“Bullshit Cobie. You knew shit would hit the fan if your brother ever found out what happened. Why the fuck would you tell him?” I took a step toward her, wanting her to look at me.
Keeping her eyes from looking at me her voice cracked when she said, “I had to tell him.”
Feeling my temper rise. I angrily bit out, “What? Why the hell would you have to tell him? Are you fucking Catholic, did you have to repent your sins and he was the priest? There is not one goddamn reason he needed to know.”
Cobie finally looked me in the eyes. Her dark brown eyes filled with tears. Barely speaking she said, “I’m pregnant.”
I felt my throat tightening, it was hard to breath. I stared at her. She was pregnant? Just because she was pregnant doesn’t mean I’m the father. Right?
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
Letting a few tears escape she narrowed her eyes and venomously said, “You’re the fucking father, Gage. What the hell do you think? You really think I would tell my brother we fucked for the hell of it? That night I walked away with a little more than a sexy memory. I got pregnant. By you.”
I was the father? I was going to be a father. Talking more to myself than Cobie I said, “Holy shit. I’m having a baby?”
Blinking a few times I stared at Cobie’s stomach. My baby was in there. Without thinking I started reaching out to touch her stomach.
Cobie flinched as my hand rested on her still flat stomach. Her tears falling freely now she muttered, “We’re having a baby.”
Taking two steps so I was standing flush with her, I pulled her head into my chest and wrapped my arms around her tiny body.
Cobie cried, “It was supposed to be one night. One night just turned into eighteen years. How can we be parents, Gage? We’re not together, hell we’re not even friends.”
Rubbing her back I said, “We will get through it. No, we’re not together but we will make it work.”
“I always pictured myself being married before having a baby. Not getting pregnant by my brothers best friend while I was still in college. This isn’t how my life was supposed to be.” Cobie sobbed, soaking my shirt.
Sighing I mumbled, “Nothing in life is what we planned. Life is misery.”
She sniffed and wiped under her eyes. Using her hands she pushed away from me. “Gage, I never meant for this to happen. I swear. If this is going to make you miserable, you don’t have to do it. I can do this on my own.”
Gripping both her shoulders, I leaned down and looked her in the eyes. “Cobie, I helped put you in this mess. I won’t walk away from it. I’m in this with you. This baby is the furthest thing from misery. Hell, this baby is the first thing to happen in my life lately that isn’t miserable. This is you and me for the next eighteen years, got it?”
Taking a deep breath she nodded. A small smile forming on her face. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to jump in not thinking then turn and run. I want our baby to have a daddy but more than that I want you to want to be a daddy. I don’t want you to feel forced.”
“Shut up. Just shut up. I want to be her daddy.”
This time I got a full blown smile when Cobie asked, “Did you just say her?”
Laughing I said, “Yep, I sure did.”
Lifting her hands she wrapped them around my back. “This is crazy, but right now I feel like everything will be okay. In some weird way we will find our own and be a family.”
Kissing her forehead I placed my hands on her waist. “We won’t be the normal Jones family but we will be us. I want to buy a house in Ohio for our family. A place our baby can call home. Our little girl, yes it will be a girl, will know that we love her. That’s all that matters. Fuck the rest of the world.”
Resting my head on hers we both shut our eyes.
“So I guess this means I won’t kick your ass?” Larkin asked. I could still here the anger and hurt in his voice. Cracking my eyes open I saw the forced half smile on his face.
She and I broke apart. Both of us taking a few steps away from each other. Jenna was slowly walking down the hall keeping her eyes on Larkin who was still standing in the doorway.
Cobie cleared her throat and fixed her brother with a pointed stare. “You can stop with the big brother shit. I told you I could handle this. I’m not your six year old little sister anymore. I’m having a baby, I’m growing up. You have to let me handle my life now.”
Holy shit. Was that tears in Larkin Nayler’s eyes?
Larkin furrowed his brows and said, “Cobie, I will always see you as my baby sister. I will always want to protect you.” Letting out a sigh he shut his eyes before continuing, “Cobie, you should know by now that I would kill to protect you. I wanted you to have every option in the world open to you. I didn’t want you to have to let go of your dreams because of some sillyass mistake.”
Jenna was standing at Larkin’s side, her left hand resting on her swollen stomach, the light from my room reflecting off her diamond ring. The ring Larkin had given her to replace the one that I had at given her when I promised her my forever. And damn if it didn’t still hurt.
Cobie took a deep, shaky breath. “I know you want to protect me and I’m glad. And when I was fourteen I needed your protection. But I’ve grown up.” She took a step closer to me, brushing my hand. “What Gage and I did, I could never call that a mistake because out of that we created our baby. I’m not giving up my dreams. Simply creating new ones. When you found out about Evie a few years ago, weren’t you the one that told me you would do anything, even give up football to be her father. But look, you didn’t have to give up your dream to be a daddy. You created a new dream that included your family. That’s what I will do.”
“Do you think I would let her give up her dream just because I got her pregnant? That’s not who I am. I know she wants to be a doctor and I will make sure that happens. Even if that means I get up at three in the morning to feed our baby. I would do it. This situation isn’t ideal but its reality. It happened and now we deal with it and move on. We have our baby and raise her together, even if we aren’t together. This is Cobie and I and we got this shit under control.” Looking from face to face I stopped when my eyes landed on Cobie. “I won’t let you give up your dream. I can get a house in Ohio and we will raise our baby there so you can finish school. When I can’t be there I will make sure someone is always there to help.”
“I swear man if you fuck up and hurt her or this baby not even Jenna can keep you safe. Hear me?” Larkin fixed his eyes on me.
Giving him a hard nod I said, “Heard.”
Now he is getting a little taste of what I went through three years ago.
Walking up to house number four of the day, Cobie and I were both getting tired and irritated. Hopefully this one had the ‘IT’ factor.
Outside it was nice. There was a long, gated drive surrounded by mature oak trees and wild flowers. The house itself was a traditional brick Tudor. Just off the side of the house was a large tree with a tire swing. I could picture myself pushing my little girl on the swing when she was older.
…”And this one is only five hundred and twenty thousand.” My relator’s, Colleen’s voice broke through my day dream. “So very much under what you wanted to spend.”
Smiling at her I asked, “How many bedrooms?”
“Five bedrooms with four and a half baths. There is also a pool slash guest house and a barn with six stalls.
Cobie’s eyes lit up when she heard stalls. She loved horses. I had learned that over the last two weeks. We had learned a lot about each other. She wasn’t just that girl I fucked in my office. She was the mother of my child. She had hopes and dreams. She was scared and insecure. She was funny and when she was nervous she would nibble her bottom lip. Sarcasm was her second language. She’s an amazing person and if things were different I could see myself falling in love with her.
But, things weren’t different and this was life. We would be friends and we would raise our baby. In a way I found myself loving her but something different from the way I love Jenna.
Cobie nudged my arm. “We could get the baby a horse, Gage!” She sounded so hopeful and excited.
Shaking my head I said, “Yep, we could. But first, let’s find a house for our baby to live in. Don’t really feel
