“Wouldn’t blame you if you did,” he told her. “But since you didn’t go along with my original plan, then I have to tell you everything. I love you, Jenna. Madly. Completely. Desperately.”Fresh tears welled, making her eyes shine, and everything in him began to melt. What power she had over him. Over his heart. And yet he didn’t care anymore about protecting himself.All that mattered was her.“You walk into a room and everything else fades away,” he said softly. “You gave me my sons. You gave me a glimpse into a world that I want to be a part of.”Another tear joined the first and then another and another. In her arms, Jacob hiccupped, screwed up his little face and started to cry in earnest. Quickly, Nick took the boy from her and cradled him in his free arm. Looking down at his boys, then to her, he said, “Just so you know, I’m not prepared to lose, here. Nick Falco doesn’t quit when he wants something as badly as I want you. I won’t let you go. Not any of you.”He glanced behind h
BOOK 2LUCIA“There you go,honey,”Helen says as she places the glass in front of me. “Get that down you.”I frown at my friend as she takes a seat across from me.“This isn’t what I ordered, Helen. You know I don’t drink.”“Oh, stop it,” Helen says and rolls her eyes. “Just try something new. Anyway, it’s non-alcoholic.”“Really?” I peer at the cream-colored drink with a dark chocolate-like substance at the bottom. “What is it?”“Pina colada.”“That is alcoholic, Helen.”Helen giggles as she picks up her glass, slurping through the straw.“Don’t freak out. It’s called a virgin pina colada. Mock rum syrup, pineapple juice, and coconut milk. No alcohol in sight.”I don’t know about that. I’m not comfortable drinking something I didn’t ask for. But I’m not in the mood to fight too much. I just want to do something that makes me forget the bastard I had told to get the hell out of my apartment. If I’m lucky, he’ll be gone when I get back from the bar. If he isn’t…I haven’t thought that f
I certainly need her help now. Nathan is enough for anyone to go mad with his persistence. I found it endearing when we were together, but now it’s not something I want to deal with.“I’ll think about it.” I manage to smile at my friend. “I just want him to get out first. He doesn’t deserve to be in my apartment after what his side piece told me.”“If he hasn’t gone, do you want me to call a few friends to get him out?”“That might need to happen. Nathan’s very stubborn, and I’m not about to move him on my own.” I shake my head, slumping further down in my chair. “I can’t believe I never saw any of this. How stupid am I not to realize he was cheating on me?”“It’s not about being stupid or not. He’s just very cunning.”“Doesn’t that amount to me being stupid?”“Honey, you’re not stupid. That bastard is stupid for doing something so disgusting to you.”Helen’s voice had a tone of finality about it. “He threw three years away because of one little slut. That’s it.”I don’t respond to tha
“And you still forget things. Is that a kid thing or a teenage thing?”“I’ve double-checked my stuff. It’s all there.”I’m going to have to believe her. It will take too long to review her list and check her luggage. We’ll have to find out when we get to the resort, and by then, it’ll be too late, and I’ll have to buy her new stuff. While I can afford it, I don’t want Regina to think I can get everything at the drop of a hat. She needs to be responsible with her things. To her credit, she usually is.She just can’t pack properly right now.“So?” Regina prompts again. “When are we leaving?”“In about ten minutes,” I say and gesture at my computer. “I’m just going to check my emails and make sure everything’s set, and then I’ll pack the car.”“Dad, you know what you’re like when you check emails. Don’t take forever, or it’ll be too dark before we leave.”“Regina…”Regina shrugs.“I’m not wrong, am I? You promised not to do any work while we’re there, right?”I had promised that, and I h
I groan.“Mom, we’ve been through this. I’m not going to look for a girlfriend.”“I’m just suggesting…”“I know you are, but please stop. I promised Regina that I would give her my full attention this weekend, and I intend to do that. I’m not on the prowl for another woman.”Mom sighs.“I wish you wouldn’t call it that. You make it sound so sordid.”I’m about to respond when Regina comes by. She grins at me as she picks up her suitcase, her auburn curls bouncing around her face.“Ready to go, Dad? I can’t wait to get there!”“It’s going to be a two-hour drive, Regina,” I remind her. “Do you have enough to keep you occupied?”“Of course. That’s all sorted.” Regina heads towards the front door. “Come on, Dad!”Mom laughs.“She’s really excited, isn’t she?”“Given this is all she’s talked about since Christmas, I’m surprised that she hasn’t worn herself out.” I pick up my suitcase. “See you Sunday evening, Mom. Have fun with the animals.”“I’m sure we can entertain ourselves,” Mom says a
“We had the right of way, Regina. She should have slowed down.”“You think I didn’t?” I sit up slowly and gingerly move my limbs. Nothing seems broken, but I feel like I’ve been slammed into a wall. “You should have watched where you were going. Do you think you own the slopes or something?”The girl looks uncomfortable, and I momentarily feel bad for shouting at her. She seems genuinely remorseful. But her father snorts rudely.“Maybe you shouldn’t careen down the hill,” he growls.“We’re on the red slope. You think you should be fooling around at the bottom of the advanced slope?”“If it’s advanced, you should be able to stop in time.”I’m not going to get him to back down. I reach down and fumble to take my skis off, my fingers struggling through the gloves.“Let me.” The girl takes off her gloves and unsnaps my boots from the skis. “Can you stand?”“I think so.” I give her a small smile as I take off my goggles. “You okay?”“I’m fine. You didn’t hit me. But you did scare me.” She
