Page 59 of Mister Daddy

Carter wobbles in front of me like he might pass out. He sits down on the bed to prevent his face from meeting the floor.

“We have a child?” he asks quietly, sounding like a child himself. “Or did I misunderstand?”

“We do,” I say. I don’t know what more he was going to say, but I don’t want him to think for a second that I terminated the pregnancy. “His name is Timmy.”

“Is he here?”

I shake my head. “My mom is watching him for the week.”

He nods, still looking shell shocked. I sit down next to him on the bed and take his hand. Finding out you’re a father is huge, and yelling at each other isn’t going to help matters.

“I think we need to talk about last year,” I say.

“Did you know you were pregnant when you cut me out of your life?”

I squint at him.

“Carter, I didn’t cut you out of my life. Why do you keep saying that?”

“That last day, I thought things were going well. I thought we were going to make plans to meet up when I came back to Miami. Then you never called; you never emailed. You didn’t give me your contact information either. Did you “forget” because you didn’t want me to know my son?”

“That’s not what happened,” I say quietly but firmly. “I tried to call you that night, but the number I got was disconnected. The email came back undeliverable.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not possible. Miss Havisham told me she gave you my cell and my email address. She wouldn’t lie to me.”

“She gave me a number and an email address, but neither of them worked. And for the record, I didn’t know I was pregnant then. I didn’t find out until two months after the cruise. As soon as I found out though, I tried calling again, but it didn’t go through. As a result, I assumed you told your secretary to give me fake contact info. If you didn’t want me to be in touch, then I wasn’t going to push it.”

“But you were pregnant with my son!”

“I know,” I say. “I was hurt, and I didn’t want to bother you if you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I could have been there for you. Iwouldhave.”

I know that now. I don’t know how I ever thought he wouldn’t, or that he’d offer me money and nothing else. Carter was so loving and caring during our week together. Of course he would be amazing with a baby.

“I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to contact you. I could have called the cruise line or tried to talk to your parents or something…”

He puts a gentle hand on my arm. “No, no, I’m the one who’s sorry. I get why you didn’t. It’s the same reason I didn’t ask the cruise staff for your number. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

I have to laugh at the ridiculous situation we’ve found ourselves in.

“I wanted everything to do with you. I was so hurt when I couldn’t get in touch with you.”

“So was I!” he admits. “I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you, Abby. It killed me that you didn’t love me, or so I thought.” He pauses for a minute. “I think I need to fire my secretary. She’s really scatterbrained and getting up there in the years. I think maybe she accidentally gave you the wrong contact information. She sabotaged us without knowing it.”

“I’m sorry. I know you really love Miss Havisham.”

“I do. But I love you more. And it’s time to let her go.”

We sit in silence for a while, but there’s something else he needs to know.

“I never got over you, and I haven’t let another man touch me since. Not that I had the option. In general, men don’t want to date a pregnant woman.”

His eyes flare a deep blue color.

“Abby, that makes me feel so good inside. And just FYI, I haven’t slept with anyone else either. I didn’t want to. You ruined me for other women.”

“Good,” I say, kissing him. “Because you’re all mine.”