"I was shocked. Even though I wasn't in love with Hannah, I had already started loving my unborn child. I've always dreamt of becoming a father, you see. I begged her to keep the baby. But she said the only way she would agree to that was if I married her.
"It occurred to me that she may have gotten pregnant to trap me into marrying her. I knew she'd had a thing for me for years. I was angry for a while but what was done was done and my options were laid out before me. I thought about it long and hard, until I ended up with the rationalisation that since Hannah was a friend and, to a certain extent, I found her attractive enough to sleep with, I could grow to love her if I was open to it. My overriding desire was for her to keep the baby and for me to be around to see my child grow up. Marrying a friend who was going to be the mother of my child seemed a reasonable enough move. So I agreed and we got engaged."
He stared at the floor, emotions flooding him. He wasn't sure he could tell her what happened next without tearing up a little. He was still raw from it.
He rubbed his face in his hands. When he had composed himself, he glanced at Jasmine. He saw compassion and sadness in her eyes. She looked like she was about to cry. He reached out for her. This time, she clasped his hand as a tear fell down her face.
"We really shouldn't even kiss at all, should we?" she asked with a wry smile.
"Oh, Jaz. I'm not done. Please bear with me."
She wiped away her tear and pulled her hand from his. "Okay, go on."
He took a steadying breath before continuing. "Two and a half months ago, Hannah miscarried. She was five months along."
"Oh, Kane," Jasmine cried in dismay.
"Not long after that, Hannah's mum passed away."
Jasmine placed her fingers on her lips, her eyes bright and watery.
"Losing the baby was very painful for her, not only emotionally but physically. She was nowhere near recovering from that when her mum died. She lost her child and her mother within two weeks of each other. The worst part was she wasn't able to be at her mum's bedside during her last hours.
"She's in London now to spend time with her family. She's due back in a couple of weeks but she's not sure. She could extend her stay. Before she left I told her we needed to talk. She knew what that meant. She knew that without the baby, I didn't want to get married to her anymore. But she kept on postponing that talk, giving me all sorts of excuses why we couldn't sit down and discuss the inevitable. Since I understood what she was going through I hadn't pushed it too much."
"You're a good man, Kane Summers. And I'm so sorry about your baby," Jasmine said hoarsely.
He gave her a small smile. "It's getting better every day. I hope it's the same for Hannah because when she comes back, we are going to have that talk, whether she likes it or not."
"How do you think she'd react when you break up with her?"
"Well, since she knows its coming, she shouldn't be surprised."
But even so, Kane knew Hannah would take it hard.
Since they had gotten engaged, Hannah had told him several times that she loved him. She had always ended up in tears after her romantic declarations because he'd never said he loved her back. To console her, he'd said he just needed a little bit more time. But while he cared about Hannah, he couldn't muster the passion he wanted to feel for her, no matter how hard he tried.
What Hannah failed to awaken in him with months of trying, even with his child in her womb, Jasmine was able to stir up without effort from the very first day he met her.
Was it really possible to fall for someone so quickly? He'd been asking himself that question since Jasmine walked away from him at her sister's wedding. And every time he did, one answer kept on popping up.
He was already falling in love with Jasmine.
Unbelievable.
But it felt so right.
Jasmine was staring at her fingers, and he could see she was grappling with something in her head.
"Jaz, what are you thinking?" he asked softly.
"It won't be easy for Hannah, especially if she learns about me. Maybe this is all too hard."
He got off his seat and knelt in front of her. "Okay, so how about we do this? Let's agree to ignore what we feel for each other. When you go home, find someone else. I'll just go find someone else too. I'm sure it won't be hard," he said with a nonchalant shrug.
Jasmine looked away from him as she bit her lip. He saw the distress that swamped her. Just as he guessed, she had strong feelings for him, too. That knowledge was like a soothing balm poured all over him, healing his hurts.
"You can't stand the thought either, can you?" he croaked.
She gazed back at him with brilliant hazel eyes and shook her head in admission.
"It's crazy, I know. We've known each other for less than two weeks. But can you feel how strong this thing is between us?" he asked.