Have Baby, Need Beau by Rita Herron

to the washroom section and spotted Mimi’s black heels peeking from the last stall. She was sitting on the floor, her legs tucked beneath her. Alarm bells clanged in his head again, and he pushed open the door.
    “Seth, please…”
    She had one arm draped over the toilet seat, her head drooping pathetically, her face a ghostly white. His heart clutched and he capitulated into motion. Seconds later, he returned with a cool wet cloth and pressed it to her neck, then gently wiped her face and forehead.
    “Seth, please just go…”
    “Shh.” He pressed the cloth to her forehead. She murmured thanks in a weak voice.
    “Food poisoning again, huh?”
    Her whole body stiffened. With a pitiful sigh, she dropped her head over her arms again as if to avoid answering him. Worry and fear and … a little trickle of something that felt like excitement, seeped into him. He knew the answer. Somehow he’d known all along.
    “Are you going to be sick again? Should I call a doctor?”
    She shook her head. “You’re sure?”
    She nodded.
    “All right. Then I’m going to lift you and take you to the sofa in the sitting area.”
    She sniffled again and he realized she was crying, so he slid his arms beneath her and lifted her against his chest. She turned her head into him, draping one limp arm around his neck and whispering something that sounded like a protest. The misery in her face tore at him. He took charge, determined to care for her no matter how much she protested.
    He gently lay her on the velvety cushions and propped her head on a pillow. Her hair had escaped the pins she’d used to secure it and curled around her face, making her look young and vulnerable. He wanted to hold her and promise her everything would be all right. But the memory of her conversation with her father still haunted him.
    “Do you want me to get Hannah?”
    She shook her head and looked at him. Her eyes were big, luminous, filled with tears and worry and regret. “I’m s-sorry.”
    He smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “For what?”
    “For—” she gestured toward her prone state “—for this.”
    His throat grew thick. “You don’t have to apologize for being sick.” For God’s sake, she’d gotten sick because she was carrying his baby.
    She bit down on her lip and stared at the ceiling tiles as if she might see an answer written there. He rubbed her chin with his thumb and turned her face to his, forcing her to look at him. “When were you going to tell me?”
    Her mouth tightened.
    “Were you ever?”
    “I…”
    “Don’t lie to me again, Mimi.”
    His voice sounded harsher than he’d intended, and he started to apologize when she spoke up. “Hannah thinks the … baby is Joey’s.”
    The air whooshed from his lungs. “She what?”
    “I did a test and it was negative, but then I got sick, and Hannah insisted on doing the test, and I couldn’t think of a way out of it, and she told me the test was positive, and she assumed—”
    “That the baby, our baby, belongs to Joey?”
    She nodded.
    “And you didn’t correct her?”
    Her eyes turned grave. “No, I didn’t think … you’d want her to know.”
    “You mean you didn’t want her to know you’d been with me.” Hurt, however irrational, welled in his chest.
    She shook her head, her chin quivering. A lone tear spilled down her cheek. “I didn’t want it to be true.”
    Her words cut right through him. She didn’t want to have his baby. Of course she wouldn’t—she didn’t even think he was all that attractive. Why would she want to be tied to him or have his child? Probably afraid she’d have some boring, stodgy little boy who resembled him…
    He stood and turned away from her, his spine stiff, afraid if she saw his face, she’d read the emotion in his eyes, emotion he’d never felt before and certainly didn’t know how to deal with now.
    Mimi saw Seth turn away and knew he was hiding his feelings. He was angry with her for not