Page 17 of Daniil
Micah is mine.
I can’t explain it any other way.
“Can we start at the beginning?”I ask finally.
Courtney nods but doesn’t look at me, absently bouncing Micah on her knee.
“I found out I was pregnant about two months after I left Limaj the last time,” she says, her voice hollow, distant.Like she’s going back in time.“I’d dislocated my knee right before my trip to Limaj, so I thought the fatigue I was feeling was because I wasn’t in the gym as much.Once I figured out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what I was going to do but abortion was…well, it just wasn’t an option.I wanted to want to, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
Thank God.
I don’t know why I feel that way because I don’t have an opinion on women’s choices, but this ismykid.Of course, if she’d done that, we wouldn’t be here now.
“I put in my retirement papers as soon as I found out,” she continues.“But I had five more months on my contract.They gave me a desk job, and I used that time to get my private investigator license.”She glances at Grim.“It was Landon’s idea, and Chains offered me a job doing desk work over there too.But they require all employees to have a PI license, so that’s what I did.”She’s staring off at nothing, no emotion in her voice at all as she talks.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do about the baby, but my first priority was survival.Getting a job outside of the military.I’d been dealing with some anxiety anyway, so it felt like the right time to find a new path.”She stops as Micah starts getting antsy.She reaches down and grabs a small baseball bat-shaped stuffed toy and hands it to him, which seems to quiet him down.
“And through all of that it never occurred to you to…call me?”I ask.
“Of course it occurred to me.I just…” Her eyes meet mine guiltily.“Ultimately I decided not to.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”I ask, trying to hide the myriad emotions that are making it hard for me to process all of this.
“I don’t know,” she whispers, looking down at the baby, instinctively hugging him closer to her.
Her body language tells me she’ll panic if I ask to hold him, so I hold off for now.
“I need to understand, Courtney,” I say finally.“Can you explain it to me?Please?”
“I don’t…” She looks at Marcus and then at Grim.“We should?—”
“We should give them privacy,” Grim says, abruptly standing up.“Let me take the baby, Court.”
She hesitates.
“Court.It’sme.”Grim holds out his arms.“Come on.You need to talk, and he’s going to distract you.”
It takes a minute, but she finally relinquishes the baby and Grim and Marcus leave the room.
“I already told you why,” she says the moment we’re alone.“You’re just being dense.”
“Because of the attack at the palace?”I ask in confusion.
“Yes!”When she looks up the fire is back in her eyes, which is both hot and infuriating.“What if that were me?”she continues.“Eight months pregnant with your baby.With those intruders on our tails.On Casey and Levi’s tail.You would have left me behind to get them to safety, right?Just like I had to leave Lennox.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
This is all about the attack.Well, not just about the attack but now I understand where she’s going with this.
“Right?”she presses when I don’t respond.“That’s the oath you took—to protect the royal family first and foremost.”
“Yes, but?—”
“And Lennox made me leave her there… My pregnant best friend.In active labor.Curled up in a ball on the floor of a dirty tunnel—while I got the queen and prince out of there.”
“Courtney, it’s not?—”
“Would you have allowed Casey and Levi to be captured, or would you have tended to me if I were in Lennox’s position?Obviously, I’m talking about if I was your wife.Pregnant with your child.In that scenario, who would you choose?It’s a simple question, Daniil.”
