Her Mountain Hero

by Jaymes, Holly

“At the time, you told Mr. Sloane it wasn’t a problem because of where you were in your cycle.”

  “Now come on. The world would be significantly less populated if the rhythm method worked,” my mother said. “Mitch, what is this about?”

  “Please direct your questions to me. Again, it’s just about establishing that my client is, in fact, the father of Ms. Caldwell’s unborn child.”

  “They both say he is,” my father said.

  “Ms. Caldwell. I know this is difficult. Is there any chance you were pregnant before you came to be at Mr. Sloane’s?”

  “You bastard,” I said in a low nearly imperceptive voice. Mitch’s head dropped down. Good, I hope he felt like shit putting me through this.

  “Based on what you told Mr. Sloane, the more fertile time was before you stayed with him.”

  Goodness, the lawyer never stopped. Did he have a lump of coal where his heart was supposed to be?

  Tears fell down my face, but I held my chin up. “No. Mr. Sloane was the only man I’ve been with.” I looked at his lawyer. “If he has doubts about his being the father, I’d be happy to accept and sign any waiver of his paternity.” I returned my gaze to Mitch. “I can raise this child on my own without him.”

  He leaned forward. “I won’t be denied, my child.”

  “Then stop asking me questions that suggest you think I’ve been sleeping around,” I snapped. I looked at the notary. “Where’s the paper? Let’s get this signed so I can leave. I’m told stress isn’t good for a baby.”

  Mitch’s jaw tightened.

  His lawyer started to ask another question but was interrupted.

  “That’s enough,” Mitch said. “Let’s just sign the paper.”

  The lawyer brought out the paper. “At the birth, Mr. Sloane will be listed as the father, so there will be no question.”

  “I never had to do anything like this.” my father said.

  “Were you married when your child was born?” the lawyer asked.

  “Married at the time of birth, yes.”

  “Then you’re the presumed the father. In this case, the woman and man aren’t married, so we need to establish paternity through legal means.”

  “Leave it to a lawyer to get their grubby hands on something so sacred as childbirth,” my father quipped.

  I signed the paper, got my driver’s license, and then stood. “Is that all?”

  “We can make a copy if you like,” the lawyer said as Mitch signed it.

  “I don’t need a copy.” I rushed out the door. I made it to my car before I started crying.

  “Oh, honey,” my mother wrapped her arms around me. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Why was he like that? I’ve never tried to say he wasn’t the father or threatened to keep him from the baby. Why would he put me through that?” I couldn’t believe that Mitch could be so cold and calculating.

  “Payback for not telling him about the baby?” my father suggested.

  “Mitch didn’t like those questions either. Did you see his face?” my mother said.

  Both my dad and I gaped her. “Whose side are you on?” my father asked.

  “What? I’m on Hope’s of course. I’m just saying that Mitch didn’t like having to go through that either. Personally, I think he’s still in love with you.”

  I scoffed. “He was never in love with me.” And if he was before, he wasn’t now. No man in love would have done that.

  “I was.” His strong voice reverberated through me. I spun around to see him standing just behind me.

  He looked at my parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell.” He nodded toward them. “I’d like to know about any doctors’ appointments,” he said to me.

  I nodded, unable to find my voice.

  He looked at me for a minute longer then he turned and walked down the street.

  “That was strange,” my father said.

  “He said he loved you,” my mother said.

  “He used the past tense.” I watched him as he reached his SUV. He turned his head looking my way. Our eyes caught for a moment, but then he broke the contact and got in his car.

  “But his eyes say it’s very much in the present,” my mother said. “If you love him still Hope, don’t give up.”

  I couldn’t figure out what my mother was seeing that I wasn’t. All I saw when I looked at Mitch, especially in his eyes, was pain and anger.

  “Right now, my focus is on the baby and growing my business.”

  “As it should be,” my father said. He helped me into my car. “You drive careful sweetheart. Whatever happens, you and that baby are loved. Remember that.”

  “Thank you, dad.”

  When I got home, I began to wonder if this was how my life was going to be for the next eighteen years; tense encounters with Mitch over our child. How was that going to impact our son or daughter’s wellbeing? Certainly, he would be able to tell that his father resented and didn’t trust his mother. Would time make it easier?

  Deciding there wasn’t anything I could do about it now, I went to my home office and got to work on my business. My samples were in, and I needed to make more appointments with buyers to get them in stores.

  When there was a knock on my door, I wondered if it was Parker ready to make up. He’d been such an ass over the last few days.

  I peeked through the peephole, and my heart jumped into my throat.

  I opened the door. “Mitch.”

  Mitch—Trying to Do Right

  Mitch

  I tried to tell myself that Hope deserved that line of questioning by my lawyer, but as I headed out of town, guilt had me turning around. I didn’t want to be an asshole. I just wanted to protect my rights. I hadn’t realized he’d ask such personal questions. All he’d told me was that he needed to make sure all the legal requirements were met in terms of my being the father.

  I nearly died when he suggested she’d been pregnant before I’d been with her. To see the pain in her eyes and then anger, tore at me. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the type of man to shame a woman for having sex.

