Page 108 of Burning Love
“Are you scared?” she asked, stepping out of his arms and climbing into his truck.
“Yes. Babies are scary things.”
She laughed. “They are, but happy things too. I’m happy. It’s not planned, but it’s like our child is growing inside of me.” She was bouncing in the seat now. It was too hard to contain it and she didn’t want to.
Grabbing his hand, she put it on her belly.
“It is,” he whispered. “I’m happy too.”
She looked into his eyes and believed it.
31
HERE WE ARE
“Dad, Lauren, this is Talia Carlisle. Talia, my father, Dean, and stepmother, Lauren.”
Talia moved forward to shake his parents’ hands.
In his mind, Lauren was his mother now. Jace never called her that and wouldn’t have, meeting her for the first time at seventeen, but she’d always been in his corner like his father.
Sometimes giving him tough love as an adult, but in a hands-off respectful way.
“It’s so nice to meet you all. Jace has told me a lot about you. I find the whole story incredibly moving.”
His father smiled like he knew he would. “Things happen in life. It’s more important to make the best of it and fix any wrongs.”
She turned to look at him and winked.
He found himself returning her grin.
Jace didn’t know where they were going to end up, but he knew where he wanted to be.
It all started with the woman carrying his baby.
Lauren had been through the roof excited when he’d asked if he could bring Talia to dinner just four days after the doctor’s appointment.
He and Talia hadn’t talked much. She pushed off anything about the future and them. Not where she was going to be living, let alone his child.
They’d only talked about her health, how she felt, and taking care of herself.
Like no more rides on the motorcycle, that he’d put his foot down on.
He’d been surprised she’d thrown such a fit over it, but he wasn’t risking anything.
What stunned him more was her saying if she couldn’t put her life at risk on it, neither could he.
He wanted to argue it but decided it was best to let that go and honor it for now.
If he was frustrated they didn’t get any further in their conversations, he had to remind himself it was only four days since everything was verified.
“Is she here?”
He turned to see Janey come charging into the room.
“Hi,” Talia said. “You must be Janey.”
“You probably don’t remember me, but we played soccer against each other. You were really good.”
