Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3) (13 page)

Gabe

Five years ago, if someone would have told me that I would one day be sitting in a courtroom with my horrid ex-wife, seething with anger toward her, while I fought to keep our six-year-old daughter away from her, I would have told them they were insane.

But that’s where I was.

I once thought that I had been in control of my life, that I had planned my future out so carefully, so precisely. And then it all unraveled. The plans I had crumbled, the visions I had vanished. The only good thing that came out of the mess that was my past was Penny.

And today was the day that I would be able to put all of that behind me. The judge was making his final decision on the custody arrangement and I had been a ball of tension for days. I just wanted to be done with all of this so that Penny and I could move on with our lives, be left in peace and not have to deal with Vanessa’s erratic dysfunction.

Not to mention the fact that I had been extra grouchy as of late since I hadn’t had any communication with Felicity for over three weeks, which was all my fault. Aside from sending me the pictures she had taken of Vanessa’s living room that night, she had kept her distance as I requested. But I was missing her with a fierce intensity, constantly thinking about her, dreaming about her.

Penny had noticed her absence, too, asking when Felicity was going to come over again.

It broke my heart.

Because I didn’t know what to tell her. I hadn’t yet made my decision on what to do. And honestly, I wasn’t going to be able to make a decision until this court hearing was over and I could take my little girl home, permanently.

I just hoped that Felicity didn’t hate me. For the past three weeks, my love for her had only strengthened. And no matter what happened today, I was coming to the conclusion that I would have to have her in my life somehow, for my own sanity. In what capacity had yet to be determined but if I had my way, she would be in my bed every night for the rest of our lives.

The judge suddenly cleared his throat, cutting through the tension of the room. “In light of the recent accounts of child neglect on the part of Ms. Bradshaw and the evidence presented by Mr. Wexler, I’m granting his request for sole custody of Penny Wexler. Ms. Bradshaw will be granted supervised visits, the details of which will be discussed at a separate hearing.”

My eyes fell closed and I tipped my head back in thanksgiving.

She’s mine.

Those were some of the sweetest words I had ever heard.

Vanessa shot to her feet, a look of menace on her makeup-caked face. Her lawyer was frantically pulling on her arm to prevent her from saying whatever she was about to. “Your Honor, I really must protest. This is ridiculous. You can’t take a child away from her mother—”

The judge ripped his glasses off and pinned her with a furious glare, one that even unnerved me a little. “Ms. Bradshaw, you will watch the manner in which you address me in
my
courtroom. You’re lucky that you haven’t been brought up on charges of child endangerment because they are certainly grounds for it here. Over the last several months, you have done nothing but prove to me that you are not fit to handle the responsibilities and obligations of caring for a child. Quite frankly, I have no tolerance for individuals like you. Those who have never been held accountable for the consequences of their actions. And if you question my judgment one more time, I will hold you in contempt.”

Damn.
I had a newfound respect for this judge.

I glanced over at Vanessa to watch her slump back down in her chair, a hateful pout on her face.
That shut her up real quick.

The judge put his glasses back on and looked down at the papers in his hands. “I’m scheduling another hearing on the twenty-sixth to work out the details of the supervised visits. Case dismissed.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” I said and shook hands with my lawyer before gathering up my things.

A weight the size of an 800-pound gorilla was suddenly lifted off my shoulders.

I met Vanessa as we both headed for the door and waited for her reaction. The fact that she didn’t seem upset or hurt by this decision, just angry, was sad but not a surprise. She was only going to be able to spend a few hours every now and then with her daughter and her eyes hadn’t even teared up.

“I’ll come by your place later today to get the rest of Penny’s things,” I told her.

She pursed her lips, clearly wanting to say more but restrained herself. She shrugged instead. “Whatever. Go ahead. I’ve got a photo shoot at three so I won’t be there.”

Of course you do.

She was probably never going to learn.

But because I had some decency in me and because we had made a child together, I decided to be civil for a minute. “I’m sorry things had to happen this way, Vanessa.”

She looked away, her eyebrows furrowing slightly, taking me aback. That time, she actually did look affected. She swallowed and said without looking at me, “Yeah, well. You got what you wanted so you should be happy.”

