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I opened my latest doc and picked up where I had last left off. When I first started this job, I felt like I wasn’t qualified. I had never really been a writer, but I did know nonprofit work. The ins and outs of it, and that was what helped me. It wasn’t like I was writing fiction like Monica could with pretty prose and fanciful stories of love. I simply had to write the facts.
I began typing and finding my rhythm, which was why the knock at the door broke my stride, irritating me. I looked at the time again. It was barely 10:30 now. I knew Monica had said her meeting wouldn’t take long, but she hadn’t left that long ago and she had to commute back and forth to Manhattan. Maybe it really had been quick. I figured she must have forgotten her key.
“Coming,” I said softly as I pushed myself out of the desk chair, which I was surprised I hadn’t gotten stuck in yet. I should probably start working from the couch from now on. It would be more comfortable, anyway.
I walked over to the door and opened it. I was taken aback when I saw it wasn’t Monica. Instead, it was the last person I expected to see standing there with a bouquet of flowers and a familiar paper cup in his hands. I looked into his icy blue eyes and felt everything else fall around me.
Chapter 54
Daniel
I watched as Heart’s deep brown eyes found mine and widened in surprise. Her lips slightly parted as if she was about to say something, but nothing came out but a slight breath of air. We stood there staring at each other for a minute that felt like an eternity. An eternity I could stay in because it meant she was here with me.
I wondered what her next move would be. Would she shut the door in my face? Would she let me in? Would we hash it out right here? I stood tensely just outside her doorway with her familiar vanilla scent wafting into the hallway, captivating me even more. It felt like I was in some sort of dream.
She looked so effortlessly beautiful in an oversized light blue T-shirt that hugged her round belly and a pair of black bike shorts. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and her skin was flawlessly makeup-free. She clearly wasn’t expecting company, but it didn’t make her any less perfect.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as if realizing what she looked like, which was more than enough for me, but I could see her self-consciousness get the better of her. I wished I could reach out and touch her face. Make her see what I saw. Instead, I stood there and watched as her eyes fell to the ground, her hands moving to her stomach protectively. It broke my heart in that moment.
“Heart…” I started.
“What are you doing here?” she asked softly, still looking at the ground.
“I couldn’t stay away. I can’t stay away.”
“But I said…”
“I know what you said,” I interrupted, “But I don’t believe you. I refuse to believe we are better off apart and out of each other’s lives.”
“How can you say that?” she asked, raising her eyes and meeting my gaze.
I shifted my feet as her pointed gaze penetrated me. I couldn’t tell if she was about to yell at me or cry. Either one, I was ready to take. I knew that I deserved it.
“My whole life turned upside down after I met you. I got pregnant, lost my job, and found out the father of my baby was practically betrothed to someone else. It’s a mess. Us together is a mess. Why can’t you see that?” she pled.
“I know life didn’t go according to plan. Does it ever? I had no idea I would find you on that garden terrace and become completely enthralled with a stranger who was badmouthing me straight to my face. Believe me.”
Heart shook her head at the memory, a flush of color rising to her cheeks.
“But I wouldn’t take any of it back. Not one thing. Well, maybe a few things…but only where you got hurt. But meeting you, taking you home that night, realizing I was going to be a father. All of that I would do one hundred times over.”
She remained silent for a moment.
“Why?” she asked finally. Her eyes searched mine.
“Because this is the life I want.” I pointed between me and her.
“But you said…”
“What I said at that party was a lie. A stupid one to tell for the sake of my company. It was selfish and wrong, but most of all, it was a lie. A big, fat lie.”
“Then what’s the truth?” she asked.
“I want to be a dad. I want to be a dad more than anything, but I want to be one with you.”
My eyes fell to her stomach, which was even bigger than I remembered after our run-in at the doctor’s office. My heart swelled just thinking about the baby inside. How close it was to entering the world and how I might not have a chance to see it. It broke me.
Her hands clutched her stomach even tighter as my eyes remained where they were. How could I make her see?