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“Eva’s baby is ours,” I tell him. He doesn’t seem shocked, instead nodding in understanding.
“You knew?”
“I dunno, call it my detective skills or whatever. From the way you three were obsessed over her from the beginning, talking about her all the time, to the way she seemed obsessed with you right back… I had a feeling. Figured you’d tell me the truth when you were ready.”
“We didn’t know,” I explain, the guilt washing over me anew. “She didn’t tell us. But Theo overheard today, and she ended up coming to confront me and Oliver at the manor. Said she wanted us to know from her, not from someone else.”
“I don’t blame her for keeping you guys shut out,” Daniel says. “But I do get why you might feel hurt at that.”
“Yeah,” I admit, setting the weight I was lifting down.
“So, what do you want to do about it now that you know?” Daniel asks.
I think his words over, uncertainty hovering around me like a cloud. “I’m not sure,” I confess. “I’ll have to talk to her eventually, though.”
Whatever I decide to do, it’s not just my future hanging in the balance anymore. The fate of that tiny kid in her belly is resting in my hands too.
25
OLIVER
Ryder sweeps out of the room, leaving Eva alone with just me.
“I’m sorry,” she says, voice soft as she looks down at her hands. “I didn’t mean to lie to you.”
My stomach is in knots. My first reaction, like Ryder, is to get angry, but a part of me understands why she did it. I get it. She had every right to hide the truth from us after the way we behaved.
“You did what you thought was right,” I tell her, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. It won’t do to get upset right now, anyway.
“I wanted to tell you,” she admits, playing with her fingers. “So many times, I was so close to telling you guys the truth, but every time I tried, something would hold me back.”
I stay silent, sitting next to her on the couch and letting her get the words out.
“I thought if I told you, you might push me away. Maybe even treat me the same as when I first came here. Or maybe you’d be angry with me. I didn’t know what to do.”
The tears in her eyes tug at my heart, and I reach out, brushing them away. “I have to admit something to you,” I tell her, my voice low. “You asked me to come with you to your doctor’s appointment, the one where the tech slipped up and told us she was a girl. Well, I might have lied to you too,” I admit.
Eva’s eyes widen, tilting her head to take me in. “Lied about what?” she asks.
“I wanted to be the baby’s father,” I confess. “When I saw that kid on the screen, some part of me was so totally swept away that I started thinking about you in a totally new light. I never told you because I thought I didn’t deserve a second chance. That’s why I’m probably dealing with this better than Ryder or Theo have.”
Eva gives me a watery smile, and I reach out, holding onto her hands. “I wanted to give you guys another chance too, especially after everything you did for me. But I was scared that if I did and didn’t say anything, I was going to be setting myself up to get hurt again.”
“I’m sorry we made you feel that way,” I whisper, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Is there any way you can forgive me?”
Something seems to dawn on her because she stands up, tugging me along. “I need to show you something,” she says. “It’s in my room.”
I smile, biting my lip, but she shakes her head, leading me upstairs. “It’s something else I was hiding. Nothing bad. Sort of. Well, let me just show you.”
We enter her room, and she goes into the closet, pulling out her suitcase, emerging with a small stack of files that look like they came from the police department.
“I had some information I was supposed to give you. It came from Daniel. He wanted to give it to you ages ago, but he had to leave. I promised to do it, but I was scared you wouldn’t believe me.”
“How about this?” I ask, picking up the files and setting them aside on her dresser. “I’ll start trusting you from now on, and you don’t hide anything from us anymore.”
“Deal,” Eva says, letting out a little squeak when I pick her up and kiss her hard.
“I want to make up for lost time,” I murmur against her lips. “We’ve been holding ourselves back so much, but I want to be with you right now and show you how much I’ve grown to care for you.”
