Bringing Emma Home. Stella MacLean

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      “How old is she?” Grace demanded.

      Aidan glanced around the room his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “I guess she’d be four or so.”

      “What do you intend to do about her?” Grace asked.

      Aidan gave a long sigh. “I don’t know. I figured it would get cleared up tomorrow.”

      “If you’re so sure the child is not yours, maybe you should take our lawyer with you,” Grace said, trying to sound reasonable and in control even as her heart crumpled in her chest.

      Her husband had fathered a child with a woman he’d had a weekend hookup with. That hurt in the worst way possible. All those times they’d hurried to make love while she was ovulating, only to be disappointed. All those times...the heartbreak she’d had to face...while he’d sought the attentions of another woman.

      “Grace, I need to learn what I can about the situation. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should take our lawyer, but first I’d like to see for myself what is going on.” He rubbed his palms together. “I know it’s asking a lot, but would you go with me to Spartanburg?”

      She was halfway to the door when he said the words. She stopped and turned around so quickly her overnight bag banged into the back of her leg, delivering a stinging blow. “Me? You’re asking me to go with you? You destroyed my faith in you, and now you want me to help you solve a problem all of your making.”

      “I have no right to ask this. And you have every right to refuse me.”

      “You got that right. For now, all I can think about is how you deceived me and slept with another woman while we were trying so hard to have a child of our own... Or, at least, I was trying,” she said, her voice failing her as betrayal and anguish swept through her. Without warning, humiliation burned her throat. Her head swam. “I don’t understand how you could have done this to me, to us,” she cried. “But you did. You destroyed our marriage.”

      Instantly, he was at her side. “It was a stupid mistake. I was feeling as if the life we wanted together would never happen. I wanted a child so much. I wanted our life to be complete. I thought that you would be happy if only we could have a child. Then I started to feel trapped by all the doctor visits, the appointments, the expectations.”

      She stepped away, her back straight, her eyes boring into him. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. Not ever again.”

      “Grace, please listen to me. I was in Spartanburg working with a client, working hard and wishing I could be home with you, instead.”

      “A client? You mean this Deidre MacPherson person?” Grace asked, trying to decide how much longer she could stand to be near him, knowing what he’d done to her.

      Aidan held her shoulders, his touch gentle and kind, the way he always behaved when he wanted her to understand something going on with his work Without warning, the time he’d come to her, telling her they’d have to mortgage their home in order to meet a loan payment flashed in front of her. The threat that they might lose their home had been one of the worst moments of her life. To lose her home meant she would lose the place she dreamed of raising their children.

      “Yes, it was Deidre MacPherson’s business. She had just landed a major contract and we were providing technical support. I had to stay over the weekend with my technicians to get the system up and running. We went out to celebrate and something happened. I never saw her again or had any form of contact. I swear—”

      “I don’t want to hear it!” She glared at him, gritting her teeth.

      He stepped back. “I didn’t mean to remind you... All I want you to know is that I have nothing to hide where she is concerned. And that includes whatever this lawyer has in mind for us. There is simply no way I am the father of that child, but this Larry Knowles isn’t going to let it go. He has to do what his client laid out in her will.”

      The warmth of Aidan’s body mingled with his cologne, filling her nostrils, and for a few pain-filled moments she wished they could simply forget everything that had happened and go back to bed. Feeling deflated and faced with the anguish in his eyes, she relented a little. “Oh, Aidan, you have ruined everything. Everything you and I ever wanted or needed is gone for good. I don’t know you anymore.”

      “Please don’t say that. I’ve gotten us into a terrible mess. And I will find a way out of it, if only you’ll give me a little time to make things right,” he said, his voice shaking.

      Aidan looked into her eyes, into the depths of her, her heart and her soul. They had always had this connection, this one-to-one sensation whenever they spoke about those things close to their hearts. She wanted to reach out to him, to soothe him, but the agony of what he’d done left her feeling so betrayed and angry she could barely breathe. She couldn’t touch him knowing that another woman had touched him, probably in much the same way. “I don’t want to deal with this, any of this.”

      “Neither do I, but this man won’t stop trying. And it might be better if we faced this head-on, like we would with any crisis in our lives. What do you think?” He held his breath. His gaze searched her face.

      “What if we go and he has irrefutable proof that it’s your child?”

      Once again, his hands reached for hers. She hugged herself, not letting him touch her.

      “Grace, that’s not possible. The more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that it’s true. In my experience, she was always meticulous in her dealings with people. If I was the father of her child, why didn’t she tell me? I can’t help but believe that she would have wanted me to know, to share the responsibility for the baby, the cost of her education, all the things that are needed to care for a child. I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t have insisted that I help out. What woman wouldn’t?”

      “What will we do if it is your child?” Grace asked, as she kept waiting to wake up from a bad dream, cry out and be cuddled by her husband, the way it had happened after other nightmares.

      The thought that a child would come into their lives in such a destructive, personally tragic way was almost beyond believing. “If this child is yours, you’ve hurt an innocent child because of your careless behavior while destroying our marriage.”

      Aidan stood perfectly still. “I realize that, Grace. And I have no idea how I’ll make it up to you, but I will. As for the little girl, we owe it to her to talk with this lawyer and see what proof he thinks he has that I’m her father.”

      If she was to keep her marriage as God intended, and rebuild the trust they’d always shared, she had to work her way through this horrible mess. But she couldn’t do it without proof that Aidan was serious about making amends. “There is only one way I will consider being involved with you in this, and that is if you tell me everything. If I find out you’ve been lying to me about this woman, about your time with her, our marriage is over.”

      “I have told you the truth. And there is zero chance that this is my child. You and I have been trying to get pregnant for years, and every doctor we went to couldn’t find the cause. I simply won’t accept without further DNA tests, that I could have fathered a child so easily. Not after all the times you and I have made love, all the procedures we went through. It’s as simple as that. From my point of view, this is a mistake on someone’s part. I want to get it straightened out so that you and I can go ahead with adopting a child.”

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