I shook my head in disappointment. “It’s not about what I wanted. It was never about that. It’s about what’s best for Penny. You should know after all these years that’s what’s important to me. It should matter to you, too.”

She stared at the floor and I wondered if shame was keeping her from meeting my eyes. If she could actually feel ashamed of herself. I had certainly never seen it before.

“She’ll be happy with you,” she whispered. “So, I guess I can’t be mad about that. I’ll see you on the twenty-sixth.”

And then she walked away.

It was over.

I could finally take my girl home and know that no one would ever try to take her away again.

##

“Remember to kick your feet,” I told Penny as I helped support her in the water. “Good job. Keep it up,” I praised her when she followed my instruction.

I had taken off the whole day from work for the court hearing, so I went to pick Penny up from school after I left the courtroom and decided it was too gorgeous of a day to waste inside. We had been outside in our in-ground pool for most of the afternoon and then I thought I would teach her how to swim.

The only thing preventing it from being one of the best days of my life was the absence of a certain someone. Someone I had been so close to calling when we got home. But I decided to make this afternoon all about me and Penny, time to ourselves.

That didn’t stop me from wanting Felicity there, though.

She would have made this beautiful day feel even more complete.

“Pretty soon you won’t even need your floaties anymore, Peanut,” I said as we got out and started to dry off.

Penny giggled when I threw the towel over head and attempted to dry her hair a little. “You hungry?” I asked her as it was getting close to dinner time.

She nodded. “Yes. Can we have chicken nuggets for supper?”

I wasn’t going to deny my girl anything today. Not today of all days. “Sure. Do you want macaroni and cheese, too?”

Another nod. “Yeah and maybe some pineapple?”

I chuckled. “Pineapple? You like pineapple now?”

She smiled at me, a childlike gleam in her eyes that I never wanted to see go away again. “It’s Felicity’s favorite so I like it now, too.”

My smile faded slightly, the sound of her name coming from Penny’s lips a little hard to hear. “Let’s go wash your hair, then, and I’ll cut up some pineapple.”

I got Penny washed up and headed for the kitchen to start dinner as she plopped down on the living room floor to play with her horses and plastic stables set that I had brought over from Vanessa’s house earlier. As I walked by the front door, though, something outside caught my eye. Through the glass on the door I could see something sitting on our front stoop that looked like a large box.

Curious, I opened the door and examined the cardboard box. I didn’t remember ordering anything so I wasn’t sure what this could have been. It looked like it had been opened and then haphazardly taped back together. I leaned closer to get a better look at the shipping label and started to breathe a little faster when I saw Felicity’s name and address stamped across it.

If it was shipped to Felicity, why was it here?

Had she brought it by? I didn’t remember hearing the doorbell and I knew that it hadn’t been there when we had gotten home earlier. She must have stopped by and left it while we had been in the pool. A sharp pain pierced my chest when I realized that she came by without knocking or even trying to talk to me.

She just came by, dropped it off, and left.

I crouched down and ripped off the tape, opening it to find a piece of paper placed on top.

Gabe,

This was going to be my surprise for Penny when she got her pony. Hope everything went well at the hearing. Tell her hello for me.

Thinking of you two,

Felicity

Now desperate to see the contents, I dug through the Styrofoam peanuts until my fingers grazed something rough yet smooth, feeling somewhat like leather. I pulled the large object out of the box and stunned at what I was seeing, I dropped to my knees in disbelief.

It was a saddle.

With Penny’s name stitched into the side, surrounded by flowers.

Felicity had known I was planning to surprise Penny with a pony whenever the custody battle was finalized. And judging from her note, I was guessing that she had ordered this for her sometime before we had broken up.

The gesture floored me.

I heard Penny’s footsteps running toward the front door, so I carefully placed the saddle back into the box so she wouldn’t see it. I didn’t want her knowing about the pony yet. And I didn’t want anyone else but Felicity presenting her with the saddle.

“Whatcha doing, Daddy?” Penny asked, poking her head through.

“Oh, nothing. Daddy just got a package. No girly stuff in here, though.”

