The Sweetest September (Home in Magnolia Bend) Read Online Free PDF Page B

apologize.”
    Shelby’s sculpted eyebrows lifted. “Oh. Thank you for apologizing.”
    “I know this is a hard situation. I’m not asking you to do anything other than stay a day or two so we can figure some things out together. Obviously, you’ve been carrying this burden by yourself. Maybe you could use my help. Maybe fate threw us together and gave us, uh, a baby for a reason. So whether you wanted me involved or not, I am.”
    Shelby looked annoyed. “You’re making this complicated. It’s not. I’m pregnant. I’m having a baby. I’m making the decisions. You provided the sperm. Job over.”
    “No. It’s not that simple and you know it. I’m not going away just because you want me to. You’re not being fair.”
    “What? I’m being more than fair. I flew down to tell you. I didn’t have to do that.”
    “But you did. It was the right thing to do, and you can’t legally keep me out of the child’s life. I’m the father. You said so yourself.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you doing this? I live thousands of miles away. I can’t give you what you’re asking for.”
    “Well, I’m not satisfied being a phantom figure who mails a check once a month. Is that what you thought I would do? Never want to see my child?”
    Anger burgeoned in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have come.”
    “But you did.”
    “So you keep reminding me,” she said. “I only wanted to tell you about the baby. I didn’t want anything else from you...not even a check.”
    “Too bad.” John stood and scooped up her cup. He walked to the counter and set the half-filled cup in the depths of the scarred farm sink. His feelings were twisted into a giant ball of so many emotions he couldn’t begin to identify them, but in the midst of the disappointment, regret and anger was something that surprised him.
    Joy.
    Seemed impossible, since he hadn’t felt an inkling of happiness in well over a year. But despite feeling out-and-out terror, inside John thrilled at the warm thought of a child in his life. “We made a mistake a few months back. Not you. Not me. We. Which means going forward is something we’ll do together.”
    Shelby eyed the empty spot where her tea had been. “Why did you pick up my tea? And why do you think you have the right to decide anything about my future?”
    John eyed the cup in the sink before turning back to her. “Sorry.”
    She glared at him.
    “You’re carrying something inside of you who is as much a part of me as you. You would deny me the right to know my own son or daughter?”
    Shelby paled but said nothing.
    For a few minutes, they stared at each other, once strangers with a compulsion...an urge to feel something that dark September night, now tied together by the tiny life growing within Shelby.
    “I need to use your restroom before I head back to Baton Rouge,” Shelby said, her voice firm and teacherlike. She seemed set on ignoring his last question. As if she could make him go away.
    John studied her, seeing too much or maybe not enough of the woman beneath the highlights and sophisticated clothes. The woman beneath the expensive leather boots and jewelry that probably cost more than his broken-down truck. This was a woman nothing like his wife. But this was a woman he wasn’t going to run from this time. He conceded the battle, but the fight wasn’t over. “Down the hall to your left.”
    She stood up too quickly and hit the table with her thigh. His beer fell, emptying its contents on the table he’d inherited from his grandmother May Claire. He scooped the bottle from the table, droplets of yeasty beer mixing with the scent he remembered from that night long ago—a sultry warmth that belonged to a woman he’d never thought to see again.
    A scent that belonged to a woman who carried a part of his future.
    John grabbed a dish towel and wiped up the spilled beer, wishing he could fix his world as easily.
    * * *
    S HELBY WALKED QUICKLY down the dim hallway, looking for the