by Janice Lynn
“And the baby?”
“Yes, and our baby.” He glanced toward her flat belly. “How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?”
“Mild nausea, but that’s it.” She studied him, wondering if she’d inhaled too many paint fumes and was imagining that he was really here. Maybe she’d fainted and was lying on the floor of her future examination room. “You really sold out in Knoxville?”
“I did.”
“But you liked Knoxville.”
“Not after you left.”
Darby’s heart came to a quick halt. What was he saying? Had he been struck by guilt that she’d taken off pregnant and alone? Had he felt responsible? Felt he had to come to Alabama to take care of her and their baby?
“Tell me you want me here, Darby. Tell me I’m welcome in your life still.”
“I want you here.” More than anything she wanted him with her. Always. But not because they were business partners. She wanted Blake in her life because he couldn’t imagine his life without her. “You’re welcome in my life.”
His gaze searched hers. “Tell me you’ve missed me as much as I’ve missed you.”
“Okay.” She nodded, wondering where he was going with this, wondering why her heart shook like a motor sputtering to life. “I’ve missed you as much as you’ve missed me.” More. Lots more, she silently added.
“This seems to be working pretty well.” He took her hand into his, traced over the lines on her palm, then laced their fingers and gave a tight squeeze. “Let’s try another. Tell me you love me as much as I love you.”
Darby wanted to believe him. Really she did. After all, his eyes shone with sincerity. His palm felt clammy next to hers, as if he was nervous as he waited for her answer.
She sighed, pulled her hand from his. “You know how I feel about you, Blake.”
“Do I?”
“I told you.”
“What exactly did you tell me, Darby?”
“That my heart has always belonged to you.”
“And then you gave me that plastic model heart.” He shook his head. “I was stupid, Darby. Utterly stupid. I thought you meant the model, but you didn’t, did you?”
Panic seized her, making her feel the need to protect herself. “I did give you the model, Blake.”
“But you’d given me your heart a long time before that, hadn’t you? That’s why you stayed in Knoxville to begin with? Because I was there?”
She rolled her eyes at him, turned to look out over the lake. “You’re so conceited.”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re wrong.”
“You’re lying.”
Through her teeth.
“Maybe,” she conceded.
“I stayed in Knoxville because of you, too, Darby. I stayed because I wanted to be with you even before I knew that was what I wanted.”
Her head jerked toward him. “Huh?”
“Even though you and I weren’t a couple, I felt closer to you than to any woman I’d ever known. When I was with you I felt as if I belonged, as if I’d come home. I wasn’t ready to acknowledge the attraction I felt for you, because quite frankly you scared the hell out of me, but I wasn’t ready to walk away from you either.”
“You let me walk away.”
“I was an idiot.”
Emotions doing jumping jacks inside her chest, Darby leaned her head against her knees, stared out at the water, scared to believe him. “So where does this leave us?”
“It leaves me madly in love with the woman I’ve come to convince to give me a second chance.”
“Blake, you don’t have to say things like this just because I’m pregnant.”
“I’m not saying anything I don’t fully believe.”
“You believe you’re in love with me?”
“I am in love with you.”
She shook her head, thinking this was too much to take in. “You’re just in shock from the changes at work. From the fact that I walked away from our business. From the fact that our weekend together resulted in my getting pregnant. That’s all this is about, Blake. You miss practicing with me.”
“I do miss practicing with you, but there are certainly things I miss more about you than our working together.”
“Like?” she couldn’t resist asking.
“Like how you smile at me when I walk into a room. How when something perplexes you, you ask my opinion and really listen to my answer. How when my lips touch yours my entire body catches on fire.”
She liked all those same things about Blake. He’d always believed in her, always been confident in her abilities, and his confidence in her had given her strength.
“Your body catches on fire when we kiss?”
He studied her. “Yours doesn’t?”
She nodded. “Yes, my body catches on fire when you kiss me, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“To convince you to let me be your partner in Alabama, Darby. With the baby, you’re going to need my help.”
With the baby.
Was that why he was saying all the right things? Because he’d resigned himself to a life with her because he’d gotten her pregnant? “I’ll get by.”
“You’d get by easier with a partner,” he pointed out. “I have references. I’m sure my last partner would be willing to put in a good word for me.”
“Ha-ha, too funny.”
“I’m being serious, Darby.” He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss to her fingertips. “I want to be a part of your life. I’ve never considered living in Alabama, but I do know I belong wherever you are.”
Darby’s heart filled with love, filled with the knowledge that Blake loved her. Not because she was pregnant, but because he hadn’t been pretending that weekend any more than she had. “How do you know?”
