Come Home to Me by Brenda Novak

didn’t see how this could possibly relate to him. “Excuse me?”
    Her chest rose as if she’d just drawn a deep breath. “I want a baby,” she said, louder.
    “Okay.” Was this a joke? He looked around to see if he was being punked by his brothers but there was no sign of them. “So...why don’t you and Dylan have one?”
    “We’ve been trying.”
    Dylan hadn’t said a word one way or the other. But neither had Aaron asked. He assumed they’d start a family when they were ready. “Are you trying to tell me you’re pregnant?”
    “No, I’m trying to tell you I’m not pregnant. Even though we’ve done everything we can.”
    How was he supposed to respond? He was fairly certain she’d just divulged information Dylan would rather he not have. He finally settled on, “Sometimes these things take time.”
    “It’s been two years .”
    “You’re not...”
    “I’m fine. It’s not me.”
    The way she said that tipped him off. “You’re saying Dylan...”
    “May need some help.”
    Aaron lifted his hands as if she held a gun. “There’s not much I can do to help there.”
    She clasped her hands together. “Actually, there is. It’s a difficult request for me to make, but...who else can I turn to?”
    Other than him? “Go on.”
    “I’m considering—” she cleared her throat as she met his gaze “—I’m considering artificial insemination.”
    At last he understood. “And you want me to be the donor?”
    “This is so awkward. I’m sorry I have to ask, but—”
    “Why isn’t Dylan here with you?” he broke in. “Shouldn’t he have handled this?”
    “He can’t.”
    “Why? Because he has to build the damn deck in your backyard?”
    Her voice dropped again. “Because he doesn’t know I’m asking.”
    Aaron stiffened. “You haven’t made sure he wants to do this?”
    She sent him a look that pleaded with him to understand. Then she said, “I want him to believe the baby is his.”
    “Holy shit!” He stood up, turned around as though he’d walk out, then realized he couldn’t leave her sitting there alone and fell into his chair again.
    “This is killing him, Aaron,” she said. “I want a baby so badly. And he wants me to have one. His baby. He feels he needs to do that for me.”
    “He wants you to have everything you want.”
    “Because he takes pride in how well he cares for the people he loves.”
    “There’s a lot doctors can do these days.”
    “I know that, but according to a test I secretly ran, he’s basically sterile. And if he finds that out, he’ll feel he’s let me down.”
    “A test you ran? How can you rely on that? You have to explore every option—”
    “And let it destroy his self-esteem and damage our marriage in the process? Why? The test was legitimate. There’s very little chance he could ever father a child.”
    “But if he knows it’s not you...”
    “He doesn’t. I went to see the doctor on my own and didn’t tell him.”
    “So...what? You want to get pregnant and let him believe the child is his?” He was saying this in shock and incredulity, but she nodded.
    “Yes. That’s exactly what I want.”
    The waitress approached with their food. Aaron warned Cheyenne with a glance that she was coming, and they fell silent until they could speak without being overheard.
    “Am I asking too much?” she whispered when the waitress walked away.
    He couldn’t resist the entreaty in her voice. She was Dylan’s greatest blessing, the one thing he’d never had to use for the benefit of his siblings. As conflicted as Aaron sometimes felt toward his older brother, he couldn’t bear the thought of how greatly Dylan would suffer if anything came between him and the woman he loved.
    But Aaron wasn’t sure he could go behind Dylan’s back. What would Dylan say or do if he ever found out about this? And what would it be like to have a child, a child who didn’t know his true father?
    “You’re hoping I’ll help you have a baby but never