Cara Lockwood - Practicing Parenthood

“Hmm, well, that could be trouble,” Yvana agreed. “But maybe he’s turned over a new leaf. He’s been waiting in the sun for half an hour, so that gets him points in my book. Why don’t you let me bring him to you? I’ve got a feeling you’ll want to hear what he has to say.”

What could that be? Madison wondered.

* * *

COLLIN GOT TIRED of waiting, so he set off down the sandy path in what he hoped was the right direction. He glanced back at the office once, but Yvana wasn’t moving fast enough for his taste. Patience had never been his strong suit. He would wait for a golf cart no more. Collin pulled up the address on his phone, but the signal was weak and the map kept spinning—and at one stage, his phone told him he was walking in the ocean when he was a good twenty feet from the bay. He adjusted the heavy backpack on his shoulders, now second-guessing the idea of bringing his laptop. What “work” was he going to do? He’d said goodbye to the office before he left, and they’d had a send-off with cake and everything, and he was now happily enjoying all those vacation days he’d stockpiled but never used. Yet, he’d never been without work for so long in his whole career that he’d packed the laptop as a matter of course.

The hot North Captiva sun beat down on him. Sweat poured from his forehead and dripped into his eyes, making them sting. He wished he’d had the foresight to bring a hat. Or some sunscreen. But when was the last time he’d been on an island? On a vacation of any kind? He thought a moment. It had been before law school. Ten years without a proper vacation. He spent what little time off he took during holidays at his sister’s house with her family. His sister was expecting again, and he’d be an uncle soon—for the second time.

Collin trudged down the sandy path, singing birds flitting from tree to tree beside him. Sweat continued to sting his eyes, and he squinted at his phone. It was useless. He’d have to ask someone for directions. He came to the first fork in the road, and paused, swatting at a mosquito buzzing around his face. This was beginning to get silly. He’d have to turn around and head back to the front office, or maybe flag down someone who might know where he needed to go. He couldn’t believe an island that was just four miles long and a half-mile wide could be so confounding.

That was when he heard the whirl of a small engine behind him. He turned to see Yvana driving a beige golf cart with the green logo of the North Captiva Club on the hood.

“Well, Lord, aren’t you in a hurry?” she cried. “You want to get heat stroke out here? Get in.”

Glad to have a lift, Collin climbed into the cart, his shirt damp with sweat. “Thought you forgot about me.”

“Oh, there’s no way I could, believe me.” Yvana eyed Collin as she drove down a path that led them by a large lagoon. A big white crane stabbed at a fish in the middle of the water, coming up with a mouthful and gobbling it down. “So, you plan on getting down on one knee or...”

Yvana let the question hang there.

Collin hadn’t thought about it.

“I don’t know,” he said because he hadn’t thought much about that part.

Yvana slammed on the brakes, nearly sending him out the open front of the cart. He grasped his bag, which had almost went flying as well.

“You want her to say yes, don’t you?”

“Oh, she’s going to say yes.” He had a steady job and he’d offer security, and this way their son wouldn’t be a bastard. Not that legitimacy seemed to matter anymore, an old-fashioned concept as most people saw it these days. But still. It was the principle of the thing.

“You think so?” Yvana eyed him with doubt.

“I know so.”

Yvana threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, she’s right. You are a little full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“What did she say about—” Collin didn’t get to finish the sentence because Yvana took the next turn at a speed she probably shouldn’t have, and he nearly fell out of his seat. Once he’d righted himself, he heard Yvana laughing.

“This is going to be fun. Yes, it is.”

* * *

MADISON WATCHED YVANA drop Collin off at the rounded sandy drive in front of her uncle’s beach house, and she sucked in a breath. She was used to seeing him in his dark tailor-made suits, and the casual polo and cargo shorts he wore caught her off-guard. The bay air ruffled his dark hair. He seemed less severe, less...imposing. She approved. So, this is what Collin Baptista looks like when he’s not putting people away. Approachable, affable....handsome.

Madison felt unnerved. His strong shoulders and muscular chest were as impressive in a polo as they were in an expensive wool suit. She had a flash then of his bare skin, of the feel of his strong pecs beneath her fingers. He was a surprisingly fit attorney, one who somehow found time to hit the gym. Collin was one of those people, she thought, who woke at five a.m. just to life weights. An overachiever.

Still, she felt an odd mix of delight and dread as she watched him walk up the stairs to the front patio door. Yvana steered the golf cart back out to the road, throwing her hand up in a wave as she left.

There was no more time to stall. Madison heard the doorbell and headed for the entryway. What was she going to say to him?

She padded down the staircase inside the house, her bare feet slapping the smooth dark wood as she made her way to the patio, anxiously fiddling with her hair. Why do I even give a damn? she asked herself as she went to the glass door. Collin was already knocking, peering in.

She’d forgotten how tall and broad he was. So broad. The normal-sized backpack slung over one shoulder looked...undersized.

She swung open the door.

“Is it mine?” he blurted immediately.

So he did know. Still, the it rubbed her the wrong way. The baby wasn’t an it. The baby was...a boy or a girl, but first and foremost, a baby, a human being, not an it.

“How did you find out?” she asked as he moved past her into the cool air-conditioning. She hadn’t exactly invited him in, but he didn’t seem to care about that little detail. She closed the door behind him, shutting out the swarm of gnats on the patio.

“Heard a rumor. Is it true? You’re pregnant?”

She felt the intensity of his gaze. She wanted to lie but knew it was futile. He’d sniff out a falsehood in a heartbeat.

“Who told you?”

“Matt. From your firm. He said people are talking about you taking a sudden leave, and the rumors are either that you’re pregnant or you have cancer. Which one is it?”

Madison bit her lower lip. She hadn’t told anyone but Uncle Rashad about the pregnancy, and she was sure he’d never tell anyone at work. Yvana was an exception, but then she’d been a close family friend for decades, and the spilling of that secret really was about her protection. Uncle Rashad wouldn’t gossip about something like that at the office.

“Is it true?” Collin asked again. He wasn’t going to let this go.

“No one was supposed to know,” she murmured.

“So, it is true.”

Here’s where he argues about the benefits of getting rid of the baby, she thought. Here’s where he subtly, but firmly, tells me the best thing is to terminate the pregnancy. She remembered Collin’s ruthless precision in the courtroom, his cold heart when it came to pleas and to empathy. He allowed for zero errors—whether it was a teenage kid making a stupid mistake or a mother who’d left her child in the care of someone who wasn’t fit to look after anyone else.

“So? It’s mine, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she sighed. She braced herself for the lecture.

“That’s what I thought,” he said, his expression eager and even...excited? That took her by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to want the baby. He’d been all hands and mouth that one night they’d spent together, but then the next day it was as if she hadn’t existed. Now, he liked the idea of her carrying his baby? Maybe she’d been wrong about him. Maybe he wasn’t just the hard-nosed prosecutor, the man without a heart.