She had no idea what was going to happen next, but she did know that this time she would tell Cody right away. There would be no more secrets to blow up in her face later.
Dammit, why couldn’t everything have been more resolved between them? They were so close to working things out. She had sensed that last night in their companionable silence, in the way Cody had vowed to give her the time and space to reach her own conclusions about their relationship.
She knew exactly how Cody was going to react. Forget about time and space for thinking. He was going to demand they get married at once. She wanted that, wanted it more than anything, but not if he was only doing it because of the baby. Okay, both babies.
He was a fine father. He’d accepted his responsibility for Sharon Lynn wholeheartedly. That wasn’t the issue. He’d been proving that over and over since the day he’d learned the truth about Sharon Lynn. She had seen the adoration in his eyes whenever he was with his daughter. She had watched his pride over every tiny accomplishment.
He had even behaved as though she were important to him, too. But never once, not in all these months, had he said he loved her. She would not marry a man who could not say those words. She would not marry at all just because she was pregnant.
It created an interesting dilemma, since there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about being pregnant. There was nothing on earth that meant more to her than being a mother to Cody’s children. And she knew from bitter experience that she could do it just fine on her own, if she had to.
Still, she had to tell him sometime….
She managed to hold off for a couple of weeks, but her symptoms were cropping up when she least expected it. She didn’t want him guessing when he found her practically swooning in his arms.
After thinking it over, she chose the storeroom at Dolan’s to tell him. Eli and Mabel were getting used to her dragging Cody into the back to talk. They’d probably heard enough muffled arguments and full-scale screaming matches to last them a lifetime.
At least, though, they would be there to intervene if Cody decided to try to drag her off by the hair to the preacher. At home she’d have no such protection. She doubted even her parents would stand up to him. Her father was already on Cody’s side and her mother had maintained a stoic silence ever since her father’s edict that she butt out of Melissa’s and Cody’s business.
She had one other reason for choosing the storeroom. She had noticed that Eli and Mabel were off by themselves whispering who-knew-what at the oddest times. Melissa had the feeling that the two of them were patching whatever differences had separated them years before. Maybe the very visible ups and downs of her relationship with Cody had set an example for them. They might as well be in on the denouement.
When Cody walked through the door as he’d gotten into the habit of doing around closing every day, Melissa’s hands trembled. This time nothing on earth could have persuaded her to so much as touch a glass in Cody’s presence.
Not even giving Cody time to get settled, she drew in a deep breath. “We need to talk.”
“Okay,” he said, giving her that crooked smile that made her heart flip over. “What’s up?”
“In the back,” she said.
Cody groaned. “Not again.”
She glanced at Eli and Mabel, who were both suddenly extremely busy, their backs to the counter. “Will you just come on?” she muttered, holding the door open.
Cody trailed along behind her and propped a booted foot onto an unopened shipment of new glasses. “What now?”
Melissa tried to gather her courage. Finally she blurted, “I’m pregnant.”
Cody’s eyes widened incredulously. “You’re going to have a baby?”
She nodded, watching him carefully, not quite able to get a fix on his reaction.
“A baby?” Cody repeated.
“Yes.”
“Oh, my God.” He sank down on the box, which gave way just enough to shatter the two dozen glasses inside.
At the sound of all that cracking glassware, Melissa started to chuckle. Cody bounced to his feet, but there was no hope for the crushed shipment.
“You okay?” she inquired between giggles. “No glass in your backside?”
“Forget my backside. It’s just fine. Tell me more about the baby. When is it due?”
“You should be able to figure that one out. We only slept together that once since you got back.”
“I can’t even add two and two right now. Just tell me.”
“A little over six months.”
He nodded. “Good. That’s plenty of time.”
Melissa regarded him suspiciously. “Plenty of time for what?” she asked, although she thought she had a pretty good idea of the answer.
“To get married,” he said at once. “Finish fixing up my house at White Pines, decorate a new nursery.”
Melissa held up her hands. “Whoa, cowboy. Who says we’re getting married?”
A mutinous expression settled over his face. “I do. No baby of mine is going to be born without my name. It’s bad enough that we haven’t taken care of getting Sharon Lynn’s name legally changed. I’m not doubling the problem.”
“Okay, say I agree to get married—which I haven’t,” she added in a rush when she saw the instant gleam in his eyes. “Then what?”
He stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Are you planning for us to live happily ever after? Are you intending to get a divorce as soon as the ink’s dry on the birth certificate? What?” Please, she thought to herself, let him say he loves me. Please.
“You know better than that,” he said.
It was a wishy-washy answer if ever Melissa had heard one. “Do
