The Detective's 8 Lb, 10 Oz Surprise. Meg Maxwell

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СКАЧАТЬ in Nick to stay seated, to let her finish when she was ready.

      She sat back down, the pillow on her lap. “I didn’t know what to do. He was threatening me, and the police said they couldn’t help me until he actually hurt me—or my family. So I panicked and just went along with him, figuring I could give myself some time to figure out what to do, how to get help.”

      “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice practically a whisper. “I was right there.”

      “I wanted to,” she said, finally looking at him. “I wanted to tell you everything. You can imagine how much of a comfort you were. Not only were you a police officer, but you were home—you were Blue Gulch. I let myself have that beautiful night with you, Nick. I was so afraid to tell you for fear of bringing you into it. He’d go after you and God knows what would happen and suddenly your whole world is upended because of me.”

      “Georgia, I would have taken that risk.”

      She shook her head. “I couldn’t let you.”

      I was right there. I was right there. The words kept repeating his head. I could have done something.

      She shifted a bit to face him. “The night we met, he’d told me he was going out of town for a couple of days. When he returned in the morning I panicked and pretended I just ran into you. You have no idea how desperately I wanted to run into your arms and tell you to help me. But I was so scared, fearing for your life, for my family’s. For your family’s. What if to hurt you, he went after your teenage sister?”

      Nick dropped his head into his hands. He’d been right there, he thought again and again and again. Right damned there. And he’d let her down.

      Just as he’d let his mother down as a teenager, unable to help her, unable to stop his father’s tirades and threats.

      She closed her eyes for a moment. “I’ll never forget the look on your face when I allowed you to believe the night meant nothing to me, that that monster was my boyfriend. I was half numb, half terrified and found myself frozen. But when I discovered I was pregnant, I knew I had to get away before I started to show.”

      His heart was starting to thud. “You were going to go into hiding?”

      She shook her head. “If I ran, it was going to be to you. And that would just bring him right to your doorstep—to your sister’s doorstep. I couldn’t, wouldn’t risk that. I decided to go back to the police and beg for help. But very early that morning, the police came to my door. James Galvestan was found dead in my backyard, having fallen from the roof and twisted his neck. They found all kinds of cameras and surveillance bugs on him.”

      She stood up and walked to the windows, wrapping her arms around herself. He wanted to go to her, but he stayed put, wanting her to finish, to cry if she needed to.

      She turned to face him. “It’s a terrible, terrible feeling to be glad someone is dead, Nick.”

      “I know,” he whispered, but wasn’t even sure he’d said it out loud. He stood and walked over to her, jabbing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I hate that I let you walk away with that monster.”

      She was quiet for a moment, then said, “The reason I’m so sure the baby is yours and not his is that he refused to consummate our relationship until marriage. He wanted everything to be his version of perfect.”

      The baby was Nick’s.

      What kind of father could he be? What the hell kind of detective was he that he missed the signs, thought the worst of her?

      “Nick, listen. I want to put all that behind me. For so many months, he controlled me. He kept me from my family, from being able to come home when my grandmother got sick, when Annabel and Clementine desperately needed my help with the restaurant. Early on, before I knew what he was, he’d talked me into investing all my savings into a business venture that ended up not existing, so I’m completely broke. I lost everything. I’m not letting him invade my thoughts anymore. I have a baby to think about.”

      Their baby. She was carrying his child. Nick Slater was going to be a father. And given everything Georgia had just been through, there was no way he’d let her down. He’d be there for her—as far as he could. He’d make sure she was safe, pay for her health insurance, be an ear, build her a crib—whatever she needed. He never wanted her to feel a moment’s fear again.

      She put a hand on her belly, then smoothed the blue material and clasped her hands in front of her. “I want to babysit Timmy for you while you work and search for his mother.”

      The tension was gone from her shoulders, he saw. The shame and sorrow that had clouded her green eyes as she talked about what had happened in Houston—also gone. She was doing everything she could to move on, to not let it infect her. The determination in her expression was impressive.

      He wanted to tell her that. He also wanted to put off talking about the possibility of her being his nanny for the week. “Georgia, I—”

      “After I left the police station earlier today, I went to see my grandmother and sisters and told them everything,” she interrupted. “I let them know I want to focus on the future, not the past. Hurley’s Homestyle Kitchen is doing very well now that Essie is healthy again and back in the kitchen. I’m going to be baking for Hurley’s, but that will only require my mornings. I need this job as Timmy’s nanny because I’m worried about my ability to be a good mother. I was always focused on my career, climbing the corporate ladder, and never thought I had maternal instincts and now here’s my chance to learn in the field.”

      Nick could hear Timmy beginning to fuss. He turned to head down the hallway. “Exc—”

      “I’ll get him,” she said, picking up her basket of supplies and following the sound of Timmy’s cries.

      A few minutes later she was back with the baby in her arms. “Wow, I didn’t need to use anything I brought. You have everything he needed.”

      “I drove over to Baby Center after getting Timmy checked out at the clinic. He’s healthy. Five weeks.”

      She smiled. “Well,” she said, nuzzling the infant in her arms. “You’re all changed, Timmy. Is someone hungry?” she cooed.

      The baby cried harder.

      “There, there,” Georgia said, rocking Timmy a bit. But he still fussed and squirmed.

      Her cheeks flamed and she looked as though she might cry. “If you want to hire a professional nanny or someone with a clue about babies, I’ll understand.”

      Nick looked at the case files on the table. Looked at the baby squirming in Georgia’s arms. He thought of everything she’d just told him, everything she’d been through.

      He watched as she held Timmy up against her chest and gently patted his back and he calmed down, his tiny hand opening and closing.

      She smiled and kissed the top of Timmy’s cap. “I’ll bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?”

      Timmy let out a wail, his little face turning red. Georgia rocked him and he squirmed harder, so she brought him back up against her and patted his back again and he let out a burp, then calmed down again. Then started fussing again.

      She СКАЧАТЬ