Nobody's Baby but Mine: A Novel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Author:Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9780062004666
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: 1997-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

* * *

Lynn’s chest was so tight that she had to gasp for breath as she raced along the narrow, winding road.

It was a treacherous piece of highway, but she’d been driving it for years, and not even her tears made her slow down. She knew what he wanted from her. He wanted her to open her veins again and bleed with love for him the way she once had. Bleed with love that would never be returned.

She struggled for breath and remembered that she’d learned her lesson years ago when she’d been little more than a baby, naive and ignorant at sixteen, utterly convinced that love could conquer the enormous gap between them. But that naïveté hadn’t lasted. Two weeks after she’d told him she was pregnant with Gabe— Cal had only been eleven months old—her innocence was shattered forever.

She should have seen it coming, but of course she hadn’t. When she’d told him she was pregnant, she’d bubbled over with happiness even though Cal wasn’t yet a year old, and they were barely managing as it was. He had sat frozen as she’d babbled on.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

“Just think, Jim! Another sweet baby! Maybe it’ll be a girl this time, and we can name her Rose of Sharon. Oh, I’d love to have me a girl! But a boy’d might be better so Cal ’d have somebody to roughhouse with.”

When his expression didn’t change, she’d started to get scared. “I know it’ll be a mite hard for a while, but my baking business is goin’ real good, and just think how much we love Cal . And we’ll be real careful from now on to make sure there ain’t no more. Tell me you’re happy about the baby, Jim. Tell me.”

But he hadn’t said anything; he’d just walked out the door of their little apartment, leaving her alone and frightened. She’d sat for hours in the dark until he’d returned. He hadn’t said a word. Instead, he’d pulled her into bed and made love to her with a ferocity that had driven away her fear.

Two weeks later, while Jim was in class, her mother-in-law had come to see her. Mildred Bonner had told her that Jim didn’t love her and wanted a divorce. She’d said he’d planned to break the news to her the same night Lynn had announced that she was pregnant again, but now he felt honor-bound to stick by her. If Lynn truly loved him, Mildred said, she would let him go.

Lynn hadn’t believed her. Jim would never ask for a divorce. He loved her. Didn’t she see the evidence every night in their bed?

When he came home from studying at the library, she told him about his mother’s visit, expecting him to laugh it off. Only he didn’t. “What’s the use of talking about it now?” he said. “You got pregnant again, so I can’t go anywhere.”

The rose-colored world she’d built shattered at her feet. Everything had been an illusion. Just because he loved to have sex with her didn’t mean he loved her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.