Chapter 1 - THE FIVE-WEEK PROMISE
Nathan kept his hand against Emma’s stomach until the baby stopped moving.
Then he stepped back.
He did not ask if he could kiss her.
He did not ask if he could stay.
Emma noticed both things.
“Five weeks,” she said.
Nathan looked at her.
“What happens in five weeks?”
“I have a baby.”
His eyes dropped toward her stomach again.
“Our baby.”
Emma’s expression hardened slightly.
“Yes.”
Nathan immediately corrected himself.
“I wasn’t trying to claim you.”
“I know.”
She sat back beside the bookstore window.
Rain rolled down the glass behind her.
Nathan remained standing.
He looked like a man who had spent his entire life commanding rooms and had suddenly discovered that one quiet woman could make him afraid to take another step.
Emma folded her hands.
“If you want to be involved, there are rules.”
“Anything.”
“No.”
Nathan stopped.
“Don’t say anything.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“That is exactly how we got here.”
Nathan swallowed.
“You made promises because they sounded good in the moment.”
“Then work happened.”
“Or Olivia happened.”
“Or another flight happened.”
“And I became the thing you expected to still be there afterward.”
Nathan lowered his head.
Emma continued.
“You can come to appointments if I invite you.”
“Okay.”
“You do not get my address.”
His face tightened.
But he nodded.
“You do not send security.”
“Okay.”
“No drivers.”
“Okay.”
“No investigators.”
“Never.”
“If the press finds me because of something connected to you, I leave Newport.”
Nathan’s eyes lifted.
“They won’t.”
Emma gave him a look.
Nathan corrected himself.
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure they don’t.”
“That’s better.”
He understood what she meant.
No more impossible promises.
No more pretending he controlled everything.
Emma breathed slowly.
“And Nathan?”
“Yes?”
“You are here because you are the father of this baby.”
He waited.
“Not because we are getting back together.”
Pain moved across his face.
“I understand.”
“I need you to actually understand.”
“I do.”
Emma stared at him for several seconds.
Then she nodded toward the door.
Nathan’s heart sank.
“You want me to leave.”
“Yes.”
He reached for his coat.
At the door, he stopped.
“Emma?”
She looked at him.
“Thank you for letting me feel her move.”
Emma blinked.
“Her?”
Nathan froze.
“You didn’t know?”
A tiny smile appeared on Emma’s face despite herself.
Nathan stared at her stomach.
“A girl?”
“A girl.”
The expression that crossed his face nearly broke her.
He laughed.
Then he covered his mouth.
Then tears came again.
Emma looked away because watching Nathan cry had become dangerously difficult.
“What are you going to name her?” he whispered.
“I haven’t decided.”
He nodded.
Then he opened the door.
“I’m staying at the motel near the highway.”
Emma said nothing.
“I won’t come back unless you ask.”
Still nothing.
Nathan stepped outside.
The rain hit his shoulders immediately.
Emma watched him through the window.
He walked across the street alone.
No driver.
No umbrella.
No assistant waiting with a phone.
For the first time since she had known Nathan Whitmore, nobody was following him.
And for the first time in eight years, Emma wondered whether he was finally learning how to follow someone else’s boundaries.
Her phone rang ten minutes later.
The hospital.
Emma answered.
Her obstetrician’s voice was calm.
But the words were not.
“Emma, your latest blood work came back.”
Emma straightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I want you at the hospital first thing tomorrow morning.”
Emma’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Is something wrong with the baby?”
A pause.
“Come in at seven.”
Emma looked through the window.
Nathan had disappeared into the rain.
For several seconds, she considered handling it alone.
Then she opened their message thread.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
May you like
Finally, she typed four words.
Appointment tomorrow. Seven a.m.
