Page 20 of Love’s Patient Journey (The Relinquished #2)

J enna woke the next morning to the sound of Zac giggling.

She stretched and smiled at the way her son laughed.

Mid-stretch, she froze, remembering her breakup with Ryan.

But then, why was she hearing his voice talking to Zac?

She quickly pulled on her robe, covering Ryan’s Navy t-shirt that she liked to sleep in.

It was the only thing he would let her sleep in.

It was either his shirt or naked, and with a toddler in the next room, she always chose his shirt.

Jenna padded down the hallway to where all the commotion was coming from and found Zac midair with Ryan standing underneath him, arms stretched wide, ready to catch the squealing toddler.

She didn’t know what to make of the scene, which was probably apparent by the way she stood staring at the two of them with her mouth gaping open.

“Um, what exactly is going on here?” She tried not to sound too stern, for Zac’s sake, but Ryan had to know that this was unacceptable. Still, she didn’t want to frighten Zac by yelling at a man that he adored.

“Hi, princess,” Ryan smiled and winked at her. “We men are getting ready for the day. Zac has had a diaper change, and he’s chosen, what I think, is a winning outfit for a busy day at preschool.”

Again, Jenna just stood staring at the two of them, mouth open, not knowing what her next sentence should be.

She wanted to yell, stomp her feet, and punch the wall—or Ryan, for that matter.

But the other half of her wanted to run into his arms and tell him how much she loved him; how much she needed him.

Fortunately, her stubborn, mad side was winning out.

“I’m a little confused, Ryan,” she said with a little more heat, “I thought we agreed that you would not be coming over anymore. That you and I would not be seeing each other anymore.” She couldn’t help but notice Zac’s disappointment at her words.

Her poor baby kept looking between Ryan and herself, just as confused as she felt a few minutes earlier.

“Ry, no go bye-bye. Ry, stay here with me.” Yeah, this was not a conversation that they should be having in front of her two-year-old.

“Listen, buddy, you finish getting dressed, and I will meet you downstairs. I am gonna make pancakes for you and mommy, and then I will take you to school.” Ryan put her toddler down, and Zac got to work dressing himself, just as instructed.

Geeze, how did Ryan get her son to listen?

Their morning routine was enough to drive Jenna to the crazy house, and here Ryan mastered it in just a couple of months of being around her son.

Ryan started past Jenna, grabbing her hand and yanking her with him, out of Zac’s bedroom.

“Ryan, I think—” He pulled her into her hallway and pushed her up against the wall with a little thud.

As soon as he was pressed up against her body, his mouth was on hers, taking and pushing her further.

His tongue demanded entry, and his hands were under her little robe, lifting the hem of her t-shirt to find that she had no panties on.

The revelation seemed to drive him even crazier.

His hands were all over her ass and working their way up when she started to pull away.

“Mmm, I missed you, honey. I can’t stand to be away from you, even for a night.” Ryan tried to take her mouth again, and she pulled back.

“Ryan, no.” Jenna could feel the heat coming from his body, and all she wanted to do was strip down and let him take her against the wall in her hallway.

“We can’t do this anymore—we broke up, in case you forgot.

” Jenna was doing everything in her power to shove his heavy body from hers, but she gave up with a huff, feeling sick.

She must have looked as green as she suddenly felt because Ryan moved out of her way.

She ran into her master bathroom and made it to the toilet just in time.

Before she knew what was happening, Ryan was holding her hair back from her face and rubbing her back while she puked.

“No—” she gurgled, swatting futilely in his direction. “Can’t see me like this.”

“Jenna, baby,” he crooned, still stroking her back, “It’s been over a month since you caught this flu. Zac is better, but you can’t seem to shake it. Maybe you should see the doctor.” He wiped her mouth with some tissues and got her a warm washcloth to clean up.

“I’m all right, just all this stress makes me nauseous.

I need a break from life, from all this stress, from us, Ryan.

You need to give me some room.” She looked at his reflection in her bathroom mirror and saw his determination.

She wasn’t going to win this argument easily.

