Plain Jane and Doctor Dad. Kate Little

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СКАЧАТЬ the door and they stood facing each other. A small lamp on a side table cast the foyer in soft, golden light. Shadows emphasized his strong features, his wide, firm mouth and amber eyes.

      She suddenly felt self-conscious dressed in just her bathrobe, but there was no help for it. She knew she looked a mess, her hair hanging in wild waves down past her shoulders and her eyes circled with shadows. She met his steady gaze, then looked away, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

      “I know you’re tired. I won’t stay long,” he promised.

      “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here.” It was true, she realized. She met his gaze, then looked away. “Let’s go into the living room.”

      She led the way and sat on the couch. Doug stood a short distance away, his brows drawn together in a frown. She suddenly wondered about the thoughts causing that dark look. Did he think badly of her, that she was not very particular or careful about her romantic partners? The irony was, if anything, it was her naiveté and lack of experience with men that had gotten her into this fix. But of course Doug wouldn’t know that, and she felt foolish trying to explain it to him, certain he’d think she was making excuses for herself.

      Doug turned and sat down in the armchair across from her. “You never really told me what Scott said to you about the baby. Only that he reacted badly.”

      She sighed and gripped her hands in her lap. “We didn’t part on the best terms. I basically haven’t spoken to him since he broke up with me and announced he was leaving for Minnesota. When I went to see him today, to tell him about the baby, he offered to pay for an abortion…but that was all.”

      “That bastard.” Doug’s eyes glinted with anger. “Is that all he said to you? He didn’t say he’d help you through the pregnancy or support his own child?”

      Maura had wanted to avoid relating the uglier details of the conversation, but now she decided to tell Doug all.

      “No, just the opposite, actually. He said that if I had the child, it would be my responsibility and I’d have to take him to court before he’d share in any financial support. He also said he hoped I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this. It would be bad for my career and for his, and he hoped that I’d…I’d be smart and do the right thing.”

      “He said that?” Doug rose to his feet, his fists balled as if he wanted to strike something or someone. “I’d like to do the right thing to him…that smug, self-righteous son of a—”

      Maura had never seen Doug this angry. His powerful emotions frightened her. Was it due to some long-standing enmity or rivalry between him and Scott? A tension Scott had sometimes hinted about. Or was he simply angry on her behalf?

      “Doug, please. I really don’t care if Scott’s involved. I did believe I was in love with him at one time,” she admitted, “but now I can see I was in some fantasyland. I never really knew him.”

      Doug turned to her again, and she thought her words had taken some of the edge off his anger.

      “I was shocked at first by his reaction,” she continued. “But maybe it’s a good thing that he wants no connection to me or the baby. With any luck I’ll never have anything to do with him again.”

      He paced across the room, then suddenly turned to face her.

      “Yes, I guess you’re right. You’re certainly better off without him,” he admitted in a calmer tone. “And my confronting him wouldn’t help matters, would it?”

      “Not at all,” she assured him.

      “Except to make me feel a hell of a lot better,” he added, more to himself than to Maura. He took a deep breath and she could see him willing himself to cool off.

      “Sorry, Maura. This doesn’t help you any.” He shook his head then glanced down at her. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

      He’d asked the question quietly, almost casually. Yet she sensed him focusing on her reply with laser-like intensity. Not just the way a friend would be interested, but as if the matter somehow affected him directly, as well.

      “I want to keep my baby,” she said firmly. “I have to.”

      “I knew you would say that.” Doug’s expression softened, and a warm light glowed in his eyes as he gazed at her. “But raising a child on your own will be hard. Harder than you think,” he said knowingly. “My mother was a single parent. She didn’t even have family to help her. She really did it all on her own. With twin boys, no less,” he added. “Until I was an adult, I never even understood or appreciated how much she had to deal with. Sometimes I know I can never fully appreciate it, either.”

      Maura had not known that Doug had been raised only by his mother. It couldn’t have been easy for him growing up. The accomplishment of completing medical school seemed even more impressive now. He was right. It wouldn’t be an easy road for her or her child.

      “I know what you’re saying. I’ve thought about this—the problems I’ll face. But I can’t see it any other way. I just can’t put the child up for adoption,” she added. It was hard to continue, but she forced herself. Now it was her turn to reveal some hidden part of her history. “I know what it’s like to be part of a family…but not really part of it. It’s a terrible, lonely feeling. Like you’re always on the outside looking in,” she added quietly, remembering unhappier times.

      “I’d rather raise my child alone and give it all the love one parent can give than sit and wonder, every day, if my baby is happy and cared for.”

      “You were adopted?” he asked.

      She shook her head. “A foster child, from the time I was about twelve years old. Both my parents died in a car accident. My sister and I had no close relatives to raise us. We were split up and sent to different foster homes. Some of the people were nice to me. They wanted to help and tried to make me feel a part of their family. But there were always problems. I never stayed anywhere for very long,” she confided wistfully. “Then I managed to get a scholarship to college and started living on my own.”

      “How sad to lose both your parents so young,” he said gravely. “At least I always had my mother and brother. You never mentioned your family before. I had no idea.”

      “Yes, well, you never mentioned yours either,” she said. “We’ve never talked much about personal things like this before, have we?”

      “No, we haven’t. But maybe it’s long past time that we did.”

      He glanced at her briefly as he sat down on the other end of the couch, crossing one long leg over the other and stretching out his arm along the back of the sofa. Despite his size, he moved gracefully, Maura noticed, with a powerful masculine grace that was distracting to her.

      “Considering all you’ve been through, Maura, I’d think you would have turned out differently somehow.”

      “Differently? How do you mean?”

      “I’m not sure exactly. Not nearly as optimistic for one thing. And you’re such a caring, giving person.”

      His thoughtful words lifted her spirits and, more than that, made her remember who she was and what she was capable of.

      “I СКАЧАТЬ