He folded his arms over his chest, the swivel chair squeaking back. “Are you trying to start a fight by bringing up Ross Ward?”
“Of course not. There’s no point. With DNA tests, it’s easy enough to prove paternity these days.”
Sebastian stood and paced away, resting his palms on the window ledge. His broad shoulders stretched the dark suit jacket as they rose and fell heavily. “We’re having a child.”
It still seemed surreal to her, too. “If all goes well.”
He pivoted hard and fast toward her. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t think so, but I only just ran a home pregnancy test this morning.”
He closed the steps between them. “You’re two months along and just figured it out today? You haven’t even been to a doctor?”
She fought the urge to stand and jab him in the chest. She would probably just faint at his feet again anyway. “Don’t raise your voice at me.”
He snorted on a laugh. “Now that’s a switch. Usually you’re the one shouting.”
“Sit down and listen, please.” She waited until he took his seat beside her, which placed his thigh and arms temptingly against hers.
Marianna swallowed hard and forged ahead. “I know it sounds strange, but at first, I couldn’t bring myself to believe I’m actually finally pregnant.”
“That’s what you wanted to talk to me about next week.”
“Yes, once I had a chance to confirm it with a doctor.”
She waited while he processed the information. This wasn’t going nearly as badly as she’d feared. Maybe in spite of all the harsh and hurtful words they’d tossed at each other over the years, they could be civil when it came to their child.
Sebastian slid his arm along the back of the sofa, almost touching her shoulders. “I still don’t understand one thing.”
She fidgeted, trying to ignore the warmth of him moving closer. She could not, would not let hormones muddy the waters between them, peace and objectivity all the more important with their child’s happiness in the balance. “What’s that?”
“If you took a pregnancy test this morning, why didn’t you tell me before the final divorce decree?”
Everything went still inside her until her pulse grew all the louder in contrast. So much for hoping this would go well.
She should have known he wouldn’t let that part pass, and maybe his driven persistence was the very reason she hadn’t told him. What if he’d tried to stop the proceedings? Her heart had been bruised enough by this man. She couldn’t have withstood hearing him say he wanted to stay married for the baby, especially since he’d only married her in the first place because of an unplanned pregnancy.
“Sebastian, this doesn’t change anything.”
“Like hell it doesn’t.”
She rose, at the end of her tether and in need of distance. “I will be in touch with you after I see my doctor.” She scooped up her portfolio and inched toward the door. “We have seven months left to settle visitation and child support.”
Just that fast, he stood behind her at the door, his breath hot on her scalp. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Do you really think I would have gone through with the divorce if you had told me?” He skimmed his knuckles along the back of her neck with a persuasive gentleness at odds with the terse edge to his words. “Or was that your intent all along in keeping this a secret? Making sure you could cut me out as much as possible?”
“That’s not fair.” Although she couldn’t ignore the grain of truth in what he’d said, she also knew she’d made the right choice. She turned to face him—and draw his enticing caress off her skin. “We were getting ready to contact divorce lawyers before when we heard about a baby girl coming up for adoption. We stayed together for Sophie, and it didn’t make any difference. If anything, we grew farther apart afterward. I can’t—I won’t—go through that again.”
“Don’t—” He held up a hand, his face tight, cold. “Don’t bring up her name just to derail this discussion.”
Eight months ago, she would have given anything to share comfort with him while they grieved over Sophie being taken away without warning. But he’d shut down, shut her out, left her basically alone to deal with the most emotionally-crippling event in her life.
She’d learned to stand on her own and she couldn’t sacrifice that hard-won ground now. “Oh, that’s right, we can’t talk about Sophie.” Her voice cracked but she plowed ahead. “We have to pretend the child we both loved for four months doesn’t even exist.”
“Fighting over the past doesn’t change the present.” He neatly dodged mentioning Sophie’s name yet again.
Marianna bit her lip until she tasted blood. Her chest heaved with emotion and the need to cry out her frustration. Was her well of tears bottomless after all? “Fine, you win on that one. I can’t take any more stress today.”
“I agree you need to stay calm. We have another more pressing issue anyway.”
“What now?” She didn’t have any reserves left to combat his doctor of jurisprudence skills at winning.
He reached for the doorknob, his other hand clamping gently but surely around her arm. “We’re going to find Dr. Cohen.”
She started to argue that she could find her own damn doctor when something he’d said earlier tickled through the anger to taunt her. She unpacked their conversation and realized, hey wait—He’d said he didn’t carry condoms because they didn’t need them, which led her to a heart-stuttering conclusion.
