Page 69 of Surprise Baby for Mr. Fischer

“A little,” I whispered. “It’ll make when you leave a lot harder.”

His fingers tipped my chin up. “But I’ll come back, Harper. I’m not going to lie and say I’m giving up acting, but I can promise I won’t walk away. The two of you are part of my life now. I’m in this with you for the long haul. I'm not going anywhere.”

“But the press.” A sharp pain hit my chest.

“Knows nothing right now,” he said quietly.

I clutched my stomach as nausea rolled through me. “We can’t hide the baby forever.”

“No, we can’t. I really should reach out to my publicist soon, so she’s aware of the situation.”

I shook my head. “Not yet. The more people that know, the easier it is for the news to leak.”

“Harper, the news could find out anyway. People are going to notice sometime soon that I’m still here or that I keep coming back.”

“Please, Lincoln.” My voice broke. “Give me a little more time.”

He sighed and kissed the top of my head. “If that’s what you want.”

I knew he wasn’t happy about it but I was grateful he gave in to me. “Thank you.”

He didn’t respond.

We jumped when the creak of the front door of Beautiful Bellies opened and the sound of a couple’s excited chatter made its way to us. They were too busy looking at their ultrasound photos to notice us.

Lincoln tightened his arms around me in a tender hug before stepping away. “Want to go back to my place? You can let me know what your parents want to eat, and we can order it on the way to their house later.”

I nodded. Already I missed his presence, and he’d only walked a few feet away to his car.

***

MY FATHER’S LOUD, BOISTEROUSlaughter filled the dining room. “You know, Lincoln. I didn’t think I’d like you at all. I’m happy you’re proving me wrong.”

We sat at my parent’s large oak dining room table. It seemed so much larger without my sisters crowded around it too. We had just finished our baked stuffed lobster from Mom’s favorite restaurant.

Dad was a big guy. He commanded people’s attention the moment he walked into the room. Lincoln and Dad were evenly matched in size, but Lincoln didn’t seem to notice as he cautiously regarded my father when he first walked into the house.

Lincoln smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

“Please, call me Tony. At this point, you’ve already gotten my daughter pregnant. We should probably be on a first-name basis at least.”

“Tony—” my mother whispered harshly.

“Dad—” I said at the same time.

Lincoln held out his hand. “It’s okay.” He looked at both my parents. “I want you both to know that if I’d known Harper was pregnant, I would have been here from the beginning.”

“Good, I like hearing that.”

“I know things have been unconventional between Harper and me, but I plan to be here for her and the baby.”

“Excellent.” Dad smiled. “Then maybe you can be the one to convince her traveling with the baby is foolish.”

Anger grabbed at my belly and flared into my chest. How dare Dad bring this up to Lincoln! Did he really think that Lincoln would change my mind? This was ludicrous that he’d trust a guy’s opinion he just met over mine.

Dad eyed Lincoln, waiting for him to respond.

Lincoln held Dad’s gaze, never wavering. “I will support Harper in anything she wants to do.”