The Pregnancy Proposition

by Andrea Laurence

  “I can’t imagine having to sit through that by myself. It was much easier having you there with me.”

  He didn’t turn to look at her. With his dark glasses on, he simply stared ahead through the windshield. “No one should have to. I don’t understand why the rest of your family didn’t fly out here for this.”

  “My grandfather didn’t want them to. He wanted a memorial ceremony in California for everyone to attend, but this service to be more private.”

  “Private is immediate family. This is beyond private. I have to say you have an odd family. At least compared to my own. If one of ours dies, you’re not keeping the others away unless you rise up from the grave and drive them off.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  Paige imagined that the upcoming months with her family would be difficult. Her parents wouldn’t be thrilled about her unplanned pregnancy, especially when they realized their other daughter was dating the baby’s father. While a landscaper might be as good as Paige could do, they’d certainly disapprove of Piper lowering her standards.

  She didn’t expect a big baby shower or a large showing of people to help her plan and prepare. Brandy would be there, of course. She had no doubt her friend would help her celebrate, but it wouldn’t be like it would if she had a family like Mano’s. The way he spoke about them, she imagined being smothered by their excitement over the baby. Would there be traditional Hawaiian music at their shower? Would they bury a whole pig wrapped in banana leaves in the backyard to roast over hot coals? Would his grandparents fawn over her rounded belly and bless the baby with a traditional Hawaiian name?

  For the first time, she allowed herself to wish that Mano was the baby’s father instead of Wyatt. That would make everything simpler. Then she wouldn’t have to ask Mano to raise another man’s child. She wouldn’t feel guilty about staying on Oahu to be with him. There was also the fact that she loved Mano. Loving the baby’s father was a critical element that she was missing from her reality. She didn’t just not love Wyatt, she despised him. That wasn’t the way it should be.

  Although she’d vehemently rejected his suggestion that she stay, it was getting harder by the minute not to change her mind. She didn’t like him turning a cold shoulder to her after how passionately he’d treated her all week. It was one thing to want to stay. It was another to know he felt the same way. If he would walk away like she meant nothing to him, it would still be hard, but she could leave knowing their affair was one-sided. She let her heart get involved, and that was her own fault.

  And yet...

  The car pulled up outside the hotel. Paige knew her chance to change her mind was slipping away. Would it change things if she told him how she felt? Would she just embarrass herself? Things were ending either way.

  “Mano?” she said just before they got out of the car.

  He paused and turned to her. “Yes?”

  “I...” The words stuck in her throat. With his dark glasses covering the expression on his face, she couldn’t read his emotions. She couldn’t tell how he’d accept her words. He just seemed to radiate this protective wall that she wasn’t sure she could penetrate.

  “I’ve got a pretty busy schedule this afternoon,” he said when she couldn’t get the words out. “I’ve arranged for the car to take you to the airport whenever you’re ready.”

  Paige felt her heart drop in her chest. “You’re not seeing me off?”

  He shook his head, his expression aggravatingly neutral. “I’m sorry, I can’t. But I want to thank you for a lovely week. I enjoyed our time together very much. I hope you enjoyed your visit here at the Mau Loa, and I wish you the best for your future.”

  Without so much as a hug or a kiss goodbye, he opened the door and he and Hōkū got out of the car. He tipped the driver and disappeared into the hotel without the slightest hesitation.

  Paige couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart started to crumble in her chest and she could feel every painful crack as it fell apart. The tears rushed down her face then. The seams holding her together unraveled completely, and she collapsed into broken, heaving sobs in the back of the car. It was an angry, ugly cry, making her face a blotchy red and her nose run. She simply couldn’t hold it in anymore. Everything that had happened over the last month—her grandfather’s death, the pregnancy, Wyatt’s betrayal—had snowballed together with Mano’s cold rejection.

  She let herself give in to it. She didn’t know if the driver was watching, but she really didn’t care. Her life was unraveling before her eyes, and if she wanted to sit in the back of the car and cry, she damn well would.

  When she was out of tears, she reached for a tissue she’d stuffed away in her purse for the funeral. Paige dabbed away the tears and blew her nose before throwing it away. This was what she thought she wanted, but she was wrong. So wrong. She pushed him away in self-defense and now she regretted it. She would rather confess her love to him and be rejected than to receive this cold, neutral goodbye. She’d hurt him. And now he’d hurt her. She had to fix this.

  With a surge of bravery, she climbed from the town car and ran into the hotel after him. She glanced every which way around the lobby, but he was nowhere to be found. Paige dashed over to the concierge desk.

  “Did you see which way Mr. Bishop went?” she asked.

  The man looked at her suspiciously, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t.”

  “Please,” she insisted. “I have to tell him something very important.”

  “I’m very sorry, Miss Edwards, but Mr. Bishop has requested he not be disturbed while he works in his office this evening.”

  “But I—”

  “He most specifically noted that he not be disturbed by you, miss,” the concierge interrupted. “I’m sorry. I hope you enjoyed your time here at the Mau Loa. If there’s anything we can do for you today before you check out, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  The polite, practiced speech mimicked Mano’s parting words and felt like a slap in the face. He didn’t want to see her. The man seemed pretty firm on his stance. There was no amount of begging or pleading that would get her behind the desk and into the business area of the hotel where Mano was hiding away.