She suddenly felt very tired and wasn’t sure that she wanted to argue at all.

Defeated, she decided that silence was her only way out of this conversation.

After breakfast, she would run Zac to school and head to work. Ryan surely couldn’t follow her there.

“How about you take a shower and get dressed. You need to relax, and I am here to help you and to take care of Zac. The sooner you get that through your thick skull, the faster we can move past this little bump.”

“Little bump? Is that what you call derailing my life and making all my decisions for me? I call that being an alpha control freak, Ryan.” Jenna tried to push him out of her bathroom, but he was like an immovable wall. Smiling, he bent and kissed her forehead.

“Now you’re starting to understand me, honey.

I told you from the start, baby, I like to be the one in control, and I take care of what is mine.

You and Zac are mine now. I love you, Jenna, and even if you refuse to tell me that you love me, I can see it in your eyes.

I would never make a decision for you that would hurt you.

I knew that Jake would talk to me, that he would accept my deal.

We used to be best friends; we grew up together.

If you had gone in to ask him to sign those damn papers, he would have taunted you and laughed in your face.

I did what I had to do for you and Zac. Hell, for me—I want to be Zac’s dad.

I want to marry his mama, and I want us to be a family.

” Ryan pulled her into his arms, and damn it, her traitorous body willingly melted into his hold.

“How about what I want, Ryan? Have you ever considered what I want or even need from you?” Jenna pulled back to look up into his green eyes.

She needed to see for herself if he was getting what she was saying to him.

“I need to have my voice, my opinion heard. I need to have some control over my own life. It’s not fair for you to come into our lives and expect me to just let you take over.

I haven’t had a partner since Zac was born, and now, you want me to not only let you be my partner, my husband, but to surrender all my control to you.

I just don’t know if I can do that. I want us to be a team, but to do that, you have to start including me in our decisions.

You need to let me be a part of making the plans.

” Ryan started her down, and she knew that he heard her; she just hoped that he understood.

“I get it, Jenna, and I will try to ease up on my control issues. I just need the chance to prove to you that we are good together. We are a great team. I promise that I will try to consider your feelings before I go off and try to fix everything. Fair?” Jenna nodded and wrapped her arms around Ryan’s middle again, snuggling into his hold.

“Well,” she paused for a moment, “You don’t have to ease up on your control issues in the bedroom,” she wiggled into his body, giggling.

Ryan grabbed her ass and squeezed, “That’s not a problem, baby.

I plan on controlling you very well this evening!

” He pressed his lips to hers, giving her ass a quick smack.

“Now, how about you get this cute little ass in the shower, and I’ll wrangle up a toddler and make breakfast?

” Jenna laughed, shaking her head as he sauntered out of her bathroom.

A few seconds later, she could hear Ryan growl, followed by her happy, squealing son, as they ran down the stairs together.

Well, at least someone was having a good morning.

Jenna knew that Ryan was right; she had been sick for a lot longer than Zac.

She didn’t think that she still had a virus, though.

She tried to ignore the signs, telling herself that it just couldn’t have happened again.

But Jenna knew all the symptoms—she wasn’t eating very much, her boobs were swollen and sensitive, and she was puking every morning.

To top it all off—she was late. She was hoping that she would get her period for about two weeks now, and she prolonged taking the test, knowing that her chances weren’t the best. And, as long as she didn’t know for sure, she could deny what she feared was the truth.

The first night she and Ryan were together, they didn’t use anything.

She didn’t want to be pregnant again, especially now that their relationship was so rocky.

Fear gripped her as she thought about Ryan wanting to do the right thing by her and the baby.

She knew that he would insist on being a part of that baby’s life and, ultimately, hers.

She just couldn’t give him that power without really knowing how she felt about him still.

She knew that she was in love with him, but could she truly get past the control that he seemed to need?

It was now or never; she pulled out the pregnancy test that she had picked up a week ago and didn’t even bother with the directions.

She remembered all too well how these little things worked.

She peed on the stick and got into the shower while it “cooked”.

She even took some extra time in the shower, not wanting to see the plus sign that she knew would be waiting for her.