Page 13 of The Forgotten (Echoes from the Past #2)
TWELVE
Near Sheffield, England
“Move over and let me drive for a while,” Quinn said when they stopped at a petrol station to fill the tank and get a snack.
They were about halfway to Edinburgh, with at least another four hours ahead of them.
The day was fairly mild, a hazy winter sunshine lighting their way as they sped along.
The fields glistened with last night’s frost and the trees created intricate designs against the pale-blue sky.
“I’m all right,” Gabe protested as he turned toward the driver’s side.
“No, you’re not. You barely slept last night, and you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. You look like death warmed over,” Quinn said, exaggerating a bit to prove her point. “Here, I got you a ham sandwich and a cup of tea.”
Gabe smiled ruefully, knowing when he was beaten. “Yes, ma’am. I will eat the sandwich and take a nap. And if you do anything to my beloved Jaguar while I sleep, there will be hell to pay.”
“Oh, give me some credit,” Quinn protested. “I can drive in a straight line, and as long as some tree doesn’t jump out at me, I think I can manage to keep your ride safe.”
Gabe’s arched eyebrow said it all, but he obediently handed over the keys and settled into the passenger seat where he unwrapped the sandwich, made a face of distaste, but took a bite anyway, chewing obediently.
For someone who could barely boil an egg, Gabe was quite a connoisseur when it came to eating out, and a sandwich from the petrol station was not up to his usual standards.
“Just eat,” Quinn said, silencing whatever he was about to say. “You don’t have to enjoy it.”
Gabe took another bite, but his eyelids were already growing heavy, his body desperate for rest. He’d come to bed late last night, and after tossing and turning for several hours was up just after 3 a.m. Quinn had found him lounging on the sofa when she woke up, with some awful horror movie from the 1970s playing on the screen.
Quinn reached over and took the hot cup out of Gabe’s hand just before he nodded off, his half-eaten sandwich forgotten.
She hoped that the motion of the car would lull him into a deep sleep; he needed it.
Quinn put on her sunglasses and stepped on the gas pedal.
The Jaguar purred and sprang into life, chewing up the miles as she sped toward Scotland.
It was still early enough that there weren’t too many cars on the road, so Quinn could relax and enjoy the ride.
She had to admit that she welcomed a little bit of solitude.
Gabe’s news knocked her for a loop, and in her effort to support him as he rode his emotional roller coaster, she’d had virtually no time to analyze her own reaction to the sudden change in their lives.
Quinn stared straight ahead as she mulled over the situation.
She wasn’t upset with Gabe for fathering a child.
He was a man in his late thirties, and had enjoyed his share of relationships over the past two decades.
He’d done nothing wrong, and the only one to blame in this situation was Jenna McAllister, who chose not to tell Gabe that he had a child.
Quinn could understand her motives, but she was angry on Gabe’s behalf, knowing how much he would have cherished time with Emma.
He’d missed a crucial part of her childhood, time that he’d never get back.
And now he was coming to her a stranger, a man she’d never met rather than a father she loved and could turn to for comfort.
Quinn sighed. She’d indulged in several daydreams over the past two months in which she and Gabe had a baby, but she certainly hadn’t expected that the baby would come before the wedding or would be four years old.
Quinn’s heart went out to the little girl who’d just lost her mother and grandmother, but she wouldn’t be honest with herself if she said that she wasn’t just a tiny bit resentful.
This was her time to obsess over wedding gowns, choose flowers, and bask in the love of her fiancé; instead, she was about to become a stepmother to a child she’d never met, who would probably completely take over Gabe’s heart and leave her out in the cold.
Quinn knew she was being melodramatic, but truth be told, she was scared that Emma would replace her in Gabe’s affections.
What if he decided to call off the wedding and focus on Emma instead?
Would Quinn understand or feel hurt and betrayed?
She supposed that if Gabe wanted to put their plans on hold, she would support him in his decision, despite her hurt.
She wanted to marry him and begin their life together, not spend a year or more in a holding pattern, waiting for Gabe to get to a place where he felt like he could commit to her without disrupting Emma’s life.
Quinn reached for Gabe’s mobile and opened the picture Mrs. Lennox sent her.
Looking at her from the screen was an adorable little girl, her dark-blue eyes huge in a heart-shaped face, which was framed by dark waves that reached to her shoulders.
She looked heartbreakingly like her father, a female version of the boy he had been.
Emma was lovely, and visibly traumatized by the events of the past week and a half.
Quinn smiled at the picture of Emma, angry with herself for being such a shrew.
This child needed her, and she would love her as if she were her own daughter.
And if Gabe needed time, then she would give him all the time in the world because for the first time in her life, she was truly in love and loved in return, and she would do nothing to jeopardize that.