Dr Di Angelo's Baby Bombshell (12 page)

She didn't wince, didn't show the slightest remorse, just held his gaze. “I am.”

“You believe that's fair to me?”

“I have to think about what's best for me and for our baby. My going home to Armadillo Lake is what's best.”

“Why?”

“Because my family is there, and it's where I was meant to be. I'd forgotten that for a while, but a memory lapse doesn't make the truth any less true.”

“You were meant to be with me.”

At her surprised look, he added, “In Knoxville, at our clinic. We have a good thing, Darby. A good practice.”

“It hasn't been good since we slept together, and you know it. You can barely tolerate looking at me.”

“That's not true.”

“It is,” she accused, standing up from her chair and pacing across her living room. She spun toward him, her eyes as accusing as her tone. “You've been avoiding me ever since we slept together, and I can't stand it.”

“That's why you want to move? To punish me for sleeping with you?”

“That's not what I said, Blake. I don't want to punish you. I just can't deal with the way things are between us now.”

“Because we ruined everything when we had sex?”

“Apparently so.” She folded her arms across her chest. “It certainly hasn't made things better between us.”

No, that weekend had caused the foundation of their relationship to crumble, and now his world was crashing around him.

“What is it you want between us, Darby? What is it you expected after that weekend?”

“I told you, Blake, I don't expect anything from you.”

“Apparently you do—or at least you did. Otherwise you wouldn't be leaving me.” As he said the words out loud,
their validity reverberated through him. She had expected something from him, something he'd failed to deliver.

“You're twisting my words. I'm not leaving
you
.”

“How can you say that? You're walking away from everything we have together.”

“Not everything, Blake.” She placed her hand over her belly. “There's one thing we have together that I won't ever walk away from. You can count on it.”

His gaze dropped to her belly and the blood drained from his face. Darby was going to have his baby, but she didn't want him in her life, didn't want to be a family with him.

And then it hit him. Darby had taken him to Armadillo Lake prepared to have sex. She'd had new lingerie, a full box of condoms. Perhaps she'd already gotten what she wanted from him? “Did you get pregnant on purpose?”

“What? How can you say that? We used condoms.”

“Some of them
you
bought. Did you tamper with them?”

Her eyes widened with a mixture of disbelief and anger. “Are you serious? Why would I do that?”

Hurt at her rejection of him egged him on. “No doubt a lot of women would like to reap the benefits of having my baby.”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “You arrogant son of a—”

“Fine. I know you didn't get pregnant intentionally.” Blake had had enough. He'd known sleeping with Darby had been a mistake, but he hadn't been able to stop himself. Now she wanted to cut him out of her life. “If you want to leave, I'll make it simple. Have a contract drawn up for your half of the clinic and I'll sign it. You want to take my baby far away from me—fine. I won't stop you. But expect to hear from my lawyer, because I
will
play a role in my child's life.”

D
ARBY
placed the last of her books into the packing crate. She couldn't believe how quickly the past month had gone by. Yet with the anger and hurt between her and Blake, each minute had also dragged by.

True to his word, he had signed the contract her lawyer had drawn up. She was no longer a partner in their clinic. She was no longer anything to him.

No, not true. She was the mother of his unborn child.

They'd always have that connection. Always.

A tear ran down her cheek.

Although moving home was the right thing for so many reasons, leaving Knoxville wasn't easy. When the movers had crated up the contents of her apartment that morning she'd burst into tears. She'd cried until her chest throbbed. She'd left to finish at the office, because she hadn't been able to watch them empty her apartment.

Because her heart had been breaking.

Home is where the heart is.

Her heart was with Blake.

If he'd loved her she would have stayed in Knoxville forever, would have gone wherever he was and been happy.

But he didn't love her.

As she had no choice, she accepted that. But if making him love her were possible, she'd fight for Blake's heart to her dying breath.

For all eternity.

“I can't believe you're really going.”

Darby's gaze shot to the doorway. “Blake.”

She swiped at her eyes, hoping he hadn't caught the waterworks. “How long have you been standing there?”

Had he come to start yet another fight with her? It seemed as if that was all they did on the few occasions they actually spoke.

God, he looked good, in his black pants and crisp white polo. Then again, when
didn't
he look good?

“Long enough to think you're not as confident about this move as you've let on. It's not too late to change your mind.”

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for his verbal attack. “Being sad at saying goodbye doesn't make me any less confident that I've made the right decision.”

He pushed off the doorframe, stepped into the office, and closed the door behind him.

Darby swallowed. She wasn't sure she was strong enough to deal with another fight between them. Not now, in her last minutes at the clinic.

“I don't want you to go, Darby.”

If she'd thought she wasn't strong enough for an argu
ment, she certainly wasn't strong enough to deal with his soft admission.

