“You are sitting down.” Melody reached out and patted his hand, and he looked down to notice that, yes, he was indeed sitting on the floor and no longer kneeling in front of her. Somehow, in all of his panic, Melody’s breaths had started to slow down, and she looked the calm one of the two of them. Fox was usually the calm one—not as serene as Loch, but…enough. And now he was sitting here letting his mind go in a thousand different directions, and he had no idea what he was doing.
Pregnant.
How the hell did that happen?
“Pretty much how it always happens.”
He hadn’t realized he’d said that out loud until she answered. “I mean, I know how it happens. I remember everything about that night, too. We may have been drunk, but that was the best sex of my life, and now it seems that sex had consequences. Hell, sex always has consequences but they don’t always have to do with babies or STDs. And why the hell am I talking about STDs and sitting on the floor away from the woman who is carrying my child?”
Melody laughed. This time, the tears streaming down her face didn’t make him want to hurt whoever had dared to hurt her. But the fact that he had been the one to make her cry wasn’t lost on him.
“I’m glad to see that you’re panicking, too. Because that whole thing where I talked about whiskey and that I think the baby should be named Whiskey…that was like my fifth panic attack in the past few hours. Good to know we are both on the same page of not knowing what the hell is going on. And I just keep rambling.”
Fox sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm his erratic heartbeat. “Okay. We’re both panicking, so I guess I should try to calm down so I can figure out what’s going on. Because I feel like my brain is like five steps behind reality, and it keeps thinking stupid shit that might not be funny once we actually think about it for real.”
“I know what you mean. I keep going through random bouts of giggling, and then crying jags, and then just sitting as if I know what to do next. Yet I’m still nauseous at the same time.”
That made Fox sit up straighter. “Nauseous? Are you okay? You need water or peanut butter? I’ve no idea if the pregnancy myths are true or when they even start. And by they, I mean cravings. I should just shut up now.”
Melody reached out and cupped his face. Her soft hand on his slightly scratchy cheek calmed him more than anything else could have.
“I’m fine. Or at least I will be fine. Let’s talk about the details so that way we can figure out exactly what to do because you may feel ten steps behind, but I’m right there with you.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“Good. I didn’t realize I was pregnant until today. I know that sounds stupid, considering how far along I am but, apparently, it’s more common than we think. This is probably too much information, but I don’t really care because, hello, I’m having a baby and I’m stressed out. I don’t usually get my period regularly, so I can’t use that as a timeframe. I’m fine, but it has to do with my dancing when I was younger. So because I didn’t realize I had missed any periods, I wasn’t looking for any other symptoms. I also thought that the nausea and the times when my stomach rolled had to do with the stress of moving to a new town, opening up a new business, becoming friends with you… I didn’t realize it was morning sickness until today.”
She took a deep breath, but he didn’t interrupt her because he had a feeling she wasn’t finished yet.
“I got really lightheaded today and passed out. Only for a moment. I’m fine, but I did it in front of Kenzie and Ainsley, and they made sure I made it to the doctor’s. I had thought they might’ve told you that I passed out because I don’t know exactly how small towns work, but I’m also not sure if they know exactly what happened. Now I’m getting away from the point, so I’m going back. I passed out. Not because I’m sick, not because of not taking care of myself, but because I’m pregnant, and I just got a little lightheaded. I’m going to take my vitamins, I’m going to eat better, and then I’ll figure out what the hell I’m going to do because I’m over three months along now, and I’m really, really scared.”
Nothing else she could have said would have hit him harder than that. He immediately stood up so he could sit on the couch and then pulled her into his arms and onto his lap. He almost thought he’d made another mistake until she leaned into his hold and clung to him.
Fox had no idea what they were going to do. He didn’t question if he was the father, didn’t wonder if she was pregnant at all. Because that’s not who he was, and while he didn’t know every aspect of Melody, he knew that wasn’t who she was either.
“We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out.” Maybe if he said it a few more times, he might actually believe it. Because as he sat on the couch and held Melody close, his mind whirled, and he tried to catch his breath.
Melody was pregnant. The baby was his.
He was going to be a father.
What the hell were they going to do?
Chapter 12
Today would be a better day. And if Melody kept telling herself that, it would totally happen. She wasn’t going to throw up, pass out, or cry in Fox’s arms. She had done enough of that the day before, and she was over being a drama queen. She had spent way too many years of her life being that person and overreacting to every single little thing because her life had been all about dance. Nothing else mattered. But she was not going to allow herself to regress.
“Easier said than done,” she whispered to herself.
She stood in front of the long mirror in the room her grandmother had let her have, trying not to let her stomach roll any more than it already was. She wasn’t showing yet, and she had no idea when she would start. She was months behind where she needed to be, weeks behind reading and checking on websites and making sure she could be a good mom.
And what struck her the most out of all of that, was that in the day she had known she was pregnant, she hadn’t once thought about not having the baby. The doctor had said she was pregnant, and even though it hadn’t quite sunk in yet, her thoughts had gone to how to tell Fox and what she was going to do as a mom.