She giggled and turned to go back inside but I stopped her. “Hey, Peanut. I have a question for you.” She stopped and looked at me as I fought my nerves. If Penny didn’t go for this idea than the whole thing would be moot. “You like Felicity, right?” She nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. “What would you think if Felicity came to stay with us?”

Her forehead scrunched up, questions in her eyes. “Like every night?”

I nodded. “Yes. Every night. Would you like that?”

“Would she be my new mommy?”

I chose my words carefully, not wanting to confuse her any more than she probably already was. “You’ll still see Mommy sometimes and she’ll always be your real mommy, but you won’t have to go to her house anymore. And you would call Felicity whatever you wanted to call her.”

She hesitated for a second but then her smile grew and reached from ear-to-ear. “So, she would be your new wife?”

I swallowed, that question making my heart beat faster. “If she wants to be, then yes.”

She fell forward and wrapped her little arms around my neck. “I would like that, Daddy. We would have a lot of fun, I think.”
I think so, too.

I had finally made my decision. The gift from Felicity to my daughter was the most obvious sign I could have asked for to confirm that this woman was exactly who I had always wanted. She was sweet and smart, beautiful, and would be a wonderful mother to Penny. She clearly already loved the girl to go through that much effort to make her happy.

Now, I wanted to make myself happy, too.

Plus, it was no secret that Penny adored Felicity as well and that was all the answer I needed. I was going to get Felicity back in our lives, beg her to forgive me for my foolishness in pushing her away.

I just prayed that she would want us back.

##

Felicity

Those two lines stared up at me from the bathroom counter.

Smiling at me. Taunting me. Almost laughing at me.

If a pregnancy test stick could have the qualities of being a smartass, the one sitting on my bathroom countertop was sure fitting that bill.

I’m pregnant.

And it’s Gabe’s.

Oh God.

I just sat on the toilet lid, staring wordlessly at that stick, blinking, blinking…clearly in shock. Wasn’t the first question out of every unexpectedly expectant mother’s mouth
how did this happen?
It seemed pretty ridiculous because I did know
how
it happened, obviously.

But when I thought back to how it was
allowed
to happen, it didn’t take me long to figure out the answer. I had been on the shot for years—I was terrible about remembering to take a pill every day—and I had always been good at keeping it updated on time. So, when I thought back to the last appointment I had to get the shot, I cursed myself.

I had made it several days too late.

Bea and I had been giving a huge presentation to a group of clients—one that almost went south but was thankfully saved by Bea’s boyfriend, Zane—and I had been so distracted that I had completely forgotten about my appointment at the doctor’s office. I’d had to reschedule it and the doctor had mentioned being careful because of the time gap.

But I hadn’t been having sex at the time so I hadn’t worried about it.

And that had certainly been the last thing on my mind once I did start having sex with Gabe. Clearly, all rational thoughts had fled my mind from the second he first kissed me.

“You okay in there?” Bea cautiously asked from the other side of the door.

She knew I went in there to take a test. Hell, she had gone with me to the store to buy the damn thing because I hadn’t been able to go alone.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. You can come in.”

The door slowly slid open and Bea eased through, concern on her face and caution in her eyes. Like she didn’t want to say the wrong thing for fear of causing me to lose it. Her eyes drifted down to the stick on the counter, her feet edging closer to it. When I saw understanding flash in her eyes, she took a step closer to me and took my hand.

“Don’t worry, it’s goin’ to be okay,” she whispered sympathetically. “Whether he’s in the picture or not, we’ll make this work. Everything is goin’ to be alright.”

I felt the first tears track down my face but they weren’t caused by sadness from being pregnant. I was crying because that man I was madly in love with had gotten me pregnant—I was carrying his child—and he wasn’t there to share the moment with me. I had always imagined finding out I was pregnant as this ecstatic, celebratory moment with my husband where we laughed and cried and immediately started coming up with a list of baby names.

But Gabe wasn’t there—he didn’t know—and we weren’t even together anymore.

I didn’t want to do something like this alone either. I wanted my child to have a father, one who was there all the time. I had seen how hard splitting time between Gabe and Vanessa had been on Penny and I didn’t want that for my child. I wanted my child to know that their parents’ loved each other, wanted them to know what that looked like.