She took a step back. “We've been through this.”

“But perhaps we haven't said the right things.”

Hope lifted high in her chest. “What right things?”

If he asked her to stay, to be a family, told her he loved her, she'd throw her arms around him and stay forever.

“You're a part of my life, Darby. A good part that I don't want to let go.”

“Blake, two months have gone by and you've barely acknowledged my existence.” Two months in which her heart had broken at every wayward glance, at every smile not returned.

“I've been aware of you every moment of every day. How could I not be?” he asked, moving closer. “You're carrying my child.”

The baby. That was why he was here. Why he was looking at her with such longing. Question was, what motivated him? Actual concern for their child, or guilt that he was washing his hands of her and their baby?

“Regardless of where I am, I'll still be carrying your child, Blake. Location doesn't change that.”

His lips pursed with displeasure. “Location changes everything.”

Location wouldn't change her feelings for him, but perhaps not having to see him on a daily basis would make dealing with the shattered pieces of her heart slightly easier.

She doubted it, though.

“You know where to find me, Blake.” She quit backing up, faced him. “You've always known where to find me. You've just never cared to look. Not at me. Not really.”

Inches separated their bodies. He towered over her. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I've always been right here, Blake.”

“Just as I've always been here for you, Darby. Always. Every time you've needed me, I've been here for you.”

“You have.” She swallowed the knot in her throat. What was he doing?

“Yet you feel the need to leave? To just forget about us?”

She couldn't stand anymore. “Don't you get it, Blake? There has never been an us.” She put her palms against his chest. “All we had was one weekend of pretense.”

“Is that what you believe?”

“Tell me I'm wrong.”

“You're wrong.” As if to prove his point, he lowered his mouth to hers, kissed her so thoroughly her knees wobbled. “Tell me you don't feel that, Darby. Tell me you don't want me even now.”

“That's only sexual attraction.”
Tell me I'm wrong. Please, Blake, tell me you feel more for me than sexual attraction.

“Don't knock chemistry. It's what makes the world go around.”

“Not my world,” she admitted softly.

Knowing she had to go while she still could, Darby pulled free from his loose hold.

She'd hoped he'd stop her, that he'd hold on to her and tell her what he felt for her was so much more than sexual attraction.

“If you stay, I'll marry you.”

“Why?”
Tell me you love me. I'll go anywhere with you, Blake. Just love me.

“For the baby.”

A part of Darby died. The part that had been holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, he cared for her. But when push came to shove Blake wouldn't fight for her. Why would he? He didn't love her, and had never given her reason to think he did. In the long run, her leaving made things easier for him.

Darby touched his cheek, loving the feel of the light razor stubble that had popped up since he'd shaved that morning, wishing she could touch him forever.

“Don't make doing the right thing more difficult than it already is, Blake.” She stood on her tiptoes, pressed a kiss to his lips, and stepped away. Her gaze landed on the one thing she hadn't yet packed. The one thing she hadn't been able to place inside a packing crate. Her heart.

Picking up the plastic model at its base, she felt memories assail her. Memories all made with Blake. She turned, smiled through her tears, and held out the heart.

“Here,” she whispered. “Take this. It seems my heart won't be making the move with me. It's always belonged to you, anyway.”

 

“What happened to that pretty female doctor?”

Blake frowned at Mr. Hill, and not because of the ulcer on his leg. Fortunately, the ulcer on Mr. Hill's leg now had pink granulation tissue forming and was slowly healing.

“She left.”

The man cracked his arthritic neck, frowning right back at Blake. “To be a doctor, she wasn't too bad. Easy on the eye, too. Where'd she go?”

He didn't need a man in his seventies telling him Darby was easy on the eye. Blake knew she was easy on the eye.
Good thing too, because whether his eyes were open or closed Darby was always what he saw.

“She moved back to where she came from.” Did he sound bitter? Likely. He felt bitter. Darby had found out she was pregnant and immediately left him. Sure, he didn't know much about being a family, but she hadn't even given him a chance.

“Where's that?” Mr. Hill asked.

“Alabama.” Blake answered.

Mr. Hill's bushy white brow quirked. “You don't like Alabama?”

“It's a state.”

“And misery is a state of mind.” Mr. Hill waved his hand in dismissal. “Why are you still here? You should go after her.”

“No one asked for your opinion.”

“You should have asked. I've been around awhile, learned from life experiences. You should try it sometime.”

“I've learned from life experiences.” He'd learned that he shouldn't rely on anyone except himself. He'd learned that he'd been a fool to stay in Knoxville following graduation. He should have left, joined a traveling medical group where he could change locales every few months. Wasn't that what he knew best? How not to get close to people because they came and went from your life?

“You ain't learned jack, or you'd be rubbing her leg instead of mine.”

