He started to threaten me about telling Conner’s family about my pregnancy and ruining my happiness. Since Conner didn’t know about our bun in my oven, it became my first concern. I had to get rid of Rick.
As soon as I accused him of being drunk and laying his hands on me, he was quick to back down. To protect mine and Conner’s secret, for the time being, I gave Rick the number to the house and told him I wasn’t leaving because he was drunk. I said it loud enough so Miranda could hear it. I knew she was about to learn the real truth, but it was about protecting Conner from Rick. It didn’t matter anyway, I had written down the wrong number. When he finally settled for leaving me there, I finally felt safe. Still, I didn’t leave that door until I watched his headlights disappearing down the road.
I didn’t know anything about the money he was talking about and I certainly didn’t owe him a dime, so if he thought he was getting something from me, he was very wrong. As soon as the holidays were over, I was going to the police. There had to be some way to keep him away from me and from Conner’s family.
Being back in Conner’s arms, in his bed, made it all seem real. Even though I didn’t have a belly, he wrapped his arms around me and held his hands on my stomach. I laced our fingers together and closed my eyes. “You’re safe now, Blaze.”
I kept my eyes closed as I talked. As long as I was in Conner’s arms, I felt safe. “I still can’t believe he left. I mean, I thought he was going to drag me out by my hair.”
“I thought you were going to leave with him.”
“I think I decided that was a bad idea the moment I stepped out of your bedroom. The thought of not being with you killed me. I finally realized that I didn’t have to do this alone. As much as I don’t want you to have to be involved, I appreciate that you always protect me.” He was so warm and I nestled my head over his chest. With my eyes closed, I listened to his heart beating.
“I will always protect you. I don’t care about a damn piece of paper.”
“You know he’s going to come back, right?” As safe as I felt, I didn’t want to ever see Rick again.
“Darlin’, there are so many unanswered questions that have to do with that man. One thing you need to remember is that you’re not alone and if I have to take you and my baby to Kentucky or any other state to be safe, I will. We’re goin’ to be a family.”
I rested my chin on Conner’s chest and looked up at him. “Say that again.”
He smiled and reached down to kiss me. “We’re goin’ to be a family.”
I turned my body into Conner’s and ran my fingers through his. He reached his arm around me, in the spooning position. “Thank you.”
He kissed the back of my shoulder. “For what?”
“Loving me.”
“Lovin’ you was easy, it was gettin’ you to believe it, that was the hard part.”
I closed my eyes and let myself drift to a goodnights sleep. I don’t know why it was so easy for me, but being in Conner’s arms made all the difference in the world.
The next morning came sooner than expected, but Conner held me tight in his arms. He even helped me look up my father’s number and call to tell him that I was okay. I didn’t mean to make the man worry, but I didn’t exactly have a choice. Since they had an alarm on their house, I didn’t have to worry so much. Besides, Rick was after me, not my father.
I wanted to ask my father if he knew anything about fifty thousand dollars, but since it meant nothing to me, I just dropped it.
The bottom line was that Rick had been stealing money that I’d been making for six years. The salon was mine and everything in it belonged to me. Rick had been living with so many lies that even he couldn’t keep them straight anymore. He could show up a million times, but he couldn’t make me leave with him. I had no secrets from Conner and now that I knew he was going to stand by me and be with me, I knew I could get through anything.
After all of the months of fighting with Conner to wait and look for a good reason to get away from Rick, now that I was pregnant, everything had changed. I no longer cared so much about having anything. If Rick wanted to fight me and he ended up taking the salon, I would still have Conner and our baby.
I figured that Miranda was going to come flying into the room giving me a piece of her mind, but she never did. Since I felt stupid, we stayed in his room all day. He went out to use the bathroom and get us something to eat.
All throughout the day, I kept waiting for the phone to ring or Rick to knock on the door, but he never did. By the end of the night, I just knew he wasn’t coming back for me. In fact, I was pretty sure that he was probably drunk somewhere, in the company of whoever he could find. Hopefully, they would both get a disease and die.