The Cowboy's Baby(12)
What was she going to do now?
He’d seen Alyssa do any number of things when she got riled up. Break vases and plates, scratch up cars, once she even put a golf club through his sixty four inch TV. All of those things could be replaced. Eventually, she’d calm down, and they’d be able to talk somewhat more rationally.
Daniel was taking a calming sip of his beer when, ten minutes later, the Latina waltzed out onto the front porch with two suitcases in tow. His eyes widened as she breezed past him and down the steps toward the gleaming silver Porsche he’d bought her for her last birthday. Immediately, he started after her.
“Alyssa, wait. Honey, please.”
“No Daniel. If you want to be with your little whore, then go ahead.” Alyssa yanked the back door to the car open, stowing her suitcases inside before turning back to him with a deep scowl. “I’m just giving you what you want.”
“She’s not mine.” Daniel felt his heart sinking as a sense of helplessness enveloped him. Out of all the stunts that Alyssa had pulled, she’d never walked out on him. Not once. She had to be painfully serious. “She’s having our child, Alyssa. This is important. Maybe the most important thing we’ll ever do.”
“The most important thing you’ll ever do.” Advancing on him, the Latina pressed a single finger into his chest, her eyes burning with rage. “You wanted this goddamn baby, Daniel. Not me. I’ve listened to you bitch about it for the past year before deciding, out of the goodness of my heart, to appease you. But now, I see you only want to use it as an opportunity to go behind my back. So, take your skank, take you’re sniveling, snot-nosed brat and go directly to hell.”
Her words stabbed like a knife into his chest, twisting so brutally that Daniel was momentarily rendered speechless. She…didn’t want a baby? She’d never even mentioned such a thing to him. He’d been under the impression that she wanted to be a mother – that they were on the same page. But in reality, she’d been lying to him for all these months.
He watched her go, trying to pull in a steady breath and failing. As Alyssa slid into her car before shutting the door soundly and burning rubber, he felt as if the entire world were crumbling down on him.
Alyssa didn’t want to have a baby with him. She never had.
And now she was gone, to who knows where for God knew how long.
In a daze, the rancher sauntered back to his chair to drop into it, taking up his beer once more. He took a swig, the liquid bland in his mouth. What the hell was he going to do now? He was alone in his immense ranch house, now facing the possibility of a child without a mother to raise it. Drawing a hand over his face, he sighed, his chest aching with hollow emptiness.
Fucking Christ.
How was he going to tell Esme?
***
Chapter Three: Filling the Gaps
Christ, it had been a long day.
As she strode out to her car, rubbing her lower back, her breath hissed out between her teeth. She’d been working at Enid’s newest Brazilian steak house for the past three weeks and it wasn’t getting any easier. There was very little room for creative work, of course, and she didn’t try to push such things; but even fitting into the new environment was a struggle.
It took her at least a month to get used to a new restaurant setting – and of course, the head sous chef here was no less odious than the one at her previous place of employment. He liked to take credit for others’ hard work, meaning that her pristine cuts of meat disappeared in the wide valley of his ego. Esme could already sense she wouldn’t be able to stay in this position long. It was mostly prep work – and even that was ruined for her by her domineering supervisor.
It seemed days now lasted far longer than they used to; and though the young woman tried to tell herself that it was because she was disillusioned with her chosen career, there was at least one other thing that she knew must have a huge part in the way she felt.
Pregnancy.
Though Esme thought she’d read a mountain of books and articles to prepare herself for the process the day after she’d been inseminated – which, in and of itself, had been an other-worldly experience – there was nothing she could have done to prepare her for the bevy of changes taking over her body.
It had only been two weeks since she’d been proclaimed officially pregnant, and already, her everything was out of whack. She went through weird mood swings where one moment she wanted to watch a girlie movie and the next she wanted to destroy something. There were times when she couldn’t even enter the kitchen – much to her horror – because her newly sensitized nose had a line to her very iffy stomach. Her back ached, her breasts were tender, and worst of all, she was ridiculously horny.