He didn’t carry them because even with their divorce in the works, he hadn’t been seeing anyone else.
“There’s your baby.” Dr. Cohen pointed to the ultrasound machine. “And that’s a healthy heartbeat.”Sebastian stared at the screen, unable to take his eyes off the tiny bean shape wriggling around. His child. In no universe had he predicted his day would turn out this way. At best, he’d expected his brothers to pour vintage bourbon down his throat until he could pass out and sleep away his first night of renewed bachelorhood.
Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined chasing down an ob-gyn at the courthouse and requesting she take a surprise drop-in client. And in the times he’d let himself consider the possibility of Marianna becoming pregnant, he definitely hadn’t thought they would both work to avoid touching and looking at each other.
Dr. Cohen typed commands on the keyboard, the image on the screen freezing as she readjusted Marianna’s gown and sheet. “And that’s all for today.” She patted Marianna’s arm. “Once you get dressed, stop by my office on your way out.”
Marianna’s hands fisted in the crackly paper covering on the exam table. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing that I can see.” Dr. Cohen slid on her glittery red glasses and jotted notations on the chart before slapping it closed. “I need to give you your prescription for prenatal vitamins. And if you opt to stay with me as your ob-gyn, we need to set up your next appointment.”
The ob-gyn reached beneath the monitor and came back with two black-and-white glossy photos. “A picture of the baby for both of you. Congratulations, Mom and Dad.”
Marianna reached to grasp the doctor’s hand. “Thank you for all your help and patience this afternoon. You’ve really gone above and beyond for us.”
“I imagine this has been a roller-coaster day. I’m glad to be of help.” Dr. Cohen pulled the privacy curtain aside, then in place again a second before the door clicked open and closed.
Marianna inched up, tucking the sheet around her. “Sebastian, could you please step outside?”
He tore his eyes from the photo to Marianna. The paper “blouse” and sheet strategically covered everything. But now that she mentioned it, he couldn’t help but think of her bare beneath those flimsy barriers.
Her br**sts seemed fuller—from the pregnancy?—tempting him to test their weight with his hands, explore the swell brought on from carrying his child. No matter how long they stayed apart, he would never forget the exact feel and shape of her.
He’d been her lover since they were eighteen years old. He’d become her husband when they found out she was pregnant. Interesting how life had a way of repeating itself.
“Sebastian—” Her indignant voice pulled him back into the sterile reality of the exam room.
“Relax, Marianna. I’ve seen you nak*d, and undoubtedly I’m going to see you that way again at future doctor visits. Then there’s the delivery—”
“Stop. You may have rights when it comes to your baby—” she shoved her tousled curls out of her face “—but we’re not married anymore, and that means no more nak*d fashion shows after I go shoe shopping.”
“Damn shame.” He plucked her slingbacks from the floor and set them on the exam table. “That’s a hot pair of silver heels you’re sporting.”
She opened her mouth, and he held up both hands, realizing he’d pushed his luck as far as he could for one day.
“I’m going. I’m going.” For now. “I’ll be waiting in the doctor’s office.”
He didn’t expect they would return to the way things were, but he resented being dismissed so easily. In fact, he didn’t intend to be dismissed from his child’s life at all. He hadn’t walked away from his responsibilities at eighteen, and he sure as hell didn’t intend to at twenty-seven.
Marianna might not know it yet, but theirs was going to be one of the shortest divorces on record.
Marianna hadn’t expected to end the day riding in Sebastian’s Beemer, and she resented being here now. Already he was taking over her life again—the doctor, the half-eaten hoagie in her lap. And while they’d been at Dr. Cohen’s, he’d arranged for his youngest brother, Jonah, to drive her car back to her house—their old home.Sebastian had simply stated he worried about her becoming dizzy behind the wheel even though pregnant women drove every day. Although she had to admit, this day wasn’t like any other. Surely when she woke in the morning she could take a calm moment to simply enjoy the photo of her baby, Sebastian’s baby.
Moon battling the sun, she studied her ex-husband’s stern profile as he drove past the golf course leading into the seaside subdivision where they’d built their two-story colonial dream house. Palmetto trees lined the road, marsh grass just beyond bordering the darkening seashore.
His family fortune and her inheritance from her parents had eased some of their earlier years when they both had been in college. Though they’d both rushed to graduate and start earning their own way. Maybe they would have split sooner if they’d been forced to struggle financially.
Marianna watched as they passed house after house, neighbor after neighbor. She’d been planning to move into a condo, away from memories. Now she didn’t know where she would live. She had so many plans to revise.