“Because home is where the heart is, and my heart is wherever you are.”
EPILOGUE
WHEN Darby and Blake had added the fully equipped birthing room, they hadn’t intentionally meant to be the first couple to make use of its facilities.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Blake asked at the end of her latest contraction. He moved from where he’d been between her legs, pressed a kiss to her temple.
She smiled at her worried husband. Playing the role of both expectant father and doctor perhaps hadn’t been their wisest choice. But Darby wouldn’t have chosen any other way. Together they’d made their precious baby, and together they would bring him into the world. Just the two of them.
Of course the moment her family realized they weren’t going to show for Sunday dinner, the entire crew would no doubt descend upon them.
“I’m fine.”
At the moment she really was. If he asked her after the next contraction started she’d likely tell him otherwise, though. Not that he didn’t know. Her last contraction had almost had her head spinning backwards and her cursing his manhood.
Which would be a real shame, since she’d developed quite an attachment to everything about her husband.
Each morning when she woke curled next to him, looked into his happy black eyes first thing, she wanted to pinch herself. Never had she imagined she could be so happy, so loved.
Blake loved her. With all his heart and soul.
When he’d slid the golden band on her ring finger last September, while standing on the dock with their family and friends on the bank, he’d said his vows to her. Love much brighter than the sunshine on the lake had shone in his eyes. Love real and wonderful and all-consuming.
The skin on her belly began pulling tight, warning the next contraction was starting. They were getting close. So very close to welcoming their baby into the world.
“Maybe we should have driven to Pea Ridge.”
Darby shook her head. For as long as she could remember she’d loved this house, had dreamed of someday owning it. Over the past few months she and Blake had made the house their home, taking pride in each room, taking pleasure in decorating the nursery j
ust off their bedroom. Giving birth to their son here would just ice the dream cake.
Or so she’d thought, since she’d wanted to deliver naturally anyway.
As the pressure low in her abdomen continued to build, she admitted she was now seeing the attraction of an epidural.
Her stomach clenched. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
Blake glanced from the monitor strip to Darby’s gritted teeth. “Breathe.”
Unable to speak, she nodded, the intense pain ripping her body almost unbearable.
“Push, Darby. He’s almost here.”
Surely she’d die any moment from the pain?
“One more push.”
Darby pushed. And pushed.
Blake’s cry of awe, followed by another cry, was her reward.
“He’s beautiful, Darby.”
Darby’s gaze went to her red-faced son, lying on her belly. Blake cut and clamped the cord, wrapped their son in a soft cotton blanket, and handed him to Darby’s waiting arms.
“He’s perfect, Darby. Just like you.”
Darby was too wowed by the precious bundle in her arms to laugh at Blake’s “Just like you.” Someday soon she’d remind him of her “perfection”, but for the moment she could only stare at their baby. Jet-black hair covered his round little head. Ten fingers. Ten toes. The sweetest bow-shaped mouth. Perfect.
“Victor Charles Di Angelo.” Darby said her son’s name out loud, holding the baby where Blake could see him, too.
“It’s not too late to name him Dillon.”
“Never.” She faked a shudder, knowing how pleased Blake had been at her suggestion of naming their son after his grandfather and her father.
“Don’t say I didn’t offer.” He winked, love shining in his eyes.
“I won’t,” she promised. “You’ve been offering for the past six months, despite my repeatedly telling you we aren’t naming our son after a high school mascot.”
Her gaze dropped back to the yawning baby in her arms. She couldn’t resist touching his cheek, running the pad of her fingertip over the smooth softness. His unfocused dark blue eyes stared at her, stealing her heart.
“Welcome to your new home, darling.”
“He probably liked his old home better,” Blake teased, bending to kiss Darby’s cheek. “I know I certainly would.”
Darby shook her head. “You’re crazy, City Boy.”
“About you. Maybe Victor needs a baby brother.”
Meeting his gaze, she smiled, knowing where he was going with this. “Named Dillon?”
Grinning, he nodded.
Darby laughed, happier than she could ever remember being. Well, except for perhaps on her wedding day. Her wedding night. And quite a few days and nights since.
She laughed again. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Darby. With all my heart.” He kissed her, then placed his hand over where the baby’s fist wrapped around her finger. “Thank you.”
She didn’t have to ask what for. She knew. Knew, and was thankful to Blake for the same things. Remembering what he’d told her that afternoon on the dock, she couldn’t agree more.
Home was where the heart was—and she’d come home to stay, for her own happily-ever-after.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5694-5
DR. DI ANGELO’S BABY BOMBSHELL
First North American Publication 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Janice Lynn
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