“How are you feelin’?” Bea asked when I never responded to her.

“I’m okay, I guess,” I said brokenly. “I’m not upset that I’m pregnant. Really, I’m not. I just wish he was here. I don’t know what he’s goin’ to say about this, how he’s goin’ to react. Oh God, Bea,” I said as I buried my face in my hands. “How am I goin’ to tell him? What if he still doesn’t want me back? What if he doesn’t want another kid?”

Bea squatted down in front of me and pulled my hands away from my face. “Hey, look at me.” When I did she continued, “Whether he does or he doesn’t won’t matter. How do
you
feel, hon?”

The corner of my mouth lifted in a grin, despite my queasy stomach. “I want it,” I whispered. “I already love it.” I laughed at myself. “Stupid, isn’t it? I just found out there was somethin’ in there but I’m already in love with it.”

She nodded, rubbing my arm. “Then, that’s your answer. We’ll have time to figure everything else out later.” The fact that she had said “we” and not “you” comforted me more than she knew. “This is a happy time though, okay? My little sister is havin’ a baby. So smile, F.”

I smiled through my tears and let out a short laugh. She leaned forward and hugged me, pulling me in tight to her, squeezing.

“Daddy’s goin’ to get such a kick out of this,” she said as we pulled away from each other.

“About me bein’ alone and pregnant?”

“No,” she said on a sigh. “I’m goin’ to be Aunt Bea.”

I laughed, something I hadn’t been able to do wholeheartedly for weeks.
The Andy Griffith Show
was our daddy’s favorite television show of all time.

No matter what happened, I was going to be okay.

I hope.

##

Days later, I was still trying to figure out how to tell Gabe. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get through it without totally breaking down. So, I hadn’t called him yet. Instead, I was using work as a distraction from facing him.

“Bea, please tell me you sent over the invoice for the Michaelson account,” I yelled, knowing she could hear me from her office right next door. “They wanted it yesterday.”

“Like I told you both times yesterday when you asked me, I got it to them by ten sharp,” her voice carried from her open office door. A few seconds later, I heard her enter my office and looked up to see her arms crossed over her chest, an amused expression on her face. “I thought baby brain was a myth.”

I rubbed the tension knot on the back of my neck and dropped down into my chair. “I’m sorry. It feels like I can’t keep anything straight.”

Her eyes softened. “How’s the nausea?”

I huffed out a laugh. “Still a pain in the ass.”

The buzzer on my desk sounded and Bea leaned back to see who had entered the shop. Her body froze and I could see her eyes widen. She looked back at me and tossed me a smirk before backing away.

“I think I’m goin’ to go grab some lunch,” she said. “I’ll bring back your usual.”

Assuming the person who came through the door had been Zane and she was leaving with him, I put my head down and got back to work. A few seconds later, a deep voice coming from the doorway cleared his throat, making my head snap up.

There stood Gabe, looking all kinds of hot in a white button-up shirt and charcoal gray slacks. “Hey,” he said.

He looked nervous, tentative. He took a small step forward but stopped, like he wasn’t sure if he was invited in or not.

My brain stuttered but then got back on track. “Hi. What are you doin’ here?”

He came farther into the room, his eyes unmoving from mine. “I needed to talk to you.” He took my silence as his cue to keep going. “I made a mistake, Felicity. I shouldn’t have pushed you away that night. I was just lost and worrying that I had messed up with Penny. It was never my intention to mess up with you, too.”

I slowly nodded, my heart pounding like a bass drum. “It’s understandable. Everyone’s emotions were runnin’ pretty high that night.” The reason for his visit still wasn’t apparent and I hoped he had more to say.

He did.

“You see, I thought that by removing you from the equation that it would allow me to focus more on Penny, concentrate solely on her. But it didn’t. In fact, it only made it worse.”

My breaths were shallow as I listened to his confession. “It did?”

He narrowed his eyes as he slowly nodded at me. “Yeah, it did. Without you in my life, I couldn’t focus on anything. All I was doing was missing you, worrying about how you were doing. Even Penny noticed how unhappy I was. The thing is, Felicity, I can’t
be
happy if I’m not with you.”

