“What happened?” My eyes fluttered open to find myself cuddled in Lucas’ arms, my mother standing over us. I remembered then and groaned. My mother had been my boyfriend’s step-mother. How could I have seen that coming? I closed my eyes again, wishing I was anywhere but there. When had my world gotten so complicated? Damn, what would my father say when he found out I was with the son of the man my mother had left him for?

“Deb, are you okay?” Lucas asked in concern.

I reopened my eyes and struggled to get to my feet, but I still felt a bit woozy. He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me to stand, holding me to his side.

“Debra, can I speak to you alone for a minute?” my mother asked fretfully. Her brows were furrowed with worry and concern.

“I think she’s had enough for one day,” he answered for me. “We should get going. You have her number. You can call her anytime to arrange another meeting if you want.”

“Debra—”

“He’s right, Claire,” I responded, tugging at his arm to indicate I was ready. “It’s all too much to have to take in. I’ll talk to you another time.”

“I hope so. I’m glad you came, Debra.”

I smiled weakly at her and followed Lucas from the small porch, through the archway, and to his car. I buckled in and rested my head on the cool window pane. Claire still stood at the door, watching us. Everything had been going so well before this. Of all the rich men in Denver, why had she ended up with Lucas’ father?

“Did you know?” I asked him when he pulled away from the house and we were on our way back to uni.

“Of course not,” he responded. “Give me some credit here, Debra. I’d never know something like that and not tell you. Don’t you know that?”

“You never even suspected?” I pressed.

“If you recall, you told me you wanted to do everything on your own. That you didn’t want me to interfere save for dropping you off.”

“This is super awkward.”

“How so? Step-siblings get together all the time and we don’t even count as that. She was barely married to my dad. I didn’t even recognize her, so you must know how very little impact she had on me. She was one of six wives!”

“Like it helps that your father treated my mother that way. Another wife of the season, never mind that she gave up everything for him. How could he be so heartless?”

“Well, my dad’s not the best male figure out there, for sure,” Lucas answered, taking offence to what I said. “But neither are the women who hooked up with him. I’ve yet to see one who wasn’t after him for what he could give them. Your mother included!”

I turned to face him with a glare. “How dare you! You don’t know anything about their marriage. She might have loved him.”

“Tell that to your dad!” he shot back. “Oh, wait, she was supposed to have loved him… What the hell are we doing? Why are we fighting over mistakes that weren’t made by us?”

“Because in the end, they are our parents.”

We had little conversation between us for the rest of the drive. Thankfully, I fell asleep and only woke up when he undid my seatbelt. He stood at the side of my door, trying to get me out of the car without waking me.

“We’re here,” he stated. Here referred to his dorm, not mine. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I’m up now,” I remarked, grabbing my bag from the back seat and getting out the vehicle. He closed the door behind me and reached for my hand.

“Come on.”

“I think I’ll go back to my dorm,” I told him.

“Why? Because of them?”

“Yes, and other things. I need to think right now.”

“Come on, Debra. You can’t let the fact that our parents were married at one time when we were too young to even know each other affect us.”

“I’ll catch you later,” was all I said to him then walked away before he convinced me to return to his room with him. I had hoped to get some information out of my mom when I visited, but I’d gotten way more than I bargained for. What to do with all the extra information? Did it matter or not that our parents used to be married?

“Did you tell him?” Ruby asked when I walked into our room. She asked me the question almost every time she saw me after I’d been with Lucas.

“No, not yet,” I answered, throwing my handbag on my desk and going to lie on the bed.

“I think you’re wrong for keeping it from him,” she continued. “The longer you take to tell him, the more likely it’s going to end badly for you guys.

“I’ll keep your opinion in mind,” I told her. “In the meantime, I have to figure out how I feel about the fact our parents used to be married.”

“No way! And you guys didn’t know that?”

“I barely knew my mom since she left when I was too small to remember her, and he was too young, too, when they got married. When she saw him today, she recognized him.”

“Yikes! I mean, how did you react?”

“I fainted.”

A burst of laughter left her before she reigned it in. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it. What are you going to do? I know it makes for an awkward situation, but it really doesn’t impact you guys.”

“You think? Except when we are all together for the birthday of this baby or some such event. If I decide to tell Lucas about our child, that is.”

She shook her head at me in wonder. “You think you can keep it from him forever? That’s the same guy who came here every single day when you were in the hospital.”

