Page 16 of In this Moment

ChapterFour

For a moment, she thought maybe she was hearing things or had completely lost her mind. “What? You’ll doit?”

Declan nodded and it took all of her willpower not to throw herself in his arms and kisshim.

“Really?”

He laughed and in that moment, his smile was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. “Really. What do we need to do? Are we talking about just an engagement or a full wedding?”

“You’d dothat?”

The fact that he would even consider actually marrying her to help her out with Jonah’s custody was crazy. No, it was incredible. And if she wanted to kiss him before, she really wantedto—

“Of course.” He grabbed her hand. “Evie, I said I would help you and I will. But really, what do we need todo?”

Right. She had to focus. Now that she’d initiated the lie, they needed to move quickly.

“We need to be engaged. I told Russ you asked me this morning, so I guess we don’t need to do anything more except maybe tell our family and…oh God. I have to tell Jonah.”

Of course she had to tell Jonah. He needed to believe they were going to be a family. He liked Declan; he’d already told her as much. No doubt Jonah would be thrilled to find out she was going to marry Declan McCormick.

And then he would be devastated when it didn’t happen.

OhGod.

She hadn’t thought it out. What was she going to tell Jonah when they didn’t get married after all? She was going to break his heart.

She couldn’t doit.

Evie shook her head and tried to turn away, but Declan held herarm.

“What’s wrong? Is it Jonah?”

She nodded. “I just don’t…”

“Evie, I’m not a parent, so I’m not going to pretend to know what the right way to deal with children is. But I’ll tell you what I see.” Evie looked at him. “I see that you’re a mom who is doing everything she can to make things okay for herson.”

“But I’ll have to lie tohim.”

Declan nodded. “But don’t you think sometimes parents need to tell small lies for the greatergood?”

That made her smile. “The greatergood?”

He shrugged. “Okay, well, I have to admit I’m used to dealing with more global problems. But in this case, you’re definitely doing what you have to for the overall wellbeing of your son. Don’t think of it as a lie. And maybe we can create some sort of story where you get mad at me because I did you wrong and you break up with me. That way he won’t be upset with you when it doesn’t workout.”

When it doesn’t work out. For the briefest moment, she could have sworn that she felt a flicker of regret when he said those words. But that was silly because of course it wasn’t going to work out. It wasn’treal.

“You’d dothat?”

He cupped her chin and looked into her eyes. “I’d do a lot of things for you, Evie.”

There was so much implied in those few simple words. If she wasn’t careful, she could let herself fall for Declan McCormick and that would only lead to more heartbreak than she was already facing.

That couldn’t happen.

She needed to focus.

“Okay.” She pulled away from his grasp, unsure how she’d be able to focus with his touch on her skin. “We need to be engaged for a little while. I’m not sure, but probably just long enough to get all this sorted out. Maybe a few months.”

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