Page 19 of His Best Man's Baby

Something smashed, and Daniel dropped the phone. She waited for him to get control of it, but more muffled sounds came over the line, along with Daniel’s curses.

“Daniel, are you there?”

“Sorry, I’m here. Tell me why my wife would think I got you pregnant.”

She sighed and explained how Alise had overheard part of their conversation. “So at some point, she was there, and she went running to Jax to tell him.”

“Damn it. I have to call her. No, I’m leaving work. Tae, how are you? Jax take the news fine?”

“He thinks the baby is yours.”

“I get that, but you straightened him out?”

She fell silent.

“Octavia?”

“He accused me of being a slut.”

“I will kill him.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him the truth when I’m ready. Right now, I just need to get my head together. Please, Daniel, a little longer. You should get things straight with Alise, but I’d rather wait as far as Jax. I hope you understand.”

“It’s not my decision. I said I would keep your secret, and I will. I hope you’ll fix this soon, Tae. Personally, I think Jax deserves to know he’s going to be a father. It’s the most amazing gift a woman could ever give a man.”

Rip out my heart and stomp it, why don’t you?

“Everyone knows how you feel about having a family.”

“And everyone knows you don’t want a family,” he shot back.

The pain in her head grew. “It’s not that I don’t. You wouldn’t understand. I grew up with a full house. I never had my own space, never got any privacy. Hell, my family still tugs at me as much as they can, so yes, I wanted a lifestyle where it was just me, and I don’t have to feel bad about that.”

“You’re right. You don’t, but that all changed the moment you got pregnant. Tae, you have to do what’s best for the child.”

“Yeah, well I don’t have to decide today! I have to go. I hope everything works out with Alise.” She disconnected the call before he could say more.

For the rest of the day, Tae did laundry and cleaned up her apartment. All the while, she mulled Daniel’s words in her head as well as her own. Was she being selfish and immature, thinking of her space, her peace, her carefully constructed lifestyle? One could look at the other side and consider she was not right for motherhood with her attitude, and a baby might be better off either unborn or given up for adoption. The word adoption pulled her up short. She’d not thought of that before now. Could she even do it, go through nine months of pregnancy only to sign the baby over to someone else?

What about Jax? She knew Daniel longed for a family. They had discussed at length the subject when they dated. Daniel had wanted to marry her and to have kids right away. He’d suggested she stop work to care for their children, and when she told him he must be out of his mind, he’d “conceded” to her staying home until the children were five and then working part-time. Again she’d let him know he would not decide whether she worked or not. He apparently didn’t get how firm her conviction was because he’d soon after asked her to marry him. While she loved him with all her heart at the time, she had turned him down, knowing they weren’t right for each other. Daniel was a good man, sweet and attentive, but he needed a woman who was content to be a housewife and a mother. She was not the one.

On the other hand, she had no idea what Jax felt about kids or getting married. He’d come off as content jumping from woman to woman, and really since he wouldn’t carry the baby, his lifestyle needn’t change. Did he want kids? Would he want to be involved now that they’d produced a child?

After the chores were all done, Tae sat down at her desk in her home office and opened her checkbook. She looked at the current balance and sighed. Somewhere in her drawer was the statement for her savings account—almost nil. She rubbed fi

ngers over her temple and scanned the office, what the rental agent had called a “den.” A joke if she’d ever heard one, the den looked more like a walk-in closet, a tiny one, but she had fitted it with a desk and chair, all that could squeeze in without her feeling claustrophobic. Even examining the room now, she knew converting it into a nursery would not work. Closing the door would make it seem like she’d shut her baby into a closet. A tight pain squeezed her chest, and she frowned down at her belly.

“My baby?”

Ah hell, I’m going to keep it. Now what?

Chapter Seven

Tae stepped out of the shower and dried off with a towel. Doing so made her think of bathing her baby. How did one know if the temperature was too hot or too cool? Did she go by her own feelings, or was baby’s skin more sensitive to heat? Grumbling her frustration, she left the bathroom and lotioned her body, then slipped into a pair of jeans and a simple blouse. She wondered if she should wear a dress instead and then remembered she’d probably have to remove all her clothing anyway and put on one of those hospital gowns. Another grumble escaped. She hated going to the doctor, and now being pregnant, she’d have to go a billion times.

While she pulled on a sock, the doorbell rang, and she paused, wondering who it was. She strode into the living room and checked the peephole. Her heart stuttered at sight of Daniel, and she worked to calm down before she opened the door. “Daniel, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here for you.”

---