Other things like how to tell her grandmother, and how the hell she planned to run a dance studio while she was pregnant also filled her mind, but not having the baby had never been an option.
And if she were honest with herself, Fox’s reaction had been something of a revelation, as well. He hadn’t questioned paternity. Hadn’t even doubted that she was pregnant at all. He had just sat there, rambled right along with her, and had said that they would form a plan. Neither of them had been up to actually forming a plan then, but saying something along those lines had at least calmed her enough to think that they could figure this out.
And because she felt as if she were calm about it, she knew it hadn’t quite hit her yet. She’d had less than twenty-four hours for her mind to go through everything that she needed to go through, and all she could think about was that she really needed a nap. That and the fact that Fox had been wonderful. Yeah, he’d fallen on his ass in front of the coffee table and had mumbled and rambled just like she had, but there hadn’t been a Fox-shaped hole in the door from him running away.
He had stayed. He believed her. And, somehow, she felt as if he believed in her.
Only her grandmother had ever truly believed in her—even those times when she didn’t believe in herself. And the fact that Fox had just shakingly held her, confused her more than anything.
She didn’t really want to analyze those thoughts, though. She hadn’t been lying when she told Fox before all of this happened that she didn’t want to deal with a relationship. She truly didn’t want to open herself up to anything like that again and risk getting hurt. But she knew it was more than that. Because if she focused on what she could have been she would mess up what she’d already worked towards.
But it seemed that all of that might’ve gone out the window with one whiskey-filled night.
All of her plans about forming this new life
of hers where it would center on her work and caring for her grandmother felt as if they were sliding through her fingers. She had no idea how she was going to juggle everything. No idea how she was going to handle being pregnant at all. And just using that word, pregnant, made her hands shake and her stomach roll once again. She honestly didn’t know if the nausea came from morning sickness or from the idea that she knew she was pregnant.
This was such a new experience for her, and she was truly afraid that though she had tried so hard not to end up alone as she had been for so long, she feared she would end up doing this alone anyway.
She wasn’t going to put any excess baggage on her grandmother. Grandma Pearl was a force to be reckoned with and had lived her life hard and strong and to its fullest. Melody didn’t want to take away any of the time her grandmother had left, or fill it with worry and stress over what Melody was doing with her life.
She’d already done enough of that as it was.
In the end, Fox had held her and told her that everything was going to be okay and that they would figure something out. How could she believe that? She didn’t know him. Yet she’d let herself fall into his arms not once, but twice now.
She hadn’t forgotten that kiss either.
It had convinced her to tell him exactly what was on her mind. She hadn’t known how she was going to break the news to him; how she would tell him that she was carrying his child. Yet with one kiss, she had been lost. But with Fox, that wasn’t anything new.
After all, a single kiss was how they’d gotten into their situation to begin with.
And though he seemed as if he were going to be by her side, how could she trust that? How could she put Fox through that? He had his life in order. He looked as if he knew exactly what he was doing in the small town with his family surrounding him. And now she felt as if she were stripping all that away because of the one night they had spent together. This child might be both of their responsibilities, but she still didn’t have any of the answers.
She was once again working herself up into circular reasoning in an argument that made no sense. So she rested her hand on her belly, the awe sliding through her at what she held shocking, and let out a deep breath.
“Now or never.” Since the contractors were working on the studio today and her grandma had plans with friends, she was headed over to Fox’s to talk. He had said that he was going to take the day off from work, though she wasn’t quite sure how he’d do that since he owned the paper. But since that’s what he had said, she was just going with it.
However, the idea of talking with Fox worried her. Maybe worried wasn’t the best word for it, but she was still nervous. She had no idea what he would say, and she had even less idea what she was going to say. Because even though a small part of her wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to take any responsibility and that she could do it on her own, the rest of her knew that was totally not the case.
She did not want to do this alone.
But she had a feeling this small town and Fox’s family within its borders wouldn’t allow that to happen anyway. Now there was that nauseous feeling once again. She was going to be that woman. Yes, that woman. The one who slept with one of Whiskey’s most eligible bachelors and ended up pregnant.
Accidental pregnancies were not supposed to happen in this century, yet her body did not agree. And that was enough of that.
Melody grabbed her purse, left a note for her grandmother telling her where she was headed, and knowing there would probably be questions later, she headed out so she could walk to Fox’s place. His house wasn’t too far away, and she needed the air. As she made her way to the front of his home, she couldn’t help but remember the first time she had been there. He’d been so caring with her, so sweet, even as he’d let her ride him into oblivion. It had been hard, fast, and hot. He’d said it was the best sex of his life, and she knew it was the same for her. She’d never had anything like it, and knew she probably never would again. No man could ever live up to Fox, and that should have scared her, but for some reason, it didn’t.
But she had too much on her mind to worry about that strange thought.
Fox opened the door before she even had a chance to knock and gestured her inside. He looked far too good in worn jeans and a Henley. The fact that he wore no shoes so she could see his feet should have grossed her out, but she was a ballet dancer and had seen way worse feet. And if she were honest, Fox’s feet were hot.
