Chapter 2

I went straight back to the hospital and scheduled Laura's surgery for the next morning.

Maxwell looked ready to burst into tears. Laura tried to calm him down, turning to me.

"Don't read into it. He just needs me to comfort him right now."

She rose on her toes and pressed a light kiss to my cheek as she said it, the same way she'd soothe a fussy pet. I kept my expression easy and gave nothing away.

She left with Maxwell that night and didn't come back at all.

The next day, just as I was heading out to work, Laura's mother, Lorraine Marano, appeared in front of me together with Maxwell. He had his arm around her, the two of them standing close enough that a stranger might have mistaken them for mother and son.

Laura trailed behind them, her expression giving her away before she said a word. I already had a pretty good guess: Laura's surgery wasn't happening today after all.

Sure enough, Lorraine spoke to me with all the authority of an elder.

"Kyle, I won't waste time dancing around it." As she said it, she glanced at Maxwell beside her, making sure he understood exactly whose backing he had in this house. "Laura's three months along. It's a boy.

"Maxwell's agreed the child will carry our family name, as our eldest grandson. This baby matters more to the Maranos than you can imagine. You and Maxwell both belong to Laura in your own ways, and if he can be generous enough to tolerate you, you ought to have room in your heart for him too.

"Let me give you some advice. You're a man. Learn to look the other way sometimes. Don't be so petty about everything."

Maxwell begged me again, making a show of dropping to his knees.

"Kyle, doctors are supposed to have compassionate hearts. Please don't let Laura get rid of my baby. When my child grows up, he'll serve yours in whatever way you need, anything at all."

He looked like nothing more than a servant groveling without a shred of dignity. Laura and Lorraine each grabbed one of his arms and hauled him back up.

"Maxwell, don't kneel, don't be scared. I've got your back. He wouldn't dare do anything to you." Lorraine shot me a cold look as she said it.

Laura turned to me. "He's said all that already. Don't make this hard on him."

Me, making it hard on him?

I almost laughed.

Wasn't it Laura herself who'd said the decision on this baby was mine to make?

I forced a smile and told Maxwell, "Relax." I walked over and gave his shoulder a gentle, deliberately affectionate pat.

For a moment, he was too stunned to speak.

I went on. "I thought when Laura handed the decision to me, it meant she didn't want to keep the baby, and that's why she wanted me to be the one to say it.

"Turns out I misread the whole thing. Bringing a life into the world is a beautiful thing. Nobody has the right to take away your chance at being a father."

He looked shocked that I'd go this easy on him.

Laura looked even more shocked than he did. It wasn't until they'd both left that she looked me straight in the eye and said, "Kyle, you've changed."

"Changed how?" I asked her, keeping my tone casual.

"You used to get so jealous. You kept such a close watch on me, you'd sulk if I so much as talked to another man for too long."

So she'd known all along. She'd known I loved her, loved her enough to turn into a jealous, small-hearted mess over her. And she'd still let another man get her pregnant, then dragged him to my doorstep to flaunt it.

Now that I'd lived this life once already, facing her again stirred nothing in me. I was calm, still as water. It was only because I didn't love her anymore that I could afford to be this generous, this easy about everything.

I put on a helpless expression.

"What else can I do, when I love you this much, even with his baby in your belly? If I made a scene and demanded you cut ties with him, would you actually listen to me?"

She didn't answer that directly. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me.

"You're the most important person in my world. As for Maxwell, even if I wanted to cut things off with him right now, I'd never get past Mom. You know how hard it was for her to agree to let us get married. Let's just keep her happy for now."