Page 28 of Broken Princess

"I'm just glad you're here, and you and the baby are both okay," Anthony says with an even heavier sigh.

"You and me both," I answer. "For a while there, I wasn't so sure."

"How did Lorenzo react to… everything?" Anthony asks warily.

Even though I've assured him I'm not upset about him coming clean for me, he still seems like he feels guilty.

"Better than I expected," I admit. "Seriously, it's fine. I mean, looking back, I guess he had to figure it out, eventually."

"So you've changed your mind about him not being involved in the baby's life?"

I hesitate, because I haven't really had all that much time to figure that out myself. "I don't know," I murmur. "I'm just taking things one day at a time. But… he did say he actually wants to be involved, which is kind of a surprise in and of itself."

"Yeah," Anthony says in a noncommittal tone.

"What?" I ask, tilting my head. "What aren't you saying?"

"It's just that as much of a bonehead as he is, he obviously cares about you. Hell, he loves you, at least as much as he's capable of it."

For some reason, those words make my face grew warm. I want to believe them, more than anything, but I can't, for obvious reasons. "It doesn't matter. Not really. Nothing has changed on the relationship front, except that I made Lorenzo promise if I'm staying here, for now, he's going to table that kind of thing."

"I'm surprised he agreed," he says. "Do you think he's going to follow through on it?"

I shrug. "He has so far. He's sleeping on the couch, for one thing."

"Really?" Anthony asks, raising an eyebrow like he doesn't believe me. I guess I can't really blame him.

"Yes, really," I huff. "I'm notthatbad."

He doesn't look convinced about that, either. "And how do you feel about that?"

"Great," I answer a bit too quickly to sound believable, even to me. "It's what I want."

"Okay."

I scowl. "It is," I insist.

"Okay," Anthony says, holding up his hands. "I'm not arguing."

I sigh, knowing that I'm probably not helping make my case any more convincing.

The truth is, I don't really believe it myself.

"So, no plans to run away again?"

I can't help but smile at the hopefulness in his tone. "Not anytime soon, no. Not as long as Milo is out there looking for me, anyway."

"You really think he's going to come for you again?" Anthony asks, frowning in concern.

"Have to plan for the worst, I guess," I answer. "Especially if Dad can't find him."

"I guess if he can't, no one can," Anthony muses. He winces a second later. "Sorry. Not very optimistic."

I sigh again. "I'm not a glass-half-full person myself right now."

"Hey, you're alive," he reasons. "That counts for something."

"Yeah," I agree. "It counts for a lot. But I might not be once Dad finds out I'm pregnant."

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