Blue Lines(32)

She did want her baby. What Harper was saying sounded very self-serving.

“No, I do want this. This is my baby and that is my husband! We are married. Leave me be, I am happy,” Piper said. “What’s done is done. Nothing is going to change, so just let it be.”

Her father spoke, fortunately putting an end to the ongoing squabble.

“She is right. Even if we don’t agree or think she is making the wrong choice, Rowan, we always said we would let them make their own decisions and hope that we raised them right. What do we know? Erik could be a different man than what we all believe him to be.”

Reese scoffed as Harper shook her head. Rowan crossed her arms and tears pooled in her eyes. Blake looked over at Piper. She hated to disappoint him but that’s all she saw on his face, disappointment, and it killed her.

He cleared his throat. “It isn’t our place to tell you how to live your life, Piper Madison. All we can do is be here for you if you need us. You are an adult now, free to make your own decisions, and we will always love you. Don’t forget that.”

Good, because Piper thought she would probably need them sooner rather than later.

* * *

“Erik, please tell me what is going on,” Cooper said once the door shut behind Jakob.

Erik crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders.

“I got married yesterday and we are having a baby in September.”

“Yes, I heard that; I’m trying to figure out how the hell this happened.”

“I thought you were playing the field,” Jakob said. “You always said you’d never get married or have kids; even just last week you made that comment.”

“Erik, why didn’t you tell us? We would have liked to have been there for you,” Alla cried.

“Oh, Mom, come on. It isn’t about that. It’s just that I freaked, and didn’t want any of it. I went on a—excuse my language—a screwing spree and it always came back to her. I missed her, I guess, in a way, I don’t know, but my mind always went to her, and now that I’ve convinced her to stay with me and marry me, I don’t want to be anywhere else.” God, I said that too easily for it to be a total lie.

Jakob started to laugh and Erik glared over at him. “That,” Jakob declared, “is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard. What the hell is going on? Give it to us straight so we can help you. Is she bribing you?”

“Jake, that’s your sister-in-law!” Alla shrieked.

“And he is my brother. I don’t think Piper would do that, she is a good girl, but Erik isn’t going to give up all the females in the world for one. He isn’t that guy; we all know this and have accepted it.”

“She’s worth it.”

Erik looked down at the ground and rolled his shoulders as everyone’s gaze fell on him. Any other time, he would have given it to Jakob straight, told him the truth, but Erik knew that once he did, Jakob would rush to Harper, who would go to Elli, and everything would blow out of control. The only way to keep the peace was to lie, but the line that came out of his mouth wasn’t really a lie. Piper was the one girl he would give everything up for if he wanted to do that, but he didn’t. In just a couple of months things would calm down and Elli would get off his back. Then he could go back to his life, because there was no way he wanted to live as a one-woman man for the rest of his days.

Not even for Piper. He was too messed up for that.

“Erik, are you sure? We’ll help you any way we can,” Cooper stressed.

Erik nodded as he smiled.

“Everything is fine. It’s new and maybe I wasn’t ready to settle down before, but I am now. We are going to be fine; we are going to raise our child and we are going to be happy. If it doesn’t work out, at least we tried, and I know that we’ll always be friends.”

Alla shook her head before saying, “Oh, Erik, I’m so proud of you right now.”

She then wrapped Erik up in her arms and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.

Guilt washed over Erik as he held Alla. He was a dirty, despicable man for lying to the three people who loved him unconditionally, but before he could even think of telling them the truth, Alla said, “Well, thank God we are moving here, huh, Cooper?”

“You are moving here?” Erik asked.

“Yup, Cooper is retiring and of course we wanted to be close to you boys and Ally. We were going to tell everyone inside but I’m not even sure I am welcomed in this house,” Alla said. “I can tell that the Allens are not very happy with you, but that will all change in time. They’ll love you just as much as we do.”

Cooper nodded as Jakob stood shaking his head. Jakob saw right through Erik, and that made him nervous, but he had bigger things to worry about. Alla and Cooper were moving to Nashville. Fuck, now more than ever, Erik needed this to work. He also needed to keep clear of Jakob because Erik couldn’t risk Elli ever finding out the truth.