Blake dropped his hand away from Mr. Hill's calf. He'd say the older man had a point—except his rubbing had been covering the wet dressing with an elastic wrap to protect Mr. Hill's clothes from getting stained.

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

“I know if I had a pretty young woman's heart I'd be with her.”

He didn't have Darby's heart.

Well, actually, he did, but that was just plastic.

Blake froze. Darby's words hit him, pinging through his thick skull and sinking home.

Darby had given him her heart, had said her heart belonged to him.

After a lifetime of abstinence, she had given him her virginity.

She loved him.

He'd been too blind to realize.

Too blind to see.

But how could he have seen when he'd been too blind to even see his own feelings for Darby?

While in Alabama, pretending to love her, he'd realized he wanted her, that he'd always wanted her, but instead of acting upon that realization he'd run scared, wanting to hold on to the safe rather than risk getting hurt. To hang on to the tried and true rather than venture into unknown territories. In the process he'd lost her.

Blake set down his stethoscope, stared at Mr. Hill, and gave credit where credit was due. “You're a wise man, Nathan Hill.”

The man smiled his toothless smile. “Looks like you're wisening up, too.”

“That I am. Let's hope I'm not too late.”

 

“I just can't believe you're really home.” Rosy waved her paintbrush, droplets of paint splattering onto the plastic lining the floor. Her gaze lowered to the paint. “Oops.”

Darby wiped the back of her hand across her sweaty brow, a smile on her paint-dappled face. Part of her couldn't believe she was home either.

“I can't believe you didn't bring that scrumptious doctor with you,” Mandy said, glancing up from where she'd taped off a corner of the room they were painting.

The room where Darby would soon be seeing patients.

In Alabama.

In her own practice.

Far away from the scrumptious doctor in question.

“Blake is busy finding someone to replace me in Knoxville.”

Mandy's gaze met Darby's, then lowered to the painter's tape. Darby hated her friend's sympathy. They'd all commiserated when she'd told them she and Blake had broken up. If not for her pregnancy, she would have told them the entire weekend had been nothing more than a pretense.

“In the office or in his bed?” Rosy eyed Darby curiously. “Because, as much as I want you home, I want you to be happy, too, and he made you happy.” She gave a considering look. “Understandably so. Just looking at him made me happy, too.”

“Whatever.” Darby shook her head at Rosy. Her sister-in-law was as in love with her husband as the day they'd exchanged vows. Still, Rosy had a point. “I am happy.”

Mandy glanced up at her, eyeing her even more curiously than Rosy had. “You're sure?”

Did her friends think she was depressed? Was that why they visited so often? Mandy had even fussed over Darby's lack of kempt hair and make-up that morning.
What did her appearance matter for painting? But she appreciated their concern, so she forced a smile to her face. “I'm sure.”

It was the truth. Mostly.

Sure, she cried herself to sleep at night, missing Blake, but she was happy, was confident she'd made the right decision to move home and raise her baby surrounded by her family's love.

She hadn't told anyone of her pregnancy yet. As she was only a little over three months along, she had a while before she had to tell anyone. She wasn't ready. She'd shared enough changes with her family over the past few weeks.

No doubt they would be disappointed that she'd be a single mother. But they'd love her and support her in the months leading up to and following the baby's arrival.

Other than missing Blake, her biggest concern regarding her pregnancy and the move was that the closest OB/GYN was thirty miles away. Still, that shouldn't present a problem, since most first deliveries didn't go quickly, and if it did there was always the calving barn.

As far as Blake replacing her, in the office and in his bed, well, she did her best not to think about that, as the thought of him with another woman hurt deeper than she wanted to admit.

So she'd focused on her new life. All she had to do was finish up the repairs and she'd be ready to open on October first, as planned.

She glanced out the window, catching sight of her brothers, Mark the vet, and Trey, down near the lake. Over the past few weeks, as their time had allowed, while she, Mandy and her sisters-in-law had worked on the inside of
the house, the men had cleaned the yard, replaced the roof's shingles, and painted the outside of the house. Now they were building her a new dock.

Just as Darby and Mandy were slowly rebuilding their friendship, Mandy and Trey were rekindling old flames. Darby couldn't be happier for them.

“Hey, is that Blake with the guys?”

At Rosy's question, Darby's heart slammed into her throat and tried to pound its way out. Surely she was hallucinating. No way was Blake walking toward the house with Trey, Mark, and her brothers. No way.

But he was.

“Apparently, he's not so busy in Knoxville that he can't drop by for a visit,” Rosy snickered, giving Darby a knowing smile. “After all, it's only six hours' drive out of his way.”

Darby barely glanced her sister-in-law's way, barely took in Mandy's silence and inability to meet her eyes—had her friend
known
Blake was here? She reached up to check her appearance, realized she'd probably only managed to smear paint into her hair.