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She wasn’t just pregnant anyhter

Chapter Fifteen

Watching A s before reaching him

Leaving the bikes, he headed toward her car, concerned Was she bleeding? Having contractions?

On the phone? he asked the questions silently, and with an oversized dose of self-disdain, slowing as he saw that she was in an active conversation

He was about to turn around, to make it back to the bikes before she saw that he’d ever left the toward her, when he noticed her head move, her chin drop down to her chest

At the car, he saw her hand rubbing her belly She was crying

His heart stopped And then raced He yanked on the door handle It was locked But she heard him, of course Glanced up at him

And that look on her face, beareater than happiness, stopped the world fro at all

She opened her door “It’s a girl,” she said as she got out “Her name is Isabella”

He wasn’t sure how it happened, but she was suddenly in his arht It was the first ti over a bike, and the one brief kiss, and her body hs, stomach, chest to breast, her arms around his neck He was in heaven And the deepest of hells, too

Because she was having a daughter, one that he’d helped create, but he would be sharing his life with neither of them: this beautiful woman nor the child she carried

He held on And then he let go “You still want to ride?” he asked, getting hi his bedside manner—the one where he eht play an inti the moments his patients ith him, but he wasn’t meant to be a part of their daily lives He was a professional service Not a personal relationship

Whether or not he wanted more was irrelevant Unless, or until, Amelia invited him in

“Of course” Amelia sounded like she was on cloud nine as she walked beside hih she knew that the situation was a little touchy for him, or maybe his lack of verbal response to her news had clued her in, she said, “Angie and I decided today to introduce some lace embellished baby clothes into our brand We’ll start out like ays do, with a few test pieces and go from there Since we order in the basic pieces, and embellish by hand until an item is established, the initial cost will be minimal”