His Best Man's Baby (7 page)

“Ah, this morning when I left for the office,” he said, confusion obvious. “Why?”

“She thinks my baby is yours.”

“What?”

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 fingers 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.”

Her brows rose and mouth fell open before she snapped out of it. “What do you mean you’re here for me?”

He pushed past her into the apartment, and she stood there looking after him.

“Close the door, Tae.” He scanned her from head to foot and grinned at her feet. “Lose a sock?”

“No, I was in the middle of getting dressed. I have my first doctor’s appointment in about an hour.” She folded her arms over her chest. “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

“Actually, I did,” he countered. The cool attitude rivaled her agitated one until she wanted to choke the man. When she waited for more, he went on. “I’ve decided to support you with the baby, and it looks like I have great timing. I’ll go with you for your doctor’s visit.”

“I think you forgot you’re married. You need to be ‘supporting’ your wife.”

She made air quotes to emphasize her words, but at her statement, the calm self-assurance in Daniel’s expression transformed first to sadness and then to anger. His lips compressed, and his eyebrows crashed low over his eyes. Tae dreaded what that meant. She started to prompt him to explain the reaction but didn’t need to.

“Even though I told Alise I did not father your baby, she still packed and went to her mother’s.”

“No!” Tae slapped a hand over her mouth. Tears sprung to her eyes and fell down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Daniel. This is my fault.”

He drew her into his arms and stroked her hair. “No, it’s not. You did nothing wrong, and if my marriage is so flimsy a misunderstanding can destroy it, then you were right. Alise is not for me.”

She wrenched from his hold. “You’re not throwing it away just like that. You need to fight for her, Daniel. I’m going to call her and explain that you and I didn’t have sex, so it’s impossible to even think you’re the father of my baby. It’s just ridiculous, and our meeting that day was just happenstance. She has to believe me.”

Tae spun to go to her room to get her phone, but Daniel grabbed her arm to stop her. “Forget it.”

“What do you mean forget it? You love her. I think—”

“Aren’t you going to be late for your appointment?”

She glanced at the clock on the dining room wall. The metal bicycle design was so unique she’d had to buy it. Daniel was right. She didn’t have much time. “Well I’ll call afterward.”

“No, you won’t.” He shuffled her toward her bedroom. “I’ll handle it. Hurry up, and I’ll take you.”

“Daniel.”

“I’m not accepting no for an answer, Tae. Finish getting dressed. I’m going with you. End of discussion.” While he had been assertive, his tone remained kind. She sighed and gave in. Zerita wasn’t in town, and even if she were, Tae had only been able to get a day appointment. She couldn’t ask her friend to take off work with her to go to the doctor.

“How did you know I was home?”

He grinned and winked. “I have my ways.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll be ready in a minute.”

Tae hurried into her bedroom and drew on her other sock, then put on shoes. She started out to the living room and had to run back to look for the notebook where she recorded the dates for her period. After making a mental note of the last two, she rejoined Daniel, and they headed out.

Tae started toward her car, but Daniel placed a hand on her lower back. “I’m parked this way.” She decided not to argue and followed him to his vehicle. When they were on the road, she told him the address and studied him as he drove. One large hand gripped the steering wheel while the other rested on his thigh. A ridiculous longing came over her to lay hers atop his, but she resisted it and faced the window. Scenery raced by, but she saw none of it. Her thoughts were filled with memories of Daniel, and for some reason, his voice echoed in her head of the many times he had confessed his love. Daniel was the type of man to never hold back how he felt. She had never had to wonder or be unsure of him. That fact was one of the reasons she had loved him so much.

“Tae?”

She came to herself and looked at him. “Sorry, I was daydreaming.”

“No problem.” He frowned at the car ahead, which cut him off, and adjusted his speed. “I was asking if you told Jax about the baby yet.”

She bit her lip. “Not yet.”

“Why not, Tae?”

“Don’t get onto me. I told you. I’ll tell him when I’m ready.”

