Page 45 of Perfect Fling
“We danced. One thing led to another, and... we had a one-night stand.” Erin didn’t meet Ella’s gaze. Discussing sex with her mother wasn’t exactly comfortable. “And it was just that one night.” No need to mention how many times that evening, Erin thought. “He barely spoke to me in the days afterward.”
“And that hurt your feelings,” Ella said with a woman’s wisdom and a parent’s understanding.
Erin nodded. “A lot. But I understood. He’d just come back to town, and he obviously had been through something bad before coming home.” She drew a deep breath. “About a month later, I started getting nauseous.”
“Oh my God.” Ella clasped Erin’s clenched hands. Obviously, there was no need to go on. Her mother got the point loud and clear.
“I guess I didn’t want to face it because I didn’t let myself make the connection, and as a result, I didn’t take a test for a while. Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone because I needed to process it myself.”
“Does Cole know?”
Erin exhaled a long breath. “He does now, but he didn’t then.” She lifted her head, met her mom’s gaze. “There’s more.”
“I’m listening.” To her mother’s credit, she held on to Erin’s hand and didn’t say a word, not judging or asking questions.
“The day after you left, I was on my way to work when I was shot in the parking lot.”
“What!” Ella’s face leached color.
“I’m fine, Mom. I promise. The bullet passed through my arm. No permanent harm done. And I’ll explain everything I know about the shooting, which isn’t much, in a few minutes. Anyway, I was taken to the hospital, and when Mike went to find Sam, he had Cole wait outside the cubicle where they were treating me. Cole heard the doctor mention I was pregnant. That’s how he found out.”
“Good Lord, I don’t know what to react to first.”
Erin winced. “How about you let me finish.”
Her mother’s eyes opened wide. “There’s more?”
“Not too much. Cole and Mike argued over who would take me from the hospital. I insisted that I was going home. Cole said he was going with me. Mike wanted me to have round-the-clock protection and finally agreed to Cole staying with me, which I thought was ridiculous since I figured it was a random shooting.”
“It wasn’t?” Her mother’s voice took on a harsh yet worried tone.
Erin shrugged. “It doesn’t look like it.” She told her mother about the roadkill delivery to her front door. “In the meantime, Cole told me that Mike and Sam have a lead, thanks to the ballistics on the gun. But now they’re not sure the two things are related, because a shooting is major and roadkill is a de-escalation. It doesn’t make sense. Plus the note with the animal said, ‘Leave him alone,’ and that’s just odd.”
Ella stood and began pacing the kitchen. “First, you should have called me.”
Erin exhaled long and hard, having expected this. “You were on a cruise. You’d just gone through a hellish year, and you deserved the time away with Dad. Besides, you’re here now.”
“And not a minute too soon. You need your mother.” Ella held out her arms, and Erin gratefully went back into her mom’s embrace. Her familiar scent eased the anxiety Erin had been living with for so long.
“Now, tell me what’s going on with you and Cole Sanders.”
Erin’s face heated at the mention of Cole’s name, while her body still reacted to the mere thought of him.
“I see,” Ella said thoughtfully.
Knowing her mother, she probably did. “He said he can’t make promises for the future beyond him taking care of both me and the baby. We haven’t defined anything, but I’m guessing that’s financial. And he’ll want to see his child when he’s home between jobs.” Erin crossed her arms in a comforting self-supplied hug.
Ella made a humming sound while she pursed her lips in thought. “It’s more than Rex gave me,” Ella said, speaking of Mike’s biological father.
Erin swallowed hard. “The thing is, his actions are so opposite from his words. He’s decided he’s in charge of everything, beyond the bodyguard thing. He cooks meals. He makes sure the fridge is stocked and that I eat well. He was insulted I didn’t ask him to come to my monthly doctor’s appointment and insisted he’d be there for the rest of them. And he had a jealous fit when Evan Carmichael reminded me about the event that we’re supposed to attend together on Saturday night.”
Her mother’s eyes opened wide. “Not the actions of a disinterested man.”
Erin shook her head. “He holds himself back from me emotionally. And he’s definitely scarred by how Jed treated him growing up. How he still treats him. My God, Mom, it was awful.” And she was pretty sure Cole hadn’t been in touch with Jed since he’d moved in with her.
With a sigh, her mother lowered herself back into her seat. “Jed’s a hard man. Very set in his beliefs and in his ways.” She shook her head. “He had little patience for a child, let alone an independent one with a mind of his own like Cole was. They butted heads so often I wasn’t surprised Cole went out looking for trouble when he was younger.”
“That’s so sad.” She couldn’t imagine growing up without a loving father. “I guess I was too young to realize how bad things were.”