Chapter 26
Abigail
“Devon!” I heard the name practically screamed from the other side of the bathroom door. My eyes flew open and the tears immediately dried up.
What in the hell? Why had she screamed his name?
“Hey, Sweet Girl,” came the reply. I recognized the voice immediately and a lump formed in my throat.
Devon. He was here! He’d found me and was in the middle of being reacquainted with Isabella.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!
“I missed you so much!” she proclaimed.
Leaping from the toilet, I fixed myself up as best as possible. Luckily, I’d gotten a lot of sun over the past month so it helped camouflage the dark circles from my crying. My eyes were red though.
Double shit.
Splashing some cool water on my face, I tried to slow my racing heart. But it was useless. I was excited and scared and anxious and a million other things right now. How did he find me? Did Carrie give it away? I wasn’t sure if I was excited to see him or angry that he’d track me down when I’d specifically said I wanted him to stay away.
I heard their voices again, but this time they were speaking in hushed tones and I couldn’t make out what was being said.
My hand shook as I placed the hand towel back on the rack and grasped the door handle, giving it a twist. My breath caught in my throat as upon opening the door I came face to face with Devon Townstead.
“Hello, Abby,” he smiled, the smile was an exact replica of the smug smile he’d given me when he walked in on me changing the bed the very first day we’d met.
“Devon. Wh-What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, putting my daughter back down on the floor and stepped towards me. “I came for you.”
“Why?” I asked shaking my head. “We’re done Devon. It’s been a month, surely you’ve moved on by now.” There had been at least three other women, I knew that for a fact since it was plastered all over the media.
“I gave you a month to change your mind. I realize now you’re not going to come to your senses until we spoke face to face.”
I stared deep into his eyes while trembling inside. I had tried to do the right thing, but I should have known he wasn’t going to let me go just like that. Crossing my arms over my chest, I attempted to put on a false bravado that I wasn’t quite feeling.
“Mommy, can Devon go on the boat with us?” Isabella asked breaking into my thoughts and tearing my gaze from Devon and down to my little girl.
“We’ll see, sweetie. How about you go back and play on your tablet while I talk to Devon alone.”
“But - ”
“Isabella Grace Whitney, what did I just say?”
Her lower lip jutted out and she made a little disgruntled sound as she spun and stormed into the main room.
As she walked away, sulking, Devon startled me by pushing me back and into the bathroom, closing the door between us. “Now that we have some privacy, I want to know why you left, and I don’t want bullshit, Abigail.”
“I, ummm.” I’d went through this scenario in my mind a million times, and each time I would stand in front of him at a loss for what to say. Now that he was here, I was at just a loss now that I had been in my mental scenarios.
“Oh, come on, Abby. You had no problem telling me what was on your mind the first day we met, I don’t buy you being at a loss now.” As he spoke, he moved towards me. For each step forward he’d take, I’d take on back until he had me pinned against the back wall. Placing a hand on either side of my head, he secured me so I couldn’t escape.
God, he felt so good with his body braced against mine. And even though it had been a month I hadn’t forgotten the smell of his cologne. As I breathed the enticing scent in, my body came alive with need for him.
“It’s complicated,” I said looked over his shoulder. I couldn’t look him in the eye, because if I did I’d burst into tears. Being apart from him had been excruciating. I missed everything about him, from how he appreciated my crappy cooking to the cocksure looks he’d give me that both angered me and make me weak inside.
“Don’t give me that ‘it’s complicated’ bullshit. I want the truth.” When I continued to avoid looking at him or answer, he grasped my chin in his hand and forced my stare to meet his. “I came home that night intent on asking you to move in with me permanently, not as a maid or a cook, but as my girlfriend.” The cocky look evaporated from his expression and I could see something else in his eyes, pain.
I’d caused the pain that was in his eyes and it tore at me. “Let me explain.” Tears began to well up in my eyes and my lower lip trembled. I had to tear my gaze from his, I couldn’t take the hurt. It was at the moment that my eyes caught sight of the two pregnancy tests on the countertop.
Blood drained from my complexion as I stared at them. Holy shit, he was going to see them. Just as the thought entered my head, he shifted his stare to the white marble bathroom vanity.
He released me and walked over to it, and to the two positive tests. “What are these?” he asked, stopping before the vanity and staring at the plastic strips which would change his life forever.
“I think you know.” I didn’t move towards him, instead staying back where I was and staring at the back of his head, a stray teardrop sliding down my cheek. I batted the tear away with the back of my hand.
“You’re pregnant?” He turned to face me holding the stick in his hand. I didn’t need to answer, the answer was in his hand.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Were you planning on telling me?” He frowned as he stared at me.
“I just found out. I hadn’t even gotten to considering that.”
“So, you were considering just having the child and not telling me? Don’t you think I have a right to know you’re pregnant with my child!” His voice was raising with each word, anger in his tone.
“Devon. Please. Just…” I walked up to him, placing my palms flat on his chest. “I just found out.”
“Were you planning on telling me.”
“Devon, I quite literally found out.” I took the stick from him and pointed to the reader. “See, the little reader is still wet from the pee.”
The anger in his eyes began to fade. “Are you sure? What made you take the test?”
I stepped away from him and grabbed the other test from the vanity, holding the both up to his eye level. “Both are positive and considering these things are over 99% accurate, I’d say it’s positive.”
He turned to face me. “I see.”
“I was feeling sick to my stomach and my period is a couple days past due. I’m never late… Never.” With a sigh, I placed the tests back on the vanity.
“Oh.” He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. “So, um. It is mine?”
Now it was my turn to be angry; he should know me well enough to not insult me with such a question. “Do you think I’m some sort of whore that just sleeps with a bunch of random men? I wasn’t the one who was sleeping with other women within a week of us parting ways.”
His eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “I didn’t ask you to leave, I wanted you and Isabella to move in with me. You left me, lady. Not the other way around. You didn’t even have the balls to do it to my face, you left me a damned note! What did you expect me to do?”
Not take a month to come after me, a voice in the back of my head cried out. Not date a bunch of women while I sat her mourning the loss of you. Tears began to form in my eyes.
“We were at the end of our time together, Devon. I did us both a favor by leaving early and saved you five-hundred grand.”
“You didn’t save me shit!” he growled.
“Why is that?” Planting my hands on my hips. He was right I hadn’t saved him a dime, but I had to keep up the ruse until I was 100% certain he loved me as much as I loved him. Amy’s threat still lingered in the air. However, now that there was a baby in the mix, I didn’t think I had much of a choice but to tell him and roll the dice on the outcome.
“Because you’re just as in love with me as I am with you!”
The bathroom went completely silent. The only sound was of our breathing and the faint music coming from the game Isabella was playing in the other room.
He was the one to break the silence. “Which confuses the shit out of me since you took up and left, why in the hell did you do that?”
Tears began to run down my cheeks as I whispered, “To protect you.”