“It was spontaneous,” he murmured.
“And I’m not some bitch who wants to ruin your life or anything, but I’m just a nursing school student and I don’t have any money. I can’t even afford maternity jeans, let alone a thousand-dollar sonogram.”
“Of course I’ll help you. I’ll pay for everything, don’t worry about it.”
Eve made a sound that was something like a growl. “What the hell? He needs to let her know that we’re having a DNA test done the minute she pushes that baby out. I don’t trust this chick.”
But even as it splintered her heart and hollowed her soul to know that she wouldn’t be the first woman to give her husband a baby, his own flesh and blood, Kendall knew she wouldn’t love him if he were the kind of man who would give this girl the cold shoulder. Who demanded a DNA test five minutes after getting the news of his possible paternity. He was doing the right thing, and she was pleased with that at the same time that she was appalled at the situation.
“Where are you staying? If you need money for rent, let me know. Was it safe to fly out here, by the way?”
“It’s fine for another two months. It was Nikki’s idea. She’s sick of me crying all the time.” Sara sniffled. “I can’t seem to stop, sorry.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I think you’re handling this great.”
That concern in his voice, that gentle tenderness, turned Kendall’s heart to stone.
“Have you been eating enough? You’re super skinny, you know. Maybe I should take you to a nutritionist.”
Kendall dropped the pillow. Eve was right. She didn’t want to hear this. Setting the beer down on the coffee table, she headed for the bedroom.
“Kendall . . .”
But she ignored Eve, shut the door behind her, and locked it.
EVAN didn’t know what to think, to feel, to do. He had sent Sara back to Nikki’s with the eighty bucks he’d had in his wallet, which at best was paltry, at worst insulting. But she looked so desperately like she needed lunch, and while he knew Nikki was sponsoring her trip, he wasn’t sure how much Sara was willing to ask Nikki for.
The truth was, he didn’t know squat about Sara. He had only met her that one night, and he’d been buzzed and she’d been loaded.
Now they were having a baby. Jesus.
Going into his motor home, he headed straight for the kitchen cabinet that held the whiskey. He needed a drink, desperately. Eve was leaning on the counter drinking a beer. Actually, she was sucking the last drops down and going to the fridge for another.
“Helluva day, huh?” she asked.
“That is the biggest understatement of the decade.” He splashed the amber whiskey into a juice glass. “I don’t even know what to say. Where’s Kendall?”
He wanted to explain to her, he wanted her advice and her opinion on what the hell he was supposed to do.
“She’s in the bedroom with the door locked and she won’t come out.”
Great. He took a liberal swallow of liquor, gritting his teeth against the burn. “I’m going to go talk to her. Thanks for helping.”
“I meant to arrange for a private meeting. I didn’t expect the girl to ambush you at the gate.”
“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “We needed to talk.”
“But not standing around outside. This is going to get out, you know.”
Evan couldn’t even think about that. All he cared about was his wife and that baby.
“At least when that chick tried to pin paternity on Elec I knew it wasn’t his kid. But this is trickier. We won’t know until she gives birth if you’re really the father or not.”
“Why would she lie about that?”
Eve gave him an incredulous look. “Um, because let’s see . . . if the possible daddies are you or a guy she hooked up with at a bar, which one do you think she’s going to go with?”
He knew Eve had a point, but how could Sara look him in the eye and lie about something as important as this? He was inclined to believe her.
“I guess we can ask her to keep it on the down low until the baby’s born. But I need to do something to help her.”
“What you need to do is go talk to your wife. I don’t think she appreciated for one minute hearing you fawn all over that girl.”
“Fawn over her?” Evan took another sip of the whiskey. “I wasn’t doing that!”
“Word to the wise, no woman wants to hear her husband worrying over what some other woman is eating.” With that, Eve set her beer down on the counter and said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Evan got what Eve was saying, but what the hell was he supposed to do? Sara was pregnant. Wasn’t it right and appropriate and all that to be concerned about her, and the baby’s health? And he didn’t know what he was doing here. This was all brand-new, shocking information he’d just gotten. He was bound to do or say something wrong as he bumbled his way through this.
So he went to his bedroom door and knocked gently, trying the handle. It was locked. “Kendall? Can I come in, baby?”
Her voice was muffled and hoarse, like she’d been crying. “Can you just go away please? I need to be alone right now.”
He didn’t like that answer. He wanted to hold her, to reassure her, hell, to have her reassure him that this was all going to be okay. “We need to talk about this.”
“Talk about what? The fact that you’re having a baby with someone else? The single most important bond two people can share?”
Evan sighed, resting his head on the door. He tried the knob again, like somehow it would magically open. “What about the bond of marriage? That’s equally as important.”
She didn’t answer him.
The nausea he’d been fighting all day was now a burning hole in his gut. “You have a past. I have a past. What if I told you I had herpes or something? Would you refuse to speak to me?”
“It’s not the same thing!”
Maybe it wasn’t. But everyone made mistakes. They’d both made their fair share. This wasn’t ideal, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the result of this mistake was a child, and even in his horror, Evan had to admit he was a little awed at that prospect. He also firmly believed that this baby shouldn’t be punished for the mistakes her parents had made.
“Well, explain to me what it is. Let’s talk about it, get our feelings out. Figure out what we’re going to do.”