And that’s when she knew that there was something off with her body chemistry because she had thoughts like those running through her mind. Maybe all pregnant ladies had weird kinks. Or maybe every single part of Fox was hot, and she just needed to get over herself. Finding the father of your unborn child attractive shouldn’t be weird, but Melody was anything but normal.
“You came.”
At Fox’s words, she turned to look at him and frowned. “Of course, I came. We both said that we needed to talk since we each took the morning off. So, here I am. Did you think I would run away?” The thought had crossed her mind more than once, but running away from her problems hadn’t helped before, and she knew it sure as hell wouldn’t help now.
Fox shook his head and closed the door behind him. Then he reached out and gripped her hand with his. Because she was so off-kilter, so touch-starved, she let him.
“No, I didn’t think you would run away. But a small part of me thought everything that happened last night was a weird dream that I couldn’t quite wake up from. But now that you’re here, and we’re both acting so strange, I have a feeling I didn’t dream up anything.”
Melody barely resisted the urge to rest her hand on her nonexistent bump. She never used to do that at all before yesterday, and yet she had done it twice already that morning. Apparently, knowing there was a baby growing inside you turned you protective and gave you the same gestures that every pregnant woman and every TV show she’d ever watched had.
“Nope. Not a dream. I threw up this morning I think to remind myself exactly what happened.”
Fox’s face went slightly pale, and he reached out for her before lowering his arm. The two of them truly had no idea what they were doing, and it made their interaction awkward.
“Is there anything you need? I stayed up most of the night and read a bunch of articles. I even downloaded that What To Expect book, but I got confused and figured that was something maybe we should read together. Or maybe you already read it. But then I realized that you’ve only known about this a few hours longer than I have, so you probably haven’t read the book yet. I don’t actually know your reading speed because I don’t know anything about you beyond how you taste…and that was awkward as hell, so I am going to shut up now. Wait, I’m not going to shut up. I meant to ask you if you needed anything to drink or to eat or to sit down or if there’s anything I can do for you at all. And, once again, I’m going to shut up.”
If Melody weren’t already sure she’d been slowly falling for Fox since the night they met, she’d have known right then. He was just so damn caring, so perfectly imperfect and awkward.
She was just the same, and she had a feeling they would both be rambling their way into uncomfortable situations more than once as they tried to figure out what they were going to do about the whole baby thing.
Because, dear God, they were having a baby.
A real baby.
A baby that was currently inside her like that thing from Alien.
Fox’s hands gripped her upper arms, and she blinked so his face came into focus. “You just got really pale. What’s wrong?”
Was it wrong of her that she wanted to lie and say that she was pale because she thought she might be falling in love with him rather than mentioning the fact that she couldn’t get that horrible scene from Alien out of her head?
She’d officially lost her damn mind, but she told him the truth anyway. Just not about the love thing because that was something she was pretty sure she would have to hide away forever if she wanted
to stay sane.
“I was just thinking about the fact that when my stomach rolls now, I don’t know if it’s nausea or the thing from Alien trying to escape. And that probably puts me in the record books for being a bad mother, but I’ve only been at this gig for about twenty-two hours now, so hopefully, you’ll let that slide.”
Fox stared at her for a moment, and she thought he might say something that would make her feel like an idiot, but he threw back his head and laughed.
“Oh, God. I’m so glad you said that because I totally had that image in my brain when you were talking about this yesterday. But I didn’t want to say it because it sounded so insensitive and insane. But if you’re thinking it and I’m thinking it, then it has to be okay. And that means we are totally in this together because we’ve lost our minds.”
She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. “I don’t really know if the basis for good parenting should be a shared imagination of an alien ripping through stomach lining and murdering people in a hospital room. But it has been a while since I’ve seen the movie so I could be wrong about the mothering instincts of extraterrestrials.”
That sent both of them into a fit of laughter, and soon, she found herself in Fox’s arms as he held her close, rubbing his hands down her back. And though she knew it was meant to be comforting, she couldn’t help but inhale his scent and remember how he felt when he hovered over her that night.
“I didn’t even ask you what you wanted to do with the baby. I know I should have. And I know it’s your choice and understand I’ll be here, no matter what happens. But I want you to know that even if you decide that you never want to talk to me again, I’m not really going away. Because, yeah, my mind is whirling and I still feel like I’m two steps behind, but I’m going to be there for you and the baby. And I’m not going to be there with just a paycheck. I know you don’t really know anything about my family, and that is something that’s going to change soon I think, but I have watched both of my brothers deal with being some variation of single fathers. I’ve watched what happens when custody agreements pull children away from their dads, even if it sounded like a reasonable explanation at the time. And I’ve watched my eldest brother raise his daughter on his own because his ex wanted absolutely nothing to do with being a mom. I don’t want that for whatever child we have. I’ve watched my family struggle, and I’ve watched those children thrive, and I’ve tried to be the best uncle that I can be. But I want you to know that I want to be the man you need me to be, in any way you need it. But I don’t want to just be a figment of this child’s life. So, if you choose to continue on with this pregnancy, I hope you let me be by your side. I hope that you let me figure out how to be part of this child’s life.”
Whiskey Reveals (Whiskey and Lies Book 2) Page 10
