Page 64 of Her Guarded Hero

“Don’t you mean my turkey bacon?” he asked slyly.

She barely stopped herself from cringing. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. When I went to pick up supplies at the Safeway, Kim wanted to know why I wasn’t buying turkey bacon. She was also curious as to why I was buying whole milk, when you normally buy non-fat milk. You care to explain that to me?”

“Kim must be confusing me with another customer.”

“Nope, when we went to coffee, she and I had a long conversation. There was no confusion at all.”

Kim and Granddad were way too friendly, that’s why she avoided her line and checked out with Barb.

Really? Did Kim really have to spill the beans? Fu-Fudgenuggets.

Aurora sighed.

Heck, she even had to start thinking in kid friendly terms. Aurora’s hormone addled mind soon had her smiling dreamily.

“What are you grinning about?” Gunnar asked tenderly. “I’ve been snookered for a year and a half and you can’t have coffee. I don’t see why we’re both over here grinning.”

Aurora lovingly smoothed her hand over the swell of her stomach and beamed at her grandfather. “Because we are both softies. In just under four months we’re going to be able to hold this little guy.”

“It shouldn’t just be us holding him. You need to call Dalton.” Gunnar pushed away from the table. “It isn’t right Aurora Dawn, you know better than this.”

Aurora winced. It wasn’t often that her grandfather threw down with her dreaded middle name, but when he did, he was dead-set serious. She opened her mouth to explain, but her mouth wouldn’t work. She tried to swallow but couldn’t. Finally, she eked out words.

“I do know better. But you don’t understand. Having another child will break him,” she whispered hoarsely. “I hate the idea of putting the man I love through that kind of pain.”

“Another child?” he said slowly.

Gunnar was crouched in front of her before she could even blink. “Tell me, darlin’. Help me understand.”

“Dalton lost his baby, his little girl. He showed me pictures of her holding her little stuffed baby seal. She was beautiful. So beautiful. Black hair and blue eyes, she was the image of him. She was only three years old when she died.” Her lip trembled. “Oh Grandpa. He doesn’t have room in his heart for another child.”

Gunnar gripped her shoulder. “That doesn’t sound like the man I know.”

Aurora blinked back a storm of tears. “Grandpa, he doesn’t believe in himself. He thinks he would fail to love another child. But I’m like you, I can’t believe it’s true either.” She hiccupped a sob, and leaned forward, cradling her stomach with both arms. She looked up. “But what if he’s right? What if he tries and fails? How can I put Dalton through that? How I could I set him up for that type of failure?”

God, just saying it about killed her. Night after night she’d cried as she caressed her tummy. Her little boy was precious, he was going to be loved to the moon and back, just maybe not by his daddy.

Aurora fell forward into her Granddad’s waiting arms. She didn’t even know what she was saying, only what she was feeling. She pictured Dalton as he’d told her that he could never love another child, that he had nothing left to give. He was so damn guarded. She’d held him when he’d cried as he’d said that he’d buried his soul with Reagan’s body. When he’d told her that she didn’t know who hurt worse, him or her as she realized that there was never a possibility of a shared future.

Gunnar finally got her sitting back up in her chair and gave her a napkin to blow her nose. When Aurora’s trembling finally stopped, he sat back down and took both her hands in his.

“He knew me Grandpa, he didn’t say the words, but they were in his eyes. He knew I was the type who was going to want a corral full of kids.”

“One thing I don’t understand, why did he leave you when he didn’t know you were pregnant?” Gunnar asked.

Aurora sighed. “It took me a while to figure that out. It’s guilt. He doesn’t think he’s worthy of being happy. He thinks he’s responsible for Reagan’s death.” Tears threatened, and she blew her nose again.

They sat there for a long time and she took in the comfort that her grandfather offered. Then she felt her son move. The little flutters had just started in the last week.

“He’s moving?”

“Yep.” Aurora bit her lip, willing herself not to cry again. She so wanted to share this with Dalton. She wanted him to have joy and love in his life. Nobody deserved it more.

“When are you going to tell him?”

Aurora gave a watery laugh. She was so lucky to have her grandfather. He knew her inside and out.