He shoved his fingers through his thick hair again. “Jumping to conclusions,” he repeated incredulously. “Did you or did you not sleep with my best friend?”
She was amazed at the speed with which the conversation had veered from the subject of their daughter to the real source of Cody’s fury. He’d had well over a year to work up a good head of steam on the subject and clearly he intended to vent it now, unless she put a quick stop to it.
“I did not,” she told him quietly.
“See—” he began triumphantly. His expression suddenly faltered as her reply finally penetrated his thick skull. “You didn’t?”
“Never,” she said emphatically, her gaze unflinching.
“But I saw…”
“You saw exactly what I wanted you to see.” She shrugged. “Unfortunately, you leapt to the wrong conclusion.”
He stared at her blankly. “I don’t get it.”
It was time—way past time—to spell it out for him. “Brian and I had one date. It wasn’t even a date, really. It was a setup. Brian only went along with it because he knew I was crazy about you. You were supposed to get wildly jealous, realize you were madly in love with me, and propose. You were supposed to fight for me. You weren’t supposed to haul your butt out of town without looking back.”
“Jealous?” He stared at her in bemusement. “How the hell was I supposed to know that? You were in his arms. What was I supposed to think, that you were discussing the weather?” he asked in a tone loud enough to wake the dead.
“You’re shouting again,” she observed.
He scowled. “Well, so what if I am?”
Melissa chuckled despite herself. He was too darned stubborn to recognize even what was staring him straight in the face, much less the subtleties of the trap she had tried to spring on him. No wonder it had failed so miserably. She should have issued an ultimatum in plain English if she’d wanted him to marry her, not tried to trick him into recognizing his own feelings. As for right now, he obviously needed his present circumstances clarified for him.
“Mabel’s probably taking notes,” she stated patiently. “Eli may be calling the sheriff. Other than that, there’s no reason to quiet down that I can think of.”
Cody groaned and sank onto a stack of boxes. When he finally looked at her again, she thought she detected a hint of wonder in his eyes.
“Then the baby really is mine?” he asked quietly. “Jordan was right?”
“No doubt about it, at least in anyone’s mind except yours.”
His gaze honed in on hers and an expression of complete awe spread over his face. “I have a baby.”
“Actually, you have a toddler,” she corrected. “She’s thirteen months old.”
“Whatever,” he said, clearly unconcerned with the distinction. “Tell me everything. I want to know her name. How long you were in labor. What time she was born. I want to know what she likes to eat, whether she can talk, how many steps she’s taken, if she has allergies, what her favorite toy is. I want to know every last detail.”
The yearning behind his words struck her. He almost sounded as if he regretted missing out on so much. His eagerness was impossible to resist. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to see him with his daughter. It was something she’d dreamed about since the first moment the doctor had confirmed her pregnancy.
“Wouldn’t you rather just go and meet her?” Melissa inquired softly.
He nodded, apparently speechless again.
“I’ll speak to Eli and be right with you,” she promised.
“Don’t try ducking out the back,” he warned, but he was grinning when he said it.
“I’m not the one who runs,” she reminded him.
His comment might have been half-teasing, but hers was not. She wanted him to know that she was stronger now than she had been when he’d abandoned her. She wanted him to know that she was tough enough and secure enough to fight him for her daughter, if she had to.
But she also wanted him to see that she was brave enough to allow him into his child’s life, if he wanted a place there. This wasn’t about her any longer. It wasn’t about her feelings for Cody, though those clearly hadn’t died. This was about her daughter and what was best for her. It was about giving her child a chance to know her father.
Even so, as they walked down Main Street toward the tree-lined street where her family had lived her whole life, Melissa couldn’t help the vague stirring of hope deep inside her. The past year and a half of loneliness and regret had been wiped out of her heart in the blink of an eye. Left in its wake was anticipation, the eager-to-start-the-day anticipation of a woman in love. As dangerous an emotion as that was, she could no more have prevented it than she could have held back the wildness of a tornado’s winds.
Cody was back and she might as well admit to herself one more truth. Time and distance hadn’t dulled her feelings for him a bit. She wanted him every bit as fiercely as she ever had.
* * *
Cody was in a daze. He was only marginally aware of the woman walking beside him. Instead he kept seeing images of the child that he now knew without any doubt whatsoever was his. Melissa’s confirmation kept echoing over and over in his head. He was a father.
The realization was both incredible and scary. What if he blew it? What if his daughter took one look at him and rejected him? Okay, the latter was unlikely. Just the day before she had reached for him as if she already knew who he was. He recalled the eager stretch of her arms in the air and the sensation of tenderness that had welled up inside him at her innocent smile.
On the walkway at the Hortons’ he paused, his hand on Melissa’s arm. “Wait.”
She turned a quizzical look on him.
