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“It’s got to be wrong.”
“I agree. But I doubt it.”
She sounded stiff. As if she had a scarf tied too tightly around her neck. But try as he might, he heard none of the panic that was raging through him as he listened to Lynn.
“She said that making a baby was Darin’s idea.”
Of course. Blame it on the guy. That thought was quickly thrown out for the nonsense it was.
This was Darin and Maddie they were talking about.
“She said that when you wouldn’t agree to their marriage, Darin told her if they got pregnant, we’d have to let them marry.”
His brother had the problem solved!
The momentary glee he felt quickly crashed with a string of mental swear words.
“They can’t have a baby.”
“Maddie is considered medically sound enough to make that decision for herself. We can’t force her to abort the child. And she is adamant that she’s going to have it.”
“I’ll make Darin change her mind.”
He heard how ridiculous he sounded. And knew, down where it counted, that there was no way on earth he’d choose to have his brother’s child aborted.
“What are their chances of having a mentally sound child?”
“Darin’s handicap was caused by a diving accident and Maddie’s was caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. There’s nothing genetically wrong with either one of them.”
His tension hit an all-time high. “There’s no way they can live on their own and raise a child.” Frustration getting the better of him, he ran his fingers through his hair. Paced his darkened living room and swore as he stubbed his toe.
“Sorry,” he said into the phone when he realized she’d heard his expletive.
“I said the same thing when I saw the test results.”
“In front of Maddie?”
“She wasn’t there. I told her the test results won’t be ready until the morning and sent her to bed.”
“You don’t ever lie to her.”
“I am the bearer of the results and I won’t be ready with them until the morning,” she said, sounding tired more than anything.
“What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea.”
He had an idea. A ludicrous one. But he had to think about it—long and hard—before he voiced it aloud.
He needed some encouragement from her, too.
“Okay, well, I suggest we try to get some sleep and talk about this tomorrow.”
“I’ve already rescheduled my morning appointments,” she told him. “I’m planning to take Kara to day care as usual. Maddie’s there in the morning, as well. As soon as they’re safely settled, I’ll come back here.”
“I can call Luke to cover for me and meet you there after I drop Darin off at therapy.”
“Okay.”
That was it. An agreement.
And lives that had just changed forever. He was facing an enormous challenge and waiting to meet with Lynn before attempting to solve it. Before making any decisions.
He wasn’t going it alone anymore.
Whether the change crept up slowly while he was busy ignoring the signs, or whether it was just borne that day, brought on by the near-crisis they’d avoided, Grant didn’t know. What he did know was that he needed Lynn.
Hanging up with her, he stood in the living room that, in all these years since Darin’s accident, had always brought him peace but now only seemed to fill him with emptiness.
He stood there and saw his life. He was a thirty-eight-year-old man with…responsibilities.
A man who’d been so determined not to be struck down again, not to have life pull the rug out from under him again, that he’d quit living.
A man without a wife. Without children of his own, or any hope of having children of his own.
A man who’d fallen for a woman who’d just come through a harrowing day with calm and aplomb.
She hadn’t fallen apart when Kara went missing, and didn’t fall apart after the little girl had been found, either. She’d hugged Kara, held on to her for the rest of the time Grant was with them, but she’d been incredibly calm.
As if she had no real needs at all.
She wanted him physically. But other than that?
Darin certainly had needs. Maddie had them. And Kara and Brandon. But seemingly not Lynn.
