“I came to apologize for my behavior a few weeks ago. I was a bit stressed with work and wasn’t prepared for what you’d told me.”
Tori’s eyes widened and she shot a glance to Chris. His gut twisted. Scott did know. She had told him about the baby and she’d left him out of the loop completely when it came to knowing.
“Scott, this isn’t the very best time.”
Christian stepped out of the house and stood facing both of them. “C’mon, Tori, let him apologize for his attitude. Let him apologize for walking out on you when you needed him.”
“Chris,” she said through gritted teeth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He kept his glare on Scott. “Don’t I? Don’t I know that the moment you told him you were pregnant he walked out on you?”
He heard her gasp and Scott stepped up to him until their noses nearly touched.
“Well at least I see by your being here you stepped up to be a man. Though having a one night stand with someone else’s girlfriend isn’t what I’d consider being a man at all. But at least you’re here, which leads me to believe you’ve taken your responsibilities seriously.”
“Oh, Scott! Chris!” They both turned their eyes to Tori standing next to them. “Please, Scott, you have to go. Please.”
“Fine. I thought you might have thought this through. I was willing to give your baby a name. Obviously his father has some anger issues.”
His words were a blow to his already twisted gut. “What did you say?”
“You heard me.” Scott dropped the flowers and moved in again so that he was face to face. “You sleep with someone’s girlfriend and get her pregnant and I’m the one making an ass of myself? I don’t know who you think you are, Mr. Keller, but this isn’t the way to do things. If you were a real man…”
“Wait!” He held up his hand and then turned to Tori. “I got you pregnant?”
“Christ, man. She’s not the kind of woman who just sleeps around. Give her some credit.”
He was about to give Scott a fist to the jaw.
“Chris, let’s go inside and talk.”
“All this time I thought you were having his baby and it was mine?”
“Chris…”
“You didn’t think you could tell me?”
Scott shook his head. “Right, because you might just walk out like you did when her sister died.”
That was the last straw. Chris pulled his fist back to swing at the man, but found himself knocked on his ass.
“Oh, God!” Tori rushed to him. “Scott, what are you doing?”
“I’m walking away. I shouldn’t have come in the first place.” He looked at Christian. “For your information, asshole, I never even slept with her. And if you’d been the man in her life I wouldn’t have even been involved. I came to take on your responsibility, because she’s a good woman and the kids are fantastic kids.”
Scott turned and walked down the steps and a moment later he was speeding off down the street.
Christian moved his jaw from side to side.
“If the baby was mine why didn’t you tell me?”
She was sobbing now and that hurt him as much as his jaw.
“How did you know? I didn’t tell you. I didn’t tell anyone but Sonia.”
“Well, he seemed to know.”
She sat back on the ground. “He found the test. Chris, I didn’t plan this. I just figured I’d raise the baby alone. You couldn’t commit to a life with me and Scott walked away.”
“You would have considered him over me? You would have let him raise my baby?”
There was some clarity for him.
He got to his feet. “Let’s get this out in the open.” He looked down at her not even offering her a hand. His attitude had changed from one of acceptance to blinding anger. “You are pregnant from our one night?”
She nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“And you didn’t think it was important to tell me this in light of all the time we’ve been spending together?”
“I thought you’d be mad.”
“I’m mad, because all this time I thought it was Scott’s baby you were carrying and you were afraid I’d turn you away.”
“I never slept with Scott.”
“That’s what makes this worse. Don’t you see it? You don’t even trust me enough to tell me that you’re carrying my baby. My baby.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys.
“Where are you going?” Tori struggled to stand. “Chris, what are you doing?”
“I need some time to think this though. If you can’t trust me to be part of my own child’s life, how can you trust me with anything?”
He saw her struggling, but he had to keep moving. Accepting the baby was one thing, but to know she held the information from him on purpose, that was what hurt. If she loved him like she said she did then she should have told him.
He put the keys in the ignition and started the truck. As she made it down the stairs he drove away.
Victoria stopped as the truck screeched around the corner. The tears fell freely now and her heart ached so that she thought she could die.
He was right. She hadn’t told Christian about the baby because she couldn’t trust him to stay.
She placed her hands on her stomach and held the tiny swell. Dear God, what had she done?
Dragging herself back toward the house she picked up her bag and walked inside.
She felt sick again. Her entire body shook and the tears wouldn’t stop. Falling onto the couch, she let the sorrow of the moment take over and the tears rolled until she no longer had tears to cry.
By then, it was dark outside and she’d been on the couch for nearly three hours trying to put all the pieces of the past few months into place.
Finally, she stood and walked toward the kitchen. She’d long forgotten that in her car were groceries to make dinner for Chris. She was going to ask him to marry her and to have their baby. His reaction wasn’t the one she’d wanted, but there was a part of her that had been prepared for it.
She thought about the picture that she had to show him. What would he think if he could see their baby? As she turned around to find the bag she’d drug in with her she noticed the flowers, the glasses, the sparkling cider—and the ring.