  That left her with no choice. “Thank you,” she said softly and turned away. Paige sought out the elevator to return to her room.

  It was time to pack and say goodbye to Hawaii and Mano for good.

  Eleven

  It was a long overnight flight home with a layover in LA. She should’ve slept or watched a movie to pass the time on the plane, but instead, she’d stewed in her thoughts.

  Paige hated the way she and Mano left things. He’d seemed to completely shut down when she told him she couldn’t stay. She wanted to. Her heart ached at the thought of telling him no, but how could she stay? He didn’t really understand what he was taking on. He wasn’t just getting her in the bargain, and it wasn’t fair to burden Mano with another man’s child.

  Anyway, did he really think they had a future together? The man who didn’t date anyone longer than a week? What if she said yes, quit her job, gave up her apartment and moved to Hawaii, only to have him change his mind? Then what would she do? It was bad enough that it would break her heart, but as much as she might love him, she couldn’t do that to her child, either.

  Exhausted, Paige finally arrived home early the next morning, slipped the key into her apartment door and stumbled inside. She dropped her bags on the floor, then shouted in surprise as she noticed a figure in her apartment, sitting on her couch.

  Her heart was still racing double time when she realized it was her sister, Piper. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked. She was too tired and emotionally spent to use her polite filter. Especially with the woman who had run off with the father of her child. Not that she wanted him any longer.

  Piper stood up to greet her anxiously. Paige noticed her normally attractive face was blotchy and red and her eyes were puffy. She’d been crying. “I came by because
I knew you were coming home today.”

  “What do you care?”

  Piper flinched. “How was Papa’s service?”

  Paige folded her arms protectively over her midsection. “It was very nice. They took some professional pictures at the ceremony that they’ll be sending to our parents. They should get them in a week or so.”

  Paige felt awkwardly trapped at her front door. She didn’t want to get any closer to her sister. She wanted to collapse into her bed, but Piper was in the way. “You didn’t bring him here with you, did you?” It was the kind of thoughtless thing her sister would do. She wasn’t deliberately hurtful, she was just oblivious to other’s feelings.

  “No,” she said with wide eyes. “Wyatt...is gone.” Piper broke down into tears again, but Paige had a hard time feeling sympathy for her.

  At the same time, she got the feeling that her sister wasn’t leaving anytime soon. “I’m going to make some coffee,” she said. She’d have to use up her daily allotment of caffeine to get through this.

  As the coffee started brewing, she noticed her sister standing in the entryway to the kitchen. “So what happened? Did he leave you for someone prettier?”

  Piper winced at her sister’s cutting accusation. “I don’t know. Maybe. We didn’t really talk about it. I just came home from work one day and he was gone.”

  “You don’t know why?” Paige asked, pouring them each a mug full of steaming brew.

  “I have my suspicions. He kept asking me what Papa left me in the will. I finally told him yesterday that he didn’t leave me anything. That Papa left almost everything to a wounded veteran charity. I don’t think he expected that. I think he was sniffing around me...around both of us...in the hopes that we’d inherit a fortune when our grandfather died. When I came out of it with nothing, he took off.”

  That made sense to Paige. She’d met Wyatt when he was working for her grandfather. He had firsthand knowledge of the sprawling estate and how much money the ailing man had to be worth. Paige must’ve been a convenient target for him. “That’s probably why he called me yesterday. Maybe he thought I got something in the will even if you didn’t. I feel stupid,” she said. “It sounds as though he would’ve left me no matter what. He just jumped ship earlier because he thought he could get the money and a prettier woman in the meantime.”

  She held out a mug to Piper, who accepted it. “I’m so sorry, Paige. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. He was just so...”

  “Mesmerizing.” Paige remembered that much.

  “Yes. And charming. And handsome. When he spoke to me, I felt like the most important person in the world. I got wrapped up in it. I never should’ve let myself get anywhere near him when I knew you two were dating. I never meant to hurt you. I mean, you’re my sister.”

  Paige didn’t know what to say. Would her sister be here apologizing if she hadn’t been dumped? She wasn’t sure. Instead, she just shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m over Wyatt.” And she was. She was madly in love with another man who lived an ocean away.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Paige turned to face her sister and noticed that Piper’s gaze zoomed in on her just-rounding belly. She knew better than anyone that Paige had always been rail thin, even underweight. A sudden belly was more than just too much food on her recent vacation. Her eyes grew round and wide, then she looked up at Paige with her mouth agape.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  Paige looked down and stroked the tiny belly she’d earned as she started her second trimester. “I guess this shirt is tighter than when I wore it last. I should’ve tried it on before I packed it.” She sighed and nodded. “Yes, I’m pregnant.”

  “With Wyatt’s baby?” Piper didn’t need her sister to answer that. The crestfallen expression on her face was proof enough of that. “Oh my god, Paige!”

