Tara Quinn - Somebody's Baby

He looked over at her. Tried to figure out his next move. What was right. And best.

All he wanted to do was run. As far as he could.

“I have to take responsibility.” The words came of their own volition, but as soon as he said them, he knew they were right.

“No, you don’t. Really. I’ll be fine. I have plans. A little money put aside. I wasn’t just talking when I said I don’t want anything from you. I really mean it.”

The sincerity in her eyes was unmistakable. An open sincerity that was all the more remarkable because of its contrast to her usually unrevealing expression.

“I’m sure you do,” he said. “But you misunderstood. I don’t have to take responsibility because of you, I have to do it because of me. The point is not negotiable. As you said earlier, I have rights.”

Her chin dropped to her chest.

“Is there another man in the picture?”

“No!” That brought her head up. She looked horrified by the very idea.

He shrugged. “You could’ve met someone between then and now.”

“In six weeks? Over the holidays? In Grainville, Kentucky?” She shook her head with a self-deprecating laugh. “I haven’t met anyone new in my hometown in years! And certainly not a male in my age bracket.”

He wasn’t sorry to hear that. It uncomplicated things a bit.

And then, suddenly, he was hit with a thousand complications at once. Everyone in this town knew him. Would know about this. He was going to have a baby to consider. In his home—at least part-time. In his life.

While he stood there, his mind wandered to the Little League field he’d become familiar with when he’d been friends with Martha Moore. Her only son, Tim, was one of the town’s best hitters.

Would he have a son?

Or a daughter?

He felt a pain that was harsh and physical. He’d said goodbye to this moment six years ago. And before that, had imagined it. He and Meredith holding each other. She had tears in her eyes. He’d touch her belly reverently. They’d kiss….

“John? Are you okay?”

No. He wasn’t okay. John wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to stand there without climbing out of his skin.

“What are your plans?” he asked. “Do you have a place to stay?”

Anger flooded through his pores. But he didn’t want to lash out at her.

“I have a computer printout of possibilities. Shelter Valley appears to be a lot like Grainville in that there are plenty of people with big houses who are willing to rent out a room.”

He nodded. “There are a couple of boardinghouses, too.”

“I saw that. They’re more expensive. And really, for now, one room’s all I need.” She shrugged. Smiled a sad kind of smile. “It’s not like I have much stuff.”

“Did you sell your house?”

“No.”

He let out a relieved breath. That would have made everything so final.

“My folks are going to take care of the farm for the rest of the year. I’ll decide what to do after that.”

After the baby came.

“Do they know?”

“About the baby?”

What else could there possibly be? John nodded.

“No. My enrolling in college was enough for them to digest.”

He frowned, leaning against the bar as he sipped on the remainder of his beer. “Didn’t they wonder why you came so far just to go to school?”

If, when she’d first appeared, his mind had been functioning, it would’ve occurred to him to wonder the same thing.

Caroline glanced up at him and then immediately away, and John tensed.

“I…spend a lot of time on the Internet—checking out different places.”

Eyes narrowed, John studied her. She’d told him she was pregnant, looking him straight in the eye. And now she wouldn’t look at him at all. Was there another reason she was here? Something her parents knew that he didn’t? Something she didn’t want him to know?

He guessed that if there was, it had to do with him.

And she had been pretty forward about their meeting.

“You told me you couldn’t get pregnant,” he remembered suddenly, straightening.

She nodded, looked at him fully. “I hadn’t had a period since my husband died last summer. The doctor said it wasn’t all that unusual. My system had simply shut down because of the stress. He said it might start back up again. And it might not. In any case, at the time, as far as I knew, it wasn’t working. Chances were pretty slim that it would choose to resume normal activity again a day or two before I met you.”

Her face was dark red when she finished. But during those words her gaze had never wavered.

John crushed his second beer can. Tossed it in the direction of the garbage pail. Thought about taking himself out to the golf course to beat the hell out of some balls.

He felt strangely like crying, something he hadn’t done since the night his beloved wife had died in his arms.

“Do you have a cell phone?” he asked. “Some way I can reach you?”

Caroline fumbled in her homemade purse for a scrap of paper and scribbled the number on it. Then she rose and handed it to him.

He set it on the bar. “Thanks.”

She headed for the door.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said.

He thought she nodded. Hoped to God she wasn’t crying. And couldn’t wait to hear the door shut behind her.

He didn’t breathe much easier after it happened. Her news lingered. He was going to be a father. With a woman he barely knew.

He, who was no longer capable of caring about a living human being, was going to be a father.

John had to get out. Go somewhere. Find an escape.

He made it to the window in time to see Caroline drive off.

The sun was still shining.

CAROLINE TOOK the first room she looked at. Her landlord, Mrs. Bea Howard, reminded her of old Mrs. Thomaswhite who ran the bakery back home in Grainville. With graying hair and wrinkled hands, she was plump, cheerful and seemed to know everything there was to know about everyone in town. A good source, Caroline surmised, for stories about her sister.

And someone to stay away from, in case she revealed more of herself than she wanted anyone to know.

The room was fairly small. The predominant piece of furniture was an old-fashioned four-poster bed that stood a good three-and-a-half-feet off the ground and boasted a down-filled homemade granny-square quilt in all the colors of the rainbow. There was a long dresser with a white lace runner, six drawers and a full-size mirror, plus a nightstand that had a lamp bright enough to read by. There was also a closet in which she could store the few belongings she’d brought with her. Best of all was the desk along the far wall directly beneath a window that looked out over the quiet street. Behind the desk was a high-speed Internet hook up. And a plug. Her computer could be up and running by nightfall.

There was no room for Jesse’s old bassinet, waiting at home in Grainville.

Mrs. Howard lived alone but had two other tenants—both of them single women who worked at Montford and had not yet returned from visiting family over the holidays. Caroline handed over first and last month’s rent and didn’t ask if Mrs. Howard allowed children.

Monday morning, after a sporadic night’s rest accompanied by a couple of long nocturnal visits with her computer, Caroline quickly showered in the bathroom she shared with the other tenants—both women she had yet to meet—pulled on her daily attire of loose-fitting jeans, sweater and boots. Then she grabbed the instructions she’d printed off an Internet map service to get to Montford University. Craning her neck, she absorbed every impression of Shelter Valley that she could process. Harmon Hardware looked like a slightly smaller, and equally old, rendition of Jim’s Hardware back home and the Valley Diner a larger, more modern place than the diner cum pub in Grainville. Weber’s Department Store had a display of baby equipment in the window.