“You’re…” he started, but didn't know what else to say.

What was the point in asking? The evidence was right there, staring back at him. Tawny was definitely pregnant.

The night at the lake came back to him in a rush and he finally remembered the thing that he’d forgotten.

Neither of them had thought to use protection.

Holy fuck.

Tawny was pregnant and it seemed almost impossible that the baby could be anyone’s but his.

"Luke," she said, but he held up a hand. He didn't want to hear it. Not in front of everyone. He had to get her out of here, away from the prying eyes of the townspeople, away from the bright lights and the chaos.

Taking a wad of money from his pocket, he laid it down on the table and led her by the hand to the door on the far side of the restaurant. As he went, he saw Suzette trailing behind them but he didn't bother to look at her. It was only when Tawny tugged him to a stop that he turned around to face her.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Suzette demanded.

"I don't need to answer to you. This is between me and Tawny.” He gritted his teeth. So, she knew about this too. One of Rex's close friends and she hadn't had the respect or the decency to tell him. Unless, of course, that baby wasn't his, after all.

“I didn't ask you who this was between,” Suzette snapped. “Get your hands off her."

"I would never hurt her, but this has nothing to do with you, Suzette. Back off." He hadn’t meant to bark the last few words, but he couldn't focus on that now – not when his mind was racing a mile a minute, thinking over all the ways he royally fucked up his life.

Finally, Tawny piped up. "Suzette, why don’t you go and pack up my waffles for me? I'll be along soon. It’s okay, really.”

Suzette looked like she wanted to argue, but either his own expression of fierce determination or Tawny’s look of resignation convinced her to go back inside. Once the little jingle of the doorbell sounded, he found himself hauling Tawny across the road toward the park benches a little ways away.

All the while, his mind whirred erratically, spinning out in every direction until he found himself practically struggling for breath. How could he have done this? To her? To himself?

It was like he could see his bike shop crumbling to pieces in front of him and, in its place, he was in yet another ramshackle house, another dead-end mechanic shop, an endless version of the life he’d been so determined to leave behind.

After all of his struggle and sacrifice, he was going to be just like his parents, scrimping and saving to care for children they couldn’t really afford. Busting their asses just to make ends come within an inch of meeting.

Then his throat was dry. Like sandpaper. His muscles so tense, he was quaking.

It wasn’t possible. How could it be? To ruin his entire life in one night? One mistake. A blip in time.

He saw them in his mind’s eye, he and Tawny, from an outside perspective. In the lake, their heads spinning, their hearts racing. She was a stranger. A girl he’d known for little more than an hour. And now…

He swallowed hard as he led her to the bench at the edge of the park, his gaze landing again on the swell of her belly beneath her pink cotton t-shirt. Her face was drained of every hint of color, but she didn’t tear her gaze from him. Instead, she stared straight back at him, as if daring him to say something. Anything.

She was carrying his child. This woman was going to be a mother. And he?

He was going to be a father.

“This is my baby,” he said, and though it wasn’t a question, she nodded.

“How…how far along are you?” He forced the words from his mouth.

“Almost four months.”

He closed his eyes and then scrubbed a hand over his face, a fresh wave of nausea assaulting him. She had to have known for a while now. A month? Maybe two? All this time, she could have made some effort to find him, to reach out. Hell, all it would have taken was one message from Suzette to Rex.

“When were you going to tell me?” he asked.

Tawny rolled her tongue over her bottom lip, the only sound the distant shrieking of children playing on the swings behind them, but the trill of their delighted laughter only made Tawny’s silence that much more pronounced.

His heart thudded in his throat and he swallowed hard, clenching his fists. “You weren’t going to, were you?”

Again, she said nothing. Instead, she stared straight ahead, watching as the cars whizzed by on the street in front of them. In the distance, one of the children on the playground had started crying.

Finally, she shook her head miserably. “I don’t know how to answer that, Luke.”

“How could you?” He tried to remain calm, but his voice shook with untenable anger. If he’d known two months ago, maybe even three, then he could have…then he might have…he didn’t know what. But that didn’t matter.

The important thing was the question. The one that, deep down, he thought he already knew the answer to.

“And what is it about me that would make me so unfit to be,” he practically choked on the words, “a father?”

“Luke, don’t.” Her whisper was so soft that he could hardly hear her over the child wailing in the background.

“I mean it. Why the hell wouldn’t you tell me? What did you think I would do? Force you to get rid of it?” The prospect alone chilled him. Like he would even try to wrestle control over a woman’s body that way. But her face remained impassive.

“I didn’t know what you’d do. And I didn’t want you to try to get me to change my mind.”

“Well, you made sure I didn’t have the option to even try,” he shot back.

“Are you saying you would have asked me to get rid of my baby?” she asked, the expression on her face gutting him almost as surely as this news had.

“No. And if you’d given me the chance, you would have known that.”

“I don’t have to justify my actions to you.” She sounded annoyingly calm, but one glance downward was enough to let him know she was shaking.

“You do when they involve my child,” he said flatly. Her gaze met his and he had to look away to avoid that soul-reading quality he’d felt their one night together.

After a pause, he glanced toward the little crowd of children and asked, “Are you taking care of it? Of yourself?”

For the first time, she looked almost indignant. “Of course I am. I have an appointment this afternoon.”

“Good.” He nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

“You will not.” She practically glared at him, her hand resting protectively on her stomach. “And don’t call my baby it. He or she is a person.”

“Tawny—” he started, but she shook her head, apparently finding her footing at last.

“Listen, nothing has to change just because you know about the baby now.” She stood, her hand still planted firmly on her stomach. “You have a life to lead, dreams to follow. I can raise this baby on my own and take good care of him or her. You don’t have to concern yourself with us. Go. Live your life, Luke.”

She started toward the sidewalk and he considered her words. If he hadn’t seen her today, he never would have known about his baby. He might have gone on, opened his bike shop, lived his life.

After all, she’d made it more than a little clear how uninvolved she wanted him to be. But then…

He pictured his brother, giggling in his playpen. Then, behind him, he could hear another trill of laughter as the kids chased each other around the playground.

Could he really go his entire life not knowing his own child? The way his own biological parents probably had done? And what if something happened to Tawny? Then his child would be just another foster kid. Just like him. What were the chances his kid would luck out the way he did?

Tawny reached her sensible sedan and he watched as she climbed into the driver’s seat while Suzette slid in beside her. The two women hadn’t spoken, but he could guess what they were going to discuss for the rest of the day, and Tawny’s last words echoed through his mind.

I can raise this baby on my own and take good care of him or her. You don’t have to concern yourself with us. Go. Live your life.

Only, going wasn’t an option. Not anymore. Maybe he wouldn’t have chosen fatherhood at this point in his life, but fatherhood had chosen him.

And he wasn’t going to let Tawny keep his baby from him without a fight.