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He came up behind her. "Have you got an extra cup?" he asked hesitantly.
"Sure. Where would you like it?" She turned, finding him much too close. She backed away a
little. "I can think of a perfect place."
"My insurance doesn't cover that," he murmured dryly, and a faint smile touched his hard
mouth.
"The cups are up there," she gestured vaguely, turning back to the worn sofa with her own hot
cup.
She heard the cupboards open and close. There was a long silence before she heard coffee being
poured into a cup. He opened the refrigerator and there was an even longer pause. It wasn't
until she heard the rough sigh that she realized what he was thinking. All she had in the way of
groceries were milk and cheese, courtesy of a special nutrition program for pregnant women, a
few slices of bread and some canned soup, with only a few staples. She was going to the store
tomorrow to stock up again. But she knew exactly what he was thinking when she got a look at
his face.
"I'm not going to starve," she said, putting on a magnificent front.
"Tomorrow is grocery day."
His eyes went over her as he cradled the cup in his hands. "Nutrition is important," he began.
"Especially in the first few months!"
"No!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't my obstretrician tell me?"
"When you visit him, that is? Janet said you'd cut your visits to the bone."
"My life is none of your business," she told him.
"Do your parents know?"
Her face went pasty white. She clenched her teeth and stared down into the cup in her lap.
"No."
"Oh, boy," he whistled through his teeth. He sat down beside her. "I thought you'd have told
them."
"My parents aren't the kind of people who have unwed mothers for daughters," she said sadly.
"My mother has a heart condition, and any kind of shock could kill her. They're deeply religious
people, Cul.
They raised me in the church."
"All right, then, I'll take care of you," he said, as if the thought of it galled him to the back
teeth.
Her head lifted, and her eyes scorched him. She shook her head. "No way, honey. I'd take help
from an armed robber before I'd take it from you."
"You can't live like this," he began.
"Other people do. I'll make out. You just mind your own complicated love life, sweet man, and
Junior and I will take care of each other.
When he's old enough," she amended.
He stared at her stomach again and dragged his eyes away. "You need food."
"I'm not starving," she grumbled. "I'm just careful. I wouldn't endanger the baby for the world.
But I can't have everything I'm just cutting back a little."
"You shouldn't have to!" he shot at her. He glared down at the coffee cup. "The baby's father
should be looking after you."
"Why?" she asked reasonably. "It's my baby."
"You didn't make it all by yourself."
"Like hell I didn't," she replied hotly. "According to you, that's exactly how it happened!"
He got up, livid with controlled fury. He stared down at her violently for an instant before he
drained his cup and put it on the coffee table.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," he said after a minute. "I'd better go."
"What a lovely idea." She batted her long eyelashes up at him. "Do give my love to Mary or
Kate or Gail or Beverly or whoever you're sleeping with these days."
That made him even madder, but he managed not to answer back.
"Goodnight," he said as he turned to go-
"I'll see to it that Janet never bothers you again," she called after him. "Even if I have to gag
her."
The door slammed furiously behind him. And with that angry face out of sight, all her borrowed
composure vanished. She caught her breath slowly, grateful that she'd been able to keep him
from seeing how helpless she really was. Now he wouldn't believe what Janet had told him. He'd
go away and leave her alone, and she could try to find some peace.
The man standing outside her apartment building in the rain was unaware of her vulnerabilities.
He was letting the misty wetness collect around his blond hair, on his gray suit, without even
feeling it. Why wouldn't she admit the truth? Why was she trying to make him feel responsible
for her pregnancy? Didn't she know what it was doing to him?
He walked down the sidewalk, merging with the crowds, feeling alone and vaguely helpless. Her
words haunted him. She'd said that she was too besotted with him to have another lover, and it
made sense. That was why it was so terrible, because it was logical. He'd never have believed
she could go from him to another man. He couldn't accept that.
But...
Yes, he thought. But...
His doctor had been so certain. He strained, trying to remember the exact words. Highly
unlikely, the man had said. It was highly unlikely that he would ever father a child. His eyes
narrowed. That meant.. .it could be possible.
But as soon as the thought came, he dismissed it. Bett was playing games with him. She was
paying him back for walking out on her, and nothing more. Perhaps she wasn't even as far along
as she'd made out, perhaps it had happened soon after he'd left for Hollywood.
He had himself almost convinced. Until he remembered that only three weeks had transpired
from his departure to her pregnancy. And that roundness, that mound of her belly, was real. It
hadn't happened in his absence. It had to have happened while they were lovers. And that hurt
most of all.
He found himself at the corner grocery, gathering up food in a basket.
Well, she had to eat. Whoever the child belonged to, he couldn't very well let it starve. He
allowed himself to wonder if it would be a boy or a girl. He smiled softly, thinking about Bett's
unusual coloring, her reddish-gold hair and dark eyes and pale complexion with just a scattering
of freckles over the bridge of her pretty nose. He sighed. A little girl like that would be
beautiful. She'd wear frilly dresses and little boys would follow her around, and one day she'd
start dating and big boys would follow her around. His face hardened. He'd kill any boy who
messed around with his little girl! Of course, he reminded himself, it wouldn't be his little girl
"I said, is that all, sir?" the grocery boy asked a second time, as politely as he could. The man
looked like a potential homicidal maniac.
"What?" Cul cleared his throat. He hadn't even realized that he was being checked out. "Oh,
yes, that's all, thanks." He produced his wallet with a sheepish grin and paid the boy.
All the way back to Bett's apartment, he was thinking about the baby.
It wouldn't hurt him to take care of her. He could well afford it. He wanted a baby so much, he
wanted something to love and spoil. Love was the one commodity that had been lacking in his
own life. He'd never known much about his parents, having spent most of his young life in an
exclusive boarding school. His parents hadn't really wanted him. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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