Chapter 9
Charlotte
“Where are you going?” I heard dad say as we walked in through the doors of the house.
“To my room,” I replied, without turning to look at him. I knew neither dad nor my mom were pleased with me right now. They thought I’d behaved poorly at the event.
“Charlotte, we need to speak with you,” he said in a firm voice. I had no choice but to turn to him. Mom had put her purse down and had an exhausted expression on her face.
“What is this about?” I asked, as they both started walking towards the living room.
“It’s about you not locking yourself in your room all day, Charlotte,” mom said and I rolled my eyes. “You’re not a teenager anymore!” she added.
I clenched my jaws in frustration. They were right. I wasn’t a teenager anymore. So, when were they going to stop treating me like one?
I followed them to the living room. Dad was already pouring himself a drink at the bar in the corner, while mom sat down on the newly upholstered couch.
“What is it?” I asked, crossing my arms over my breasts.
“Charlotte, when are you going to start regretting your actions?” Dad asked. I stared at him bleary-eyed, feeling the tears pricking the backs of my eyelids.
It saddened me to remember how not too long ago, both of them had been so proud of me. I was the center of their world, their source of pride and joy. And now they were ashamed of me. They would never understand how I felt about this baby.
“I don’t understand what you mean, dad,” I said.
I didn’t want to fight. I just wanted to go to my room and think of what I was going to do about Lincoln. In the car, dad had informed us that he’d hired a bear shifter clan for extra protection for the family at the auction. I deduced that was what had brought Lincoln to the event.
At first I was shocked to learn that Lincoln was a shifter. But the more I thought about it in the car on the way home, the more the pieces seemed to fall into place.
Lincoln always seemed different to me. The way he would take me into his lap, and the way he would growl my name. That meant our child was half shifter. Which was something I could not process yet.
“You know what we mean!” he snapped, and dad’s eyes drifted down to my belly.
“I don’t regret my actions, dad. We’ve been over this before. I want to have this child, I want to raise it,” I replied.
“I cannot believe that you refuse to behave yourself in public, Charlotte!” he snapped again.
“What more do you want me to do? I went to the auction, didn’t I?”
“And you ran off stage! You wore this dress, when you know everyone’s been talking about us. About your condition!”
From the corner of my eye, I could see mom looking away. It was like she couldn’t even look at me anymore. I felt anger start to bubble up inside me. I hated how they considered this baby a condition.
“I went off the stage because I was feeling ill and I wore this dress because I have nothing to hide. What are you going to do when your grandchild finally does arrive? How do you plan on hiding him or her then?” I was yelling at him now, my hand over my belly.
Dad muttered something under his breath but refused to reply.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought!” I snapped and stormed out of the room. This time thankfully, neither of them stopped me from leaving. We had all realized by now that we had nothing more to say to each other. I felt like every day, it was getting even more difficult to live in the same house as them. I just wanted to run away. I wanted to feel the freedom and the joy I’d felt on that week at the campsite.
***
Back in my room, I plonked myself down on my bed, and covered my face with my hands.
I didn’t know what I was going to do now. Lincoln had seen me, spoken to me. Ge’d asked me if the baby was his. I knew he’d seen the answer to that question in my eyes.
He knew.
What was he going to do? Come after me? Tell my parents?
A part of me was afraid of what he would do next, and another part of me was glad to see him again.
From the moment I saw him in the crowd today, I’d felt that warm sense of safety again. I couldn’t help it. I felt like he’d be able to keep me safe. That he’d be able to help me and save me from the mess that was my life.
Then the practical side of me was a constant reminder that Lincoln and I could never be together. We belonged to two different worlds. Once he realized the kind of person I was, the kind of world I belonged to—he wouldn’t want me.
Lincoln was a free spirit, he was a man who lived his life without rules. Commitment and a serious relationship were out of the question for him. I couldn’t imagine Lincoln settling down, even for a child. And besides, now that I knew he was a shifter, that changed everything. Even if we could be together, would his clan even accept us?
Granted, I didn’t know him at all. But that’s what my gut instinct told me about him. Dreaming about a future with a man like him was just a foolish thing to do. It could never happen.
Those moments of having my legs wrapped tightly around him, of having his mouth on my body, of feeling the pinch of his fingers on my nipples…they were never going to be a reality again. All I could do was fantasize about him from afar.
Besides, I could never tell my parents the identity of the father. I had no idea how dad would react if he found out that the father of my child was the man he’d hired to protect him. That the man was a shifter.
As much as I hated my parents right now, and as much as I wanted to get away from them—I knew that finding out about Lincoln would shatter them. They might eventually grow to love their grandchild, but they’d never be able to forgive me for Lincoln.