“I’ll speak to the principal when we get back,” I tell her as I sit on the bed and put on my shoes.“No,” Regina’s eyes widen. “You can’t!”“Why not? They’re not going to stop until they’re told to.”“They’ve talked to them before, and they haven’t stopped. It’s just getting worse.” Regina says and bites her lip. “I’m trying to ignore them, but it’s not easy.”I hate feeling helpless, and knowing my daughter isn’t happy at school hurts me. I could pull her out and take her elsewhere, but that feels extreme. Right now, I can only report it and hope that works.I will never understand the mean kids at school and why they are cruel to others.“Okay, fine. I’ll leave it alone. For now.” I stand up. “Are you ready to go?”“Yes. I’m starving.” Regina winces and presses a hand to her stomach. “But then I think about what those girls said…”“Ignore them. They are not worth your time and energy. If you’re hungry, don’t you dare starve yourself. You’ll do yourself more damage in the future.”Re
Turning away quickly, I hurry after Caleb and Regina. I can’t be caught staring at her like that. It will make me look like an idiot.But even as I sit with my daughter and pick up the menu, I can’t help but look over at her table. She’s not looking at me, but I can see her clearly. She seems more relaxed now as if she’s forgotten about me.Somehow, I don’t want her to forget me.Lucia“Cheers!”Aliyah declares as we clink glasses. “Happy birthday to me!”I mumble in response and sip my drink. It’s already my third lemonade and lime, and I feel it going to my bladder. I’m going to need to take a bathroom break soon. At least that will soothe my ears with the pulsating beat pumping in my head. I have no idea why the bar has to have the music up this loud.“How are you feeling, Lucia?” Aliyah asks as she leans towards me, her voice loud over the noise. “Are you still sore from earlier?”“A little bit. I’m probably going to be worse tomorrow.” I shrug. “Nothing I can’t handle. I’ve had wo
It would be so easy to reach out and take the comfort and warmth and pleasure of being with him again. He’d wrap her in his arms and stroke her back and kiss her hair, and she’d feel his body stir with desire for her and…She’d missed him so much. But if she gave in to the need aching through her now,Micheal would be encouraged to stick around, and the inevitable consequences would be worse than her current sense of deprivation.Better to remain independent.“I don’t need your help, Micheal,” she said flatly.“That’s not how it looks to me,Lucia.” He reached out and took her left hand, fondling it warmly, persuasively pressing a link between them as he added, “I think we should get married as soon as possible.”“No!” She snatched her hand away, feeling as though he’d burned her. Her eyes blazed fierce conviction. “I won’t marry you, Micheal.”“Why not? It’s the most sensible, practical thing to do.”“I will not subject my baby to a father who doesn’t want her.”“If you’re worried about
She was tempted to hurl it in Micheal ’s face. It might sober him up. Whatever impulsive and stupid ardour had driven him into this room needed dampening down. He wasn’t thinking straight, any more than she’d been seeing straight. But she could see straight through him! Having figured out what she was doing in a maternity ward, he had a hot case of guilt.“You need looking after, Lucia,” he said gruffly. “And I’m the man to do it. Drink up now.”She sipped, just to moisten her throat. Then she glared her outrage at him. “Don’t you tell me what to do, Micheal. You have no right.”He returned a determined look. “I contributed to this situation and—”“You did not.” She cut him off with more belligerent determination. “You trusted me to get the contraception right, and I messed up. It’s all my fault.”“Accidents happen,” he said grimly.“Well, you don’t have to pay for this one. I take full responsibility.”“Sure! And you’re doing a fine job of it, letting yourself get so run down you alm
Maurice’s question broke through the glaze of horror in his mind. They were looking quizzically at him. Had he missed something? Apart from a nine-month pregnancy?“Sorry.” He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard. “I was just thinking how great the three of you look together.”Ingrid laughed. “Time you found yourself a wife and started a family, Micheal.”Join the club. They all said that. Once they were caught in the family trap, it was as though anyone who was free of it was an offensive reminder of what they’d given up. The hell of it was he might very well have a child somewhere on this ward, a child whose mother had decided was better off fatherless than having Micheal in their lives.“Aren’t you thirty-something?” Ingrid persisted.“Darling, I’m forty,” Maurice reminded her. “Age has nothing to do with it. If I hadn’t met you, I’d still be a freewheeling bachelor like Micheal.”Micheal didn’t want to be a freewheeling bachelor. He wanteded Lucia. He didn’t care if she came