“So…” I had to take a deep breath before I could get the question out. “So, what are you sayin’?”

“I’m saying I want you in our lives again. I want you back…Penny wants you back.” Those hazel eyes pierced mine. “I’m saying that I love you. I’ll always love you. And I hope that you’ll let me love you, every day from now on.”

My eyes began to water. The pregnancy was making my hormones go crazy and it felt like I had been crying nonstop lately.

The pregnancy.

I still have to tell him.

I could do this. I stood up and walked around the desk, stopping right in front of him. “There’s somethin’ you need to know before you say anything else.” His brow furrowed, worry entering his eyes but I pushed through my anxiety. “I’m pregnant.”

I wanted to look away, afraid that I would see something on his face that would break my heart. But at the same, I
had
to see his reaction. I needed to know from the second it reached his ears how he felt before he attempted to mask his emotions.

And whatever I had expected to see in no way compared to what I actually witnessed.

He was blank at first, probably adjusting to the shock of those words. But then his mouth slowly spread into the most breathtaking, genuine smile of joy I had ever seen on a person’s face. There had been no fear or uncertainty before that. There hadn’t been doubt or anger.

There was only happiness. Excitement. Elation.

He stepped toward me and put his large hand on my flat belly. “My baby is in here?” he asked, awe lacing his words.

Well, that did me in. No woman was immune to the father of her child touching where their unborn child grew, awestruck by the miracle of it.

I nodded as my tears finally fell. “Yes,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “Are you…okay with that?” After I said it, I realized how stupid that probably sounded.

He looked up at me, disbelief etched in his features. “
Okay
? Felicity, I didn’t think you could make me any happier than you already have. But I was wrong. I love you and you’re carrying my child. How could I
not
be okay with that? Did you think that this would make me change my mind about us or something?”

I bit my lip. “I just wasn’t sure if you wanted another child. I mean, you’ve been dealin’ with a lot from Vanessa and with all that was goin’ on with us…we didn’t exactly plan this.”

He closed his eyes, his jaw clenching. He opened his eyes again before saying, “I’m sorry that I made you doubt my feelings about us or about how I would react to this. I’ve always wanted more kids so to me, this couldn’t be more perfect. I want you to be the mother of
all
of my children, Felicity.” He looked down at his hand still resting on my belly. “Not just this one.”

Penny.

He wanted me to be Penny’s mother. I would never be able to express with words how much that meant to me.

I couldn’t take any more words because I was about to start sobbing. So, I threw myself at him and brought my lips to his in a hard, desperate kiss. When I said my hormones had been going crazy, I meant
all
of my hormones. I had needed Gabe and his touch so much lately that I almost couldn’t breathe at times.

Gabe moaned through the kiss, grabbed me, and shoved me against my office door, his hand reaching down to flip the lock. “
Oh God
. I missed you, baby,” he breathed into my ear, panting.

Our movements were already frenzied, our kisses passionate and all-consuming, our bodies fueled solely by our desires. “I need you to touch me, Gabe. Please.”

He jerked my pants down in two seconds flat. I had his own opened as soon as mine pooled at my feet. “You need my cock to fill you, baby? Is that what you need?” His voice was taunting yet sexy and I loved it, had missed it.

“Yes,” I answered. “I need to feel you inside me.
Now
.”

A growl ripped from him whenever he entered me in one thrust. I didn’t wait for my body to get used to him; I just started working my hips back and forth, knowing this was going to be a quick one for me but craving it more than anything else in the world.

“
Mmm
. My woman has needed me, haven’t you?” Gabe whispered into my neck, his grunts increasing along with the speed of his drives into me.

I could feel sweat dotting my brow as he worked me over, an animalistic nature to our intimacy. “Oh, you have no idea.”

That seemed to spur him on and then he was slamming into me, ramming his thick length inside, making my eyes roll back in my head.
It feels so good.
I never wanted to be without that again.

“That’s right. Come on my cock, Felicity. Let me feel it.”

I don’t know why but the sound of my name coming from him sent me spiraling over the edge. As soon as he felt me clenching around him, he let go, pumping furiously against me, making the door behind us shudder.

My mind was in a fog after that.

I couldn’t tell up from down or left from right.