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He froze in his tracks when he found Wren standing on his mom’s front porch. He looked her up and down and damn if she didn’t look good—even in her overly baggy t-shirt and leggings.
“What are you doing here?” he breathed.
“I’ve come to find you,” she said. “We need to talk, Chris.”
His mother looked between them and sighed. “You should come in and sit down. You look about ready to drop.” He wondered what his mother was talking about. Wren looked great, but when he took another look at her, he could see how tired she was. It showed in her dark eyes. His mother was right, she did look about ready to drop.
“Chris just made some grilled cheese sandwiches; can I get you one?” his mom asked.
“That would be great,” Wren said. “Thank you for your kindness.” His mother breezed past him, telling him not to mess things up under her breath on the way to the kitchen.
“Blade said that he heard your mom is sick,” Wren whispered. “Will she be all right?”
He shrugged, “We don’t know yet. She’s in the middle of her treatments. She had breast cancer when I was a kid and well, it’s come back again. This time is proving a bit trickier, even with all the new medications.” Wren surely didn’t come all the way to New York to ask about his mother, right? “Why are you here, Wren?” he asked, cutting right to the point.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me. You left without a word, and I haven’t seen you since our—” she didn’t finish what she was about to say, but he knew exactly what she was going to say next.
“Our night together,” he finished for her.
“Yeah,” she breathed. “I worried that you hated me or something because I thought that I’d at least see you around town. I even went to Savage Hell a few times with Blade and Trixie hoping to see you there.” He had kept his distance from his club and especially Blade. There was no way that he’d want to tangle with his friend if Wren spilled her guts to her best friend Trixie about their night together. Trixie and Blade were married now, and if she told her new husband about Yonkers and Wren, he’d have some explaining to do.
“I just got busy,” Yonkers lied. “Work really picked up after the first of the year.”
“I see,” Wren said. He could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t understand or believe any of his lame excuses.
“So, why are you here?” he asked again.
Wren stood and ran her hands down to her tummy. “To tell you about this,” she said. He looked at her belly as if seeing it for the first time, and back up at her.
“You’re pregnant?” he asked.
“Yes,” she squeaked, “I’m five months pregnant, give or take a week or so. It happened during our one night together. The baby is yours,” she said as if he needed clarification.
“I figured since you came all this way to tell me about the baby. I mean, you wouldn’t get into a car and drive up here to tell me that some random guy had knocked you up, right?” he teased. From the scowl on her face, Wren wasn’t in a joking mood.
“It’s a girl if you are interested in knowing that. I just thought you should be aware that she exists and will be here sometime in September.” Wren stood from the sofa and started for the front door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Oh, I assumed that your silence meant that we were done discussing everything,” Wren said. “I’ll just give you some time. You have my cell phone if you need to reach me.”
“Where will you go?” he asked.
She shrugged, “I’ll have to find a cheap hotel somewhere around here and then, I’ll head back to Huntsville in the morning. I can’t take much time off work.” Yonkers felt panic like he never had before in his life—not even when his mom called to tell him that she was sick again. All he could do was watch Wren leave and that was when he realized that his mother was standing in the room, staring him down.
“Are you seriously going to let her just leave?” his mother asked. “She just told you that she’s pregnant with my granddaughter and you’re just going to let her go stay in a crappy hotel and then, drive all the way back down to Alabama. She looks like she barely made the trip here in one piece.”
“I’m in shock, Ma,” he insisted, “what do you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to do the right thing and go after her,” she said. “She can stay with us until you figure out how to use your words again.” His mother was right. He couldn’t just let her leave, but convincing Wren to stay might prove trickier than just asking her to.
“Fine,” he growled. Yonkers pushed his way out the front door and shouted for Wren as she was about to get into her car. She turned and looked at him and God, she was crying. He hated it when women cried. He never knew what to do.
“Yes,” she said, swiping at the tears that were spilling down her face.
“I, um, I don’t want you to go. You can stay here, with us. We need to talk about this,” he said, nodding to her tummy.
“This is our daughter,” she said, rubbing her hands over her belly. “And if you don’t want to be a part of her life, tell me now. I can take care of her on my own, Chris, I just thought that you had a right to know about her.”