“He’s got my ears, poor little blighter.”Micheal smiled. “Well, one can always resort to plastic surgery.”Maurice laughed indulgently. “They’re not that bad. He’ll grow into them.”“Bound to,” Micheal agreed, his face aching with smiling.Micheal obediently performed the comparison, studying the straight, aristocratic nose of Maurice’s buxom blonde wife and the longer, slightly bumpy one of his friend. He forced another smile. “Yes. Much the better nose.”Why was it obligatory to divide a baby’s features between the parents? It was inevitably done, like a ritual, perhaps affirming true heritage, or an assurance that a little replica would fulfil its parents’ expectations. Not only was it a deadly boring exercise to Micheal,, it almost drove him to snap, “Let the kid be himself, for God’s sake!”But that wasn’t the done thing.He wondered whom Lucia had been visiting on this floor. Not that it mattered. No point in trying to find some contact point with her. From the attitude she ha
Her hair was cropped short, but he couldn’t mistake that face, those eyes as she stared straight at him. Recognition, shock, disbelief, fear, anger…each expression pulsed briefly at him from a stillness that shrieked with tension. Then she whirled past him, jabbed a finger at the control panel inside the elevator and hugged herself against the back wall, glaring a fierce rejection of him until the doors closed.The message burned into his brain. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want anything to do with him. He quelled the raging instinct to chase after her, find her, make her listen to him. Useless. She’d made her decision to shut him out. It hadn’t changed. It wasn’t about to change. She’d just done it again.He forced himself to walk away, to check the room numbers he passed along the corridor. He’d come here to oblige a friend. Never mind that he had no heart for it. It gave him something purposeful to do. He had to forget Lucia.But why had there been fear in her eyes? He’d never g
Micheal darkly reflected, undermined every normal, congenial intercourse between intelligent adults. They infiltrated people’s lives even before they entered the world, then took over like tyrannical dictators. Nothing was safe from them.Micheal brooded over these truths as he drove through the tunnel under Sydney Harbour, taking the shortest route to Paddington and the Royal Hospital for Women. He wished Maurice had been satisfied with hearty congratulations on the birth of his son. It was totally unreasonable of him to insist Jack actually come and view the new pride and joy. Paternal enthusiasm run rampant. Micheal wondered how long it would last.One by one his friends had succumbed to the lure of fatherhood, only to find themselves knocked off their happy perches of being the main focus of attention in their households. They’d groaned out their misery and their complaints to him, envying his freedom from the chaos they had brought upon themselves.“Good sex is impossible.”“You
“I think we can sort something out there. You don’t have to worry about that.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “There's no doubt we’ve got a few issues to iron out, but I want to be with you. The fact that you’re pregnant with my baby is not the driving force, either. It just ends up being a bonus, that’s all.”“Does that mean…?”“That I want to raise the baby with you? Yes, I do.” I tilt her face up and kiss her softly. “I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m just asking you to be my girlfriend. Because I want to be with you—would you agree to that?”“Do you think I can say otherwise when I’m in your arms, and you’re kissing me like this?”“Okay.” I release her and step back. “How about now? Can you give me an answer?”“Micheal!”“What? You said you struggled to give me a proper answer when I was holding you.”“That’s not…” Lucia groans. “God, you’re an asshole.”“There is a teenager nearby, Lucia.”“I’m sure she’s said worse than that.” Lucia regards me thoughtfully. “You really mean i
“Could you put the kettle on and see if you can make Lucia a cup of tea? Then give us some space.”“Sure, Dad.” Regina hesitates. “Is it going to be okay?”I hope so. I send her a smile as I urge Regina to sit down.“I’ll be fine. Off you go.”Regina disappears, and Lucia frowns up at me.“You remember that I prefer tea to coffee?”“Of course I do. How can I not know when you’ve got teabags all over your apartment.”“Hey! No, I don’t!”“Close enough. I do pay attention to these things.”I sit beside her, and I have no idea what to say for a moment. How do I start this? Maybe with what I heard when I arrived. That would be a good starting point.“So…” God, I sound like a fool starting this. “You’re pregnant.”Lucia looks nervous, shifting a little away from me.“I am,” she mumbles.“And it’s my baby?”She doesn’t verbally respond. She nods, and I see the tears in her eyes. I’m about to ask why she’s about to cry when Lucia suddenly starts speaking so fast she’s almost tripping over her
Michael “There’s her dad’s house,” Katie says as she points. “Helen said it had some rose bushes in the garden with a red front door.”“And it looks like she’s already got a visitor,” I grumble as I pull up behind a black sedan. I can see Nathan and Lucia arguing on the sidewalk with a man I’m guessing is Lucia’s dad standing on the lawn with his arms folded and a garden hose in his hand. He looks ready for a fight. I can only hope he doesn’t turn that hose onto me.“Wait here, Regina.” I undo my seatbelt. “I don’t want you getting in the middle of this.”“Why?”“Just…do as you’re told, will you?”Regina sighs and sits back with her arms folded.“Okay, fine.”Grateful that my daughter is listening, I get out just as I hear Lucia shouting at Nathan.What are you talking about? No, of course not! Why would I waste my time and get back with a cheater?“Because I love you.”Well, I don’t love you!” Lucia snaps. She looks like she doesn’t know whether to lose her temper or burst into tear