“Tell me why you’re
not
ready.”

“I…”

He glanced at her, waiting, and she sighed, spreading her hands. How did she explain having him come along with her to her appointment made things worse for her rather than better? Jax had accused her of sleeping with Daniel multiple times trying to get pregnant. Of course he was wrong, but that didn’t stop her from liking him here now. If she told Jax, then what? Would he want to be here, too? She’d slept with him, and it was good as hell, but she never imagined it going further, of them doing the whole domestic thing. Yet, the longer she delayed telling him the truth, the harder it became to do it. Her selfishness knew no bounds, but even realizing that didn’t propel her.

“It was my fault. I should have asked him to use a condom.”

Daniel winced at her candor.

“I knew I wasn’t on the pill because I hadn’t been with anyone for a while.”

This time he looked hard at her, and she hated the hope she saw in his gaze. “So you haven’t been with anyone since me…and Jax.”

“I didn’t say that.” He didn’t need to know the truth.

“I’m not going to lie, Tae.” He pulled to a stop at a red light and twisted to face her. “I’d give anything for that baby to be mine.”

“Don’t say that!!”

“Why not?” He touched her cheek, and an overwhelming urge to lean in to the touch assailed her. She found the strength not to but moving out of reach didn’t happen.

“Because you’re married.”

“I’m separated.”

“No different. I don’t get involved with married men.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that you do.”

Embarrassed that she’d jumped to conclusions, she stared out the window and squeezed her fingers together so tight they hurt. If her hands stayed in her lap, she couldn’t reach out to touch him as he did her, tempting beyond all reason.

“You’re not being fair, Daniel.”

“I don’t mean to be a jerk.”

She laughed. “You a jerk? That could never happen. Alise doesn’t know what she’s screwing up.”

He tapped her cheek, and she turned to look at him. Her heart leaped in her chest just gazing into his eyes. “I won’t lie and say I don’t love you anymore, Tae. You will always be important to me. Like I said, I’d give anything to be the father of your child.”

“Because you always wanted a family.”

Daniel had an older brother he wasn’t close to, and his parents had moved to Florida the second he turned eighteen and left him in Charlotte to fend for himself. Tae had always found it funny how kind and warm he turned out despite his past.

“Not just that,” he said. “A child needs an attentive father.”

He made it sound like Jax would never be. Daniel knew Jax better than she did.

“I know I’m not being fair to my friend, but I never thought I would feel like I’m competing with him for you and for your baby.”

Tae swallowed. This conversation had gone way beyond what she’d intended. While hearing Daniel say he loved her gave her the greatest thrill of her life, guilt weighed on her shoulders like a boulder. Jax deserved to be allowed the chance to be a part of his baby’s life, even if he didn’t love her. He didn’t deserve them judging him to be less than Daniel would be as a daddy.

“This isn’t a competition,” she said. “I’m going to tell him, and you are my friend and nothing more. I need you to be clear about that.”

“Do I hear an
or
in there somewhere?”

Daniel pulled into the parking lot outside her doctor’s office, so she had an excuse not to answer. When he switched off the car, she unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car. She left him to follow her into the office and was soon called to go to the back.

The nurse winked and held the door for her. “Daddy can come too if you want.”

Tae’s steps faltered. “He’s not—”

“Thanks,” Daniel interrupted. “Don’t mind if I do.”

Tae frowned at him and placed a hand in the middle of his chest to stop him. “You can wait out here. I won’t be long.” Disappointment colored his face, but he didn’t argue, and Tae escaped through the door. Touching Daniel and having him so close, so sweet, was more than she could handle. From now on, she would need to keep him at a distance. When the door shut, cutting him off from view, she faced the nurse. “He is a friend, and I’m pretty sure my business shouldn’t be blurted out in the waiting room, especially since I haven’t even had a blood test yet to confirm the home test I took. At least that’s the little I read about before I came here. Am I wrong?”