Protecting the Single Mother by Leslie North

Author:Leslie North
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Relay Publishing

Afterwards, they lay next to each other in the dark, Nicole curved against him as he trailed his fingers along her arm, her side. He wasn’t used to being this needy, but he couldn’t resist giving in to the temptation to feel her warmth. Couldn’t even remember why he’d want to resist. She was here, with him, and he couldn't stop touching her. It took Michael a minute to realize what he was feeling. Peace. It had been so long since he’d felt like this. Not since he’d last been with her.

Being with her, here, like this. It was even better than he’d remembered. This was what he’d been missing.

“Why did you end things?” Michael was surprised to hear his own voice. He hadn’t meant to say that. He’d been thinking it, but…

He’d been angry for so long. At how things ended, at the fact that she wouldn’t tell him why. Maybe it’d be better to know. Maybe if he knew, they could deal with it, whatever it was, and move forward again. Together.

Stretched along his side, Michael felt her take a deep breath, and then she shifted in bed, turning to face him. In the darkness, he could only see the dim outline of her face.

“I was pregnant.”

It was barely a whisper, but it ran through him like electricity. “What?”

“And then I lost the baby,” she continued in that same broken whisper. “I was still very early on—I had only just found out—and I lost our baby. I had been so excited to tell you—that was why I had us schedule that call for Father’s Day, remember that?” He nodded, unable to speak. “I miscarried the day before. And what you were doing was so important and so dangerous, and I knew you needed all your strength and concentration to do your job safely, so I didn’t feel I could tell you. I didn’t want to burden you or distract you. But I couldn’t handle it alone. I couldn’t ask you to handle that because it wouldn’t be fair, and I couldn’t keep talking to you and being with you when it was so hard for me to pretend that everything was okay.”

She took a deep breath, like she was trying to hold herself together, and then she continued. “Honestly, after ending things with you, I just walked around in a fog. Nothing broke through it until the accident, and Emma—” He could hear her voice breaking and pulled her closer. Nicole clung to him, burrowing her head against his shoulder. “Losing her was horrible—but there was Grant, and he needed me. Honestly, I think he saved me. Taking care of him helped me remember how to take care of myself. And having a baby to love healed some of the hurt over what I’d lost. I was able to make peace with it—to love our baby, but to let the idea of him or her go. But I’m still so sorry, Michael—so sorry that I hurt you. That was never what I wanted.

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