Page 3 of Taming His Honeydoll
“A b-baby?” He stuttered in his excitement, his face unbelieving yet hopeful at the same time. They’d been waiting long enough to get pregnant. Chessy and Ty already had two. “We’re having a baby?”
Marsha laughed and nodded. “We’re finally having a baby of our own.”
He swept her up in his arms and strode towards the doorway.
“Where are we going? Put me down,” Marsha protested. The man had always had a habit of picking her up. She’d always felt like she was too heavy for him, but he wouldn’t allow her to object because he loved to do it. As usual, he ignored her.
“We have things to do. We need to get the nursery started, we have to shop, we need to get you on a schedule,” he replied, ticking things off as he went. “Nat’s going to be so ticked because we beat him and April.”
Marsha giggled, thinking of Oliver’s lifelong buddy, Nathaniel Murphy. He and April had married two years after she and Oliver, but he’d wanted a child immediately. It hadn’t happened for them yet, but Nat was ever optimistic that he would win out over Oliver. Their rivalry stemmed from their high school years playing football at Revere High.
“What in the world?” Oliver’s secretary Ann asked as he whisked her by the reception area.
“We’re going to have a baby,” he replied exultantly. “We’re going to have a baby,” he said to the people waiting with their animals in the lobby.
Everyone just laughed and cheered when Marsha blushed in his arms.
***
“WELL, HOW DID HE TAKEit?” Henry asked anxiously when Emma came in the door of their two-story brownstone in Bevier, Maine on the northwest side of Boston.
Oliver Tremaine was a fiercely protective man and he intimidated Henry—all of which Emma was well aware. She handed Levi off to her husband who cradled the sleeping child in his arms while she flopped into the recliner in the living room. He carefully laid the boy on the sofa beside him and then leaned forward to study her eagerly.
“About like I expected,” she replied with a yawn. “He doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t have any choice in the matter. He really didn’t like the part about Levi.”
Henry leaned back with a sigh. With his golden blond curls and deep blue eyes, he looked almost cherubic, but he was certainly a handsome man. “That part bothers me too. I really love this little guy, even if he isn’t mine.”
Emma nodded. “That’s why I’m glad you came to me when you said you wanted to follow Everett over to London. I’d already been thinking we needed to separate. Since Levi is only three and a half, he probably won’t remember much about you after a while. I just hate you looking like an absentee father when that’s the last thing you are.”
“I meant it when I said we’ll do exchange visits,” he said firmly. “I have no intention of abandoning Levi. The way things are, I’m his legal father and I mean for it to stay that way unless something changes. There is always that possibility,” he finished.
Emma was troubled. “I didn’t think ahead to all these complications when you asked me to marry you, Henry. I was selfish, I guess. A part of me says it might be better if you don’t stay in Levi’s life, but that wouldn’t be fair to either one of you.”
Henry shook his head. “It was me who was selfish, love. I used you to get my parents off my back so Everett and I could still be together. I didn’t think about how it would look for you and Levi when we divorced. I knew we would have to sooner or later for you to have a life of your own and someone to love.” He sat back with a sigh. “The only way for me to save face is for you to admit that Levi isn’t mine, and I understand why you don’t want to do that. Besides, if you did, I believe Mum really might disinherit me. We’ve created a bit of a mess, I’m afraid.”
Emma’s thoughts flew to Sawyer Blackland, Levi’s father. She wondered what he was doing right now at this very moment. Was he still in the military? Had he come home? Was he married to someone he actually loved?
Over the years, her feelings had reduced from anger and revenge to sorrow, then finally acceptance. She still loved him—always would. But Levi needed an active father and she needed someone to hold her in the small hours of the night. She was tired of being alone, and tired of harboring secrets. Loving someone else the way she loved Sawyer would never happen, but maybe she could spare some love for someone who needed her as much as she needed them. It was time to open her heart.
“I can’t do that, at least not yet.” Her troubled gaze went to Levi.
Henry had been a lifesaver, even if his motives had been selfish on his part for their marriage. He was a kind man and had been a wonderful friend through college. When Emma realized she was pregnant, he’d offered her a way out immediately. Marry him and they would live together as roommates and take care of Levi together.
They could each do whatever they wanted with other partners. Henry already had a partner, Everett, whom he met up with when he could. His mother was insanely controlling and had threatened to disown him if he didn’t produce a grandchild. If they’d known his proclivity wasn’t towards women, he wasn’t sure what they would do to him. But Emma had never ventured out. She’d never wanted anyone but Sawyer—who she couldn’t have.
“You never have told me who Levi’s father was,” Henry probed gently. “Are you ever going to?”
Emma studied his gentle eyes and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“It might matter to him.”
Her eyes flashed. “If it had mattered to him, he should have been willing to stick around.”
Henry’s eyes widened. “He knew about the baby and still broke up with you?”
“No, he didn’t know,” Emma snapped uncomfortably. “I didn’t even know at the time. But if he didn’t love me enough to keep me, then he doesn’t deserve to know.”
“Emma Brassington! Every man deserves to know if he’s a father, poppet.” He tutted at her, his British background coming into play. “Give it over, love. If I was Levi’s father, I’d want to know.”
