had a baby all on your own? Why would you do that? What if something happened?”

I knew this woman was strong, and fiercely independent, but this was way over the top.

“I would’ve called my parents, but nothing went wrong. Everything was totally normal.”

“I hope you had a girlfriend or somebody with you. Why would you do something like this? It’s mad.”

“No girlfriend. An older neighbor looked in on us, and brought me food when I first came home. Convinced me to hire someone to help, which I did, an all-around wonder woman for the first three months. Now, she comes in once a week to clean, cook and give me a break. She’s great, but no friends or co-workers or family. I didn’t want to be influenced. Autumn is my miracle baby.”

I could hardly believe she’d gone through all of this without any family support.

Who did that?

“What does that mean, you didn’t want to be influenced?”

I had a new admiration for Sage, for her determination and her strength. I’d delivered a baby or two in my career. Part of the job, so I knew what it took, and not having someone to lean on had to be tough.

“These were my choices from the very beginning, and I didn’t want any outside forces influencing those choices. My family can be very persuasive, so can friends and even co-workers.”

She sipped her wine as sunshine tried its best to break through some of the pine trees that surrounded us.

“But you told us you couldn’t get pregnant. I assumed you were on the pill.”

“No pills. I have a rare genetic problem, and my doctor told me I couldn’t get pregnant, or at least it wasn’t likely to, but she was wrong.”

“Must’ve been some powerful sperm.”

“It came from a powerful man.”

I drank down more wine. I didn’t like hearing about another man in her life. I wasn’t over her, yet. I knew I had to move on, but I still wasn’t ready to.

“Who is this sperm god. Do I know him?”

“Yes, but I’d like to wait for a bit before I tell you.”

“Wait for what?” Mace said as he walked out on the deck, carrying a pink box of goodies that he placed on the table along with some napkins. He looked at Sage. “I made some cupcakes I thought you might like.”

“Double chocolate?” she asked, grinning, then flipping open the top of the box. There was an entire assortment of cupcakes tucked inside the box. They looked way too good.

“What else?”

She reached for one, along with a napkin, took a big bite and moaned.

I knew that moan well, and my dick reacted.

I grabbed my own cupcake as a distraction.

“Even better than I remember,” she said, with chocolate frosting smeared on her lips. I stared across at her, imagining licking it off for a moment, before she swiped that napkin across her lips, obliterating all the chocolate.

“Glad you like it.”

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