The phone rang, saving me from having to comment. I was surprised to see it was a call from my mother, then I remembered she’d wanted to talk to me but I had been so overwhelmed, listening to anything more from her had not been an option. Now I wasn’t with Lucas, I could hear what she had to say without him asking me about it afterwards. What she wanted to say to me earlier had seemed private or she would never have attempted to pull me one side.

“Hello,” I answered before the call went to voicemail. I couldn’t decide if I should call her Mom, Mother, or just Claire. I’d called her all three at some point in our conversation earlier, but each sounded weird from my lips. Mom was way too personal, Mother seemed a bit stiff, and Claire sounded rude.

“Debra, it’s me, your mother,” she replied. “Did you get back to campus okay?”

“Yes, we got back some fifteen minutes or so ago.”

“Okay, great. I was checking up on you.”

“Uh…oh, okay then.”

But for someone who was just checking up on me, she didn’t seem inclined to get off the phone. I was aware Ruby wasn’t hiding her open curiosity and listening to my side of the conversation.

“Is there something else you wanted?” I asked her.

“I’m glad you asked,” she responded. “Because there is, in fact, one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Let me guess, my relationship with Lucas.”

“Exactly. How is that going for you guys?”

“It’s okay. Look, we’re not going to let your marriage to his dad mess up what we have. It has nothing to do with you two.”

“How long have you known him, Debra?”

“Does it matter?”

“Please, just humor me.”

“Last December,” I answered grudgingly.

“Just four months,” she calculated aloud. “Hardly enough time to know a person fully, and the way you talk about him now, it seems you’re already neck-deep in a relationship with him.”

“Mother, I don’t know what you’re trying to say—”

“I’m trying to say that sometimes, we get attracted to a man for all the wrong reasons.”

“Are you saying I’m with him for the money?” I demanded angrily because it sure as hell sounded like what she meant with that comment. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Mom, but not everyone’s head get spun easily by what a man has. I happen to love Lucas for the person he is.”

“Love?” she echoed. “Honey, all I’m saying is that Lucas grew up with Gregory Caine, and while the Caine men can be charming and they know how to treat a woman, they don’t know how to do anything but pursue serial monogamy. They won’t cheat, but months or years down the line, they trade you in for a newer model.”

“Lucas is nothing like his dad, and I resent you trying to describe the two in such unflattering light.”

“Just answer me this and I’ll let it go. Before you, how many girlfriends did he have?”

“Goodbye, Mother.”

“Debra, I’m trying to—”

I hung up before she could finish her statement. I was so mad—mad at her and Lucas and mad at the mess I was in. I was becoming more and more embroiled in a helpless situation. My phone rang again. It was her calling back. I ignored it and after ringing a third time, she got the hint and stopped calling.

Thankfully, Ruby didn’t comment because if she had, I was in a foul enough mood to snap off her head. The mood had very little to do with my hormones and everything to do with my mother’s words seeping into me and making me doubtful about Lucas. To be fair, didn’t I already have my own doubts, and wasn’t this the reason I kept the baby a secret? Until I was sure he loved me enough and could love our baby the same?

My mother had a point about Lucas’ past girlfriends. Hadn’t he told me he was used to playing the field and not settling for one woman? If that wasn’t an indication of being easily bored with women, then I didn’t know what was.

With a heavy heart, I brought up the texting app on my phone Lucas and I used to chat and typed out a message to him that I erased and deleted several times. I didn’t want my message to him to sound final. I wanted to leave it hanging for possible reconciliation if that was desired after being apart for a while. I needed to avoid him, anyway, as my waist had started thickening. I was amazed he hadn’t figured things out yet since he’d commented before that I had put on weight.

This was best, I decided when my finger hovered over the send button. I had to let him go until I decided whether I would tell him about the baby or keep it a secret forever. The latter was hard to do, but I was convinced I could do it.

Before I could change my mind, I hit the send button and instantly regretted it, but it was already done and I would continue with it. This baby was more important to me than anything, even Lucas, and I would take care of its needs first. A daddy who didn’t want him or her wasn’t a part of the plan.

Still, it hurt when an instant message popped up from Lucas’ phone. It was a one word message.

Okay.

This was what I wanted, wasn’t it? Then why did it hurt? Because I expected him to fight for us. I expected a reaction out of him that would assure me he didn’t want us to take a time off as my message had suggested.

His response was all I needed.