  I told my lawyer that when she left.

  “Look, Mitch, it’s clear that you have feelings for this woman, but when it comes to paternity, you need to be sure. You’re going to be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars raising this child and sending him or her to college. At some point, the child will inherit your estate. You want to make sure it’s really your child. You don’t want to waste your money on another man’s child.”

  At that moment, I didn’t give a rat’s ass if it was another man’s child. It was a child that I already loved and wanted to care for.

  “No more of that. I want to know everything you’re going to say to her from now on.”

  He shrugged. “Of course. You know, if you still love her, perhaps you should work it out.”

  I shook my head. “That ship has sailed. But I don’t want her humiliated or shamed. That’s not what this is about. I just want my rights, not to punish her.”

  As I walked out, I saw Hope with her parents standing by her car.

  “Personally, I think he’s still in love with you,” her mother said to her.

  “He was never in love with me,” Hope replied.

  After everything, it was important for her to know that wasn’t true. “I was.”

  She whirled around and stared at me like the proverbial deer with its eyes caught in the headlights. For a moment, I wanted to tell her that I still did love her. But like I’d told the lawyer, that ship had sailed. Too much had happened for me to let myself love anyone, including the mother of my child. So I turned and left.

  But as I drove home, the guilt ate at me. I couldn’t love her, but I could at least apologize for what my lawyer did and make an effort to get us on civil ground for the baby’s sake.

  “Mitch.” At first, she looked surprised. Then her blue eyes narrowed into annoyance. “Your lawyer didn’t do enough, and now you’re here to accuse me of being slut and gold digger some more?”<
br />
  I blew out a breath. “No. I came to apologize. I didn’t know he was going to ask those questions.”

  She stared at me for a moment, and I thought she was going to tell me to go to hell. Finally, she opened the door. “Okay.”

  I stepped into her townhome. Her place was tidy and cozy.

  She made her way back to the kitchen. “Do you want anything to drink?”

  “No, thank you.”

  She got herself a glass of water, drank some, and then turned her attention to me. “I don’t want or need anything from you, Mitch. If you don’t want this baby, I’m perfectly capable of raising it.”

  “I never said I didn’t want the baby. All I’ve done are things to ensure I’m in this baby’s life.”

  “Like humiliate me in front of my parents? Punish me?” she cried out.

  My jaw clenched. I hated that I’d humiliated her. “I didn’t know he was going to ask those questions.” Not liking being the bad guy, I turned the conversation around. “You’re the one that didn’t tell me about that baby, which leads me to believe that you were planning to raise it without me. You probably weren’t going to tell me. I know what you think of me, Hope.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you don’t think I’m a good example. I’m too lazy and don't have ambition. Never mind I worked my ass off to build a billion-dollar company.” Just because I didn’t have a job or a business, didn't mean I lacked ambition. Who did she think made that design software? Who made sure Glynnis’ computers was virus-free? I was plenty productive.

  She looked tired as she sat in a chair at her table. I began to feel guilty at keeping her here when maybe she needed to rest. “You were clear that relationships and children weren’t in your future.”

  “So you decided to take the decision about this baby from me?”

  “No. I just needed to figure out how to tell you and to be able to let you know that I’d be fine if you opted out.”

  I stared at her for a long moment. There had been a time that I thought maybe she and I could have had a relationship. I’d felt she saw me, knew me, and respected me. But if she believed I’d opt out of raising my child, she didn’t know me at all.

  “I’d never opt out of my responsibilities,” I didn’t want to yell and make her more stressed out since she was pregnant.

  “But that’s just it. You see it as an obligation. You don’t want this child. You’ll just do the right thing.”

  I couldn’t explain the rage that roared like an inferno through me. “You don’t think I love my child?” My voice was low, but there was no mistaking the seething behind it. “This child wasn’t planned, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love it. You love it and didn’t plan it. Why would it be any different for me, Hope? What the fuck do you think is wrong with me that you believe I’m incapable of loving a child I made?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Mitch..”

  I held my hand up to stop her but took a beat to organize my thoughts and control my anger. “Before you left my house, I remember thinking about asking you to stay. I didn’t know how you felt about me, and you had your dream to follow, so I didn’t. But it never occurred to me that you thought I was the type of man who would abandon a child or simply participate in its life out of duty.”

  “Mitch, I don’t think that.”

  “You do. You just said you did.” I shook my head. “Is that why you didn’t tell me? You didn’t think I’d want it?”

  “I was overwhelmed and confused. I wanted to get my life sorted and then tell you.”

  I laughed derisively. “I lost my best friend because I couldn’t resist you. I had a moment when I thought maybe love could be real with you. But I was just a fucking idiot, again.”

  She stood and moved toward me, but I put my hands up and backed away.

  “Mitch, I would have stayed if you asked.”

  I shook my head. “Tell me something Hope, what is it about me that leads women to feel okay about lying and betraying me?”

