Page 136 of Kiss an Angel

“You also have a marriage.”

“It’s not a real marriage. It never was.”

“It is now. We took vows, Daisy. Sacred vows. That’s as real as it gets.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “Why are you doing this? I told you it’s too late for me to have an abortion.”

He ached for her. As deep as his sorrow was, he knew it couldn’t match hers. “There’ll be other babies, sweetheart. We’ll try again. As soon as the doctor says it’s all right”

“What are you talking about?”

“I wanted the baby as much as you did, but I didn’t realize it until the night you ran away. I know it’s my fault you lost the baby. If I’d taken better care of you this never would have happened.”

Her brow furrowed. “I haven’t lost the baby.”

He stared at her.

“I’m still pregnant.”

“But you said—when I told you I wanted to talk, you said it was too late for you to have an abortion.”

“I’m four-and-a-half months pregnant. An abortion isn’t legal.”

Even as joy flooded through him, her mouth twisted with a cynicism that he’d never imagined he’d see. “That changes things, doesn’t it, Alex? Now that you know the cake’s still baking in the oven and it’s going to stay right there, I’ll bet you aren’t so anxious to have me back.”

Emotions were traveling through him so quickly he couldn’t deal with them. She still carried their baby. She hated him. She didn’t want to come back. He couldn’t handle that much emotional chaos, so he settled on the practical. “What are you doing about medical care?”

“There’s a clinic not far from here.”

“A clinic?” He had a fortune in the bank, and his wife was going to a clinic. He had to get her away from here where he could kiss that look of implacable resolve from her face, but the only way he could do that was by playing the tough guy.

“If this is your idea of taking care of yourself, I’m not impressed. You’re thin and pale. You’re strung so damned tight, you look like you’re going to fall apart.”

“What do you care? You don’t want this baby.”

“Oh, I want the baby very much. Just because I acted like a bastard when you told me the news doesn’t mean I didn’t come to my senses. I know you don’t want to go with me, but for now, you don’t have any other choice. You’re endangering yourself and the baby, Daisy, and I can’t let you do that.”

He could see that he’d found her weakest spot, but she still fought him. “You don’t have any say in this.”

“I have a say, all right. And I’m going to make sure you and the baby are safe.”

Her eyes grew wary.

“I’ll play dirty,” he said quietly. “It won’t take me long to find out where you’re working, and I guarantee I’ll make your job disappear.”

“You’d do that to me?”

“I won’t even hesitate.”

Her shoulders slumped, and he knew he’d won, but he felt no satisfaction.

“I don’t love you anymore,” she whispered. “I don’t love you at all.”

His throat closed. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I love you enough for both of us.”

23

Alex drove Daisy to the small house on a narrow street in a working-class neighborhood not far from the zoo. The house had a plaster statue of the Blessed Mother in the tiny front yard, along with a sunflower pinwheel guarding a bed of pink petunias. She rented a bedroom in the back with a view of a chain-link fence, and while she packed her meager possessions, he slipped away to settle up with her landlady, only to discover that Daisy had already paid her rent for the month.

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