  Paige set her coffee down just in time to receive the sudden embrace of her sister. Piper clung to her with new tears dampening Paige’s shirt. She thought she’d cried all she possibly could in the car yesterday, but she’d been wrong. In her sister’s arms, she found she couldn’t hold them in. The tears rolled down her cheeks almost faster than her body could produce them.

  They stood like that for several minutes until their emotions were spent and their eyes had dried. At last, Piper pulled back and wiped her cheeks. “You come sit down right now,” she said, launching into her older sister bossy self.

  Paige was too tired to argue. She took a seat at her dining room table and Piper sat down beside her.

  “How far along are you?” she asked.

  “Almost fourteen weeks. I didn’t find out about the baby until after...” Her voice trailed off, unable to finish with the words after you stole him away.

  “Does he know?”

  Paige shook her head. “I was going to tell him when I got back.”

  “Oh no,” Piper said. “You’re not likely to track him down. His phone is disconnected. His apartment is vacant. He’s not even working for that landscaping company anymore. Wyatt seriously split town when he was done with us.”

  Paige felt a sense of relief when she heard the news. “To tell you the truth, I’m okay with that. I don’t really want Wyatt in the baby’s life. I just knew it was the right thing to do.” She stared down at her coffee, thinking about all the decisions she’d made. “How could I let myself get in a position like this with a man like that?”

  “He was a snake, Paige. He whispered whatever you wanted to hear into your ear and you melted like butter. I did the same thing. You’re not to blame for this.”

  “It’s not just Wyatt,” Paige began before bursting into tears again. “It’s Mano, too.”

  Piper perked up in her seat. “Mano? Who is Mano?”

  “He’s the man I’m in love with,” Paige managed between sobs.

  Piper put a hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Tell me everything.”

  So she did. She’d never really been one to share with Piper, but she had to talk to someone. Paige started at the beginning and told her about everything that happened on her trip to Hawaii. How she’d been intrigued by Mano’s attention, how he hadn’t seemed to be able to get enough of her. How broken he seemed to be, but how much he’d improved even over the short time they were together. How she’d let herself fall in love with a man even though she knew it wouldn’t work out because she was a fool.

  “He asked you to stay? That’s a pretty big deal.”

  Paige shrugged it away. “At best, he’s infatuated with the idea of us. The reality would never work. How can I ask him to raise another man’s child? I can’t ask him to do that, especially knowing that this might not last.”

  “You’re absolutely certain you won’t change your mind?”

  “Yes. He never wanted to be a burden on a woman, and I refuse to be a burden on him. I don’t think he thought it through enough to understand what he was asking.”

  Piper looked saddened by the way their enchanted vacation romance had ended. Paige understood.

  “He only proposed a week. That’s all it was ever meant to be.”

  At last Piper got a more cheerful expression on her face that reminded Paige of their mother when she was getting fired up. “You know what? Everything is going to be fine. You’re going to get through this, and you’re going to have the most amazing baby ever. You’re going to be a great mom and you’ll be so much better off without some loser in your life. Okay?”

  Paige nodded and sniffled away the last of her tears. Her sister was right. She had a baby and a future to focus on now. She needed to make the most of that.

  * * *

  “Quit moping, Mano. I don’t know what your problem is, but it’s Tūtū Ani’s day. Act happy for her.”

  “Of course I’m happy for her,” Mano said to his brother, although it sounded more like a growl. Kal might have a point, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been like this since Paige left on Friday. He’d tried to take a step back,
protect himself from the sucker punch he knew was coming, but it still hurt. He’d much rather be at the hotel moping privately and not bringing down the family birthday festivities, but he didn’t really have a choice.

  He’d opted to find a corner where he could sit with Hōkū and be out of the way. These things were always too chaotic for him to walk around much. Even his own family had the tendency to forget he was blind and trip him up, especially the children, who didn’t really know better. From what he could hear, the women were fussing in the kitchen, the men were preparing to dig up the kalua pork from the pit in the backyard, and he was no good to any of them.

  Mano heard the squeak of the metal chair beside him and knew Kal had sat down. “So what’s with you?” he asked. “Even Hōkū looks depressed. The last time we talked, you seemed pretty psyched about your semiannual romance. Did it not end well? Did she get clingy or weird about it?”

  “The opposite, actually. Things were going great. We were having an amazing time together. I was beginning to think I wanted more than just a week with Paige and I told her so. But she left, anyway.”

  “That’s a lot to spring on a woman after a week together. I mean, how did you tell her? Did you ask if she could come back and visit? Confess your undying love and ask her to move here? Propose marriage after her grandfather’s memorial service?”

  Mano felt his jaw tighten at his brother’s probing questions. He didn’t really want to talk about this. It was too fresh. “I told her that I wasn’t ready for it to end and asked if she’d consider Honolulu as a potential future residence.”

  “A potential future residence? Tell me you didn’t say it like that.”

  “I don’t remember what I said now. All I remember is that she said no.”

  “I can imagine she had a lot to think about. And you didn’t exactly sweep her off her feet from the sounds of it. For a woman to pack up her whole life, give up her job and move here, she needs more than just the idea that you two might continue to date.”