baby. Someone else’s baby? His baby? Was that why she’d sought him out? Was she looking for money? Jealousy turned into rage. Or did she give up his baby? And then he remembered her reaction to his question regarding skeletons. What a fucking secret to keep from him, especially considering their own childhoods.
His voice turned cold and hard. “Where is the child now?”
There was sympathy in Josh’s expression when he said, “The baby died.”
Suddenly Lucien felt ill. “How?”
“Apparently the pregnancy was a difficult one. One day Darcy got light-headed and fell down the stairs. She was rushed to the hospital, but the baby didn’t make it, and she almost didn’t either.” Josh’s voice softened when he added, “It was your child.”
“Oh my God.” Lucien was horrified, almost as much at himself for the conclusions he had jumped to as he was for the loss of their child. “Where is the baby buried?”
“Darcy’s mother had the baby cremated with John and Jane Does while Darcy lay unconscious in her hospital bed. There were no ashes.”
“What?” That word came out in a roar. Knowing Darcy as he did, she would have felt responsible for losing the baby; but having the decision on its resting place taken from her would have been devastating. She didn’t even have a place to go to mourn their child.
Suspicion filled him at Darcy’s mother’s motives. She didn’t give a shit about Darcy, so why get involved in the baby’s burial? Why come for Darcy after the tragedy?
And Darcy had to deal with a pregnancy, the loss of her child, and almost dying herself—and did so alone. He needed her at that moment. He needed to feel her safe and warm, and then he was going to get on his knees and beg her to forgive him. And not just for the past, but because he had violated her trust by seeking out information that she obviously wasn’t ready to share.
“Thanks, Josh.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Beg for her forgiveness.”
Josh’s smile was slight before he said, “Sounds like a good place to start, son.”
Darcy was on her way to the bathroom when she heard the sound of Lucien’s voice. She stopped in time to hear Lucien yell, “Just tell me!”
“There was a baby.”
She recognized that voice as Ember’s uncle’s. But Lucien’s tone made her sick. He believed she had given their baby up. How could he believe that of her? But then Josh proceeded to detail her very own nightmare. She backed away from the door as numbness filled her. He had had her investigated, had violated her privacy and dug into her past and her pain. What the hell gave him the right to do that? She had to get out of there.
She reached the living room and spotted Ember. She thought about making some excuse for why she was leaving so suddenly, but she just didn’t have it in her.
“I have to go.”
The concern was clear in Ember’s voice. “Is everything okay?”
She couldn’t reply because the words wouldn’t come. Instead she grabbed Ember’s hand and squeezed before she practically ran from the apartment. Outside she started walking until she saw a cab and hailed it.
When she arrived at the orphanage, it looked so different than it had when she’d called it home, but there was one place that still looked the same: her tree. The same gnarly tree that she and Lucien had agreed to meet at that day.
Her baby had already been cremated by the time she was conscious again—an open cremation with other nameless souls so that there were no ashes for Darcy. Her mom claimed it was the cheapest option, but why did her mom not wait for her? It was like her mom was purposely spiting her. So she lost her baby, never got to hold him or her, or say good-bye. There wasn’t even anywhere for her to go to visit the baby she’d loved from the moment she’d found out she was pregnant.
Darcy had hated returning home with her mom after she’d lost the baby, but the woman had insisted and since Darcy had been underage, she didn’t have a choice. And then as soon as they’d returned home, everything was exactly as it had been, except her mom’s increased dependency on alcohol. Why had her mom wanted her home again?
Her mom spent her days drinking and her nights picking up strangers. How she paid the rent was beyond Darcy because the woman didn’t work. Darcy had thought about leaving