  “It’s not okay, Mitch. And I didn’t lie or betray you, I just didn’t tell you as soon as I should have. It wasn’t because I didn’t think you’re not worthy. It was because I knew you wanted a different life, and because I was trying to adjust to it all. I don’t know.” She looked down. “At the time, it made sense.” She looked up at me. “I hate that I hurt you, Mitch. I really do.”

  I wasn’t sure I believed her, but since she was going to be the mother of my child, I had to accept it.

  I returned to the original reason for my visit. “I just wanted to apologize for my lawyer. My intention isn’t to punish you or make this hard. All I want is to be a part of the pregnancy, the birth, and the raising of the child. If you need anything, I’ll take care of it. I want to be at doctor’s visits and anything else important. I want to be involved.”

  For a moment she looked like she was going to make an impassioned comment, but then she looked down. “Yes. Of course.” She turned away and went to her counter. “Here is the information about my next appointment. I’m having an ultrasound.”

  I took my phone from my pocket and snapped a picture of the appointment card. “I’ll be there.” I turned to leave. “If you need anything, let me know.”

  “I can support myself, Mitch,” she said with irritation.

  I looked over my shoulder. “I want to be a part of this Hope.” Why couldn’t she understand that?

  “Okay.”

  I opened the door and walked out toward my SUV. Would there have been a time that this could have been different? Where Hope and I were together and excited about bringing a child into the world together.

  “Mitch,” she called after me. “I’m sorry about Parker showing up at your mother’s house.”

  I shrugged. “It was bound to happen. My punishment.”

  She flinched. “If only your feelings for me were stronger than your regret about him. He’s always been your favorite Caldwell.”

  I looked at her over the hood of the SUV. “That’s the problem, Hope. There was a time my feelings for you were stronger. I was ready to risk losing him.” I scoffed. “I misjudged. I should have never touched you, Hope. Not at the cabin, not at the river.”

  “Don’t.” She put her hand over her belly. “If you have so much regret, if you think I’m such a terrible person, if you wish our baby had never been made, you can just leave and never come back, Mitch.”

  Christ. I just made it sound like I regretted the baby. I was an asshole. “I’m not going anywhere, Hope.” Not wanting to say anything that would make it worse, I got into my vehicle and drove away. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Hope at her doorstep watching me leave.

  How did this get to be so fucked up? Was she right in that she would have stayed had I asked her? Would we be happy and on the same page about this baby if she did?

  I drove home, letting Duke out of his room and then taking him for a run so I could sweat out all the negativity and doubt. I needed to let go of what could have been and focus on what was. Hope and I weren’t a couple, but we were having a baby. We needed to figure out how to do that without sniping at each other each time we were together.

  When I got back from my run, I made sure that the doctor’s appointment was on my calendar and the address of the doctor’s office was in my GPS. Then I called Gabe, asking him what sorts of things Sam had wanted during her pregnancy that I might be able to help Hope with.

  “She couldn’t ever have enough corn chips and chocolate ice cream, together. The ice cream was like salsa. She’d scoop it up with the corn chip,” he told me.

  I liked sweet and savory together, but that did seem weird. “Was there anything she needed?”

  “Not in the beginning. She needed new clothes when she got bigger. Near the end, I had to tie her shoes until she gave up and just wore slip-on ones.”

  “So, what did you do for her during the pregnancy?” It seemed like men were relatively worthless while the
woman had to do all the work.

  “What’s going on Mitch?” Gabe finally asked.

  “I want to be a part of this, but don’t know how. It seems like I’m not needed.”

  Gabe laughed, which I didn’t appreciate. “You did enough, dude. She’s pregnant. Mostly I kept an even keel when the hormones made her emotional. I made sure she had chips and ice cream. I did all the heavy lifting and strenuous work. It’s all about being there.”

  “Hope and I aren’t together.”

  “Why don’t you change that?” he said, not hiding his annoyance. He thought I was being hard headed when I was being smart.

  My mood sobered. “She thought I wouldn’t want the baby and that I’d only be involved out of obligation.”

  “You’ve long maintained you wouldn’t ever be in a relationship. Was that such a stretch for her to believe?”

  “You think I’d walk away from a child?” Did everyone think I was an asshole?

  “No. I know you’d never do that.”

  “Hope thinks I would. If she cared about me, she’d know me. She’d know I wouldn’t abandon my kid.”

  Gabe was silent for a minute. “Mitch, as insightful as women are, they can’t read minds. And some minds, like yours, are harder to read. Maybe you and Hope aren’t meant to be. But neither of you can make a decision about your relationship without all the information.”

  “I have plenty of information.”

  “If you say so.” I could hear in his voice that he was giving up on trying to talk sense into me. But I had plenty of sense. “Right now, Hope is probably tired, so if you want to be there, doing things for her might be nice, unless she thinks you don’t think she’s capable.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning the house.”

  Jesus. “I don’t live with her.”

  “Maybe you should if you really want to be there and a part of the pregnancy.”

  Again, the idea of having her in the extension came up. “Thanks for the help.”

  “No problem. You might call Nate. He’s going through all this now too. They’re a few months ahead of you, so he might have some tips.”