this place brings back a lot of memories.”
“Good or bad?”
“A little of both, but isn’t that the way?”
He nodded and she started to follow him up the large concrete staircase to the house. She was nervous and when all she could think about was his hands on her, Mara worried that she would jump on him when she saw him finally. Her hormones were already all over the place and Grant was the type of man that she couldn’t forget.
“Are you sure you are okay?”
“Yeah Lance. Where is he?”
“Grant is in the den. I will leave you two to it.”
She thanked him and started to tremble inside. Her hormones really were on overdrive and all she could think about was what was going to happen. Would he be as happy to see her as she was to see him all of a sudden? Moreover, what was going to happen when he found out that she was pregnant?
The questions swirled in her mind as she made her way to the back den that went outside. She remembered every inch of the house, spending so much time there while the trial was going on. Mara missed the place. It was somehow like going home.
When she walked into the den, the room was pretty dark and she didn’t see him in the corner right away. “Mara, you are looking good as always.”
She turned towards his voice her eyes trying to adjust to the lack of light. “Thanks. Why is it so dark in here?” Mara went to turn the light on, the desk lamp right next to him. His hand shot out and stopped her.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want the blaring light in my eyes.”
His voice sounded strained and Mara could tell something is wrong. “So is my dad prosecuting someone else that you know? Is that why I am here?”
Grant’s face showed that he didn’t find her comment very funny, but the silence between them as she stood over his seated form made her anxious. Even in the darkness, she could feel his eyes on her. Mara opened her mouth to say something else but he said something instead, breaking the silence between them.
“When were you going to tell me you are pregnant?”
Chapter 7
Mara’s face showed the shock of the suddenness of the conversation. It was not going how it had played out in her head. She had not had time to coax him into a better mood. Grant was frightful when he was angry and she had planned for them to talk a while, but she should have known better. Lance had picked her up at her OB appointment after all. The comment he had made earlier, made more sense to her then.
“You, speechless? I never thought I would see the day Mara.”
“Well what do you want me to say? I just found out a couple of weeks ago. I came back into town and went to the doctors, thinking I was sick and I wasn’t. I am pregnant.”
His dark eyes bore into her and she wished that she could melt into the floor. It was hard to hold his gaze when he was looking at her in that way. “How far along are you?”
“Why don’t you ask the question you really want to know Grant? I mean, I am here. You went and got Lance to drag me all the way down here, so what is it you really want to know?”
Mara was getting angry with him again. He was treating her as if she was the bad guy and she’d had enough. “I want to know if it’s mine.”
Her head nodded before she got the words out and she made sure she was looking in his eyes then. She waited for a reaction, but all she saw was something akin to relief. “I would have accepted if it was someone else’s, but I really hoped it would be mine.”
Mara didn’t really think she had heard him right. It was too perfect. Too much what she desperately wanted him to say. “What do you mean you would have accepted it?”
“If you were pregnant by someone else. I would have hated it, but still would have had to have you.”
“Have me? What am I, a prize all of a sudden?”
Lance moved quickly, pulling her down to his lap. His breath was in her ear and she shivered against him. She didn’t realize how much she
Eve Paludan, Stuart Sharp