But he hadn’t expected her to be that upset. Hadn’t she said that she wasn’t asking him for anything? Hadn’t she told him that she was excited about the baby?
She hadn’t given him the impression that she was desperate for a parenting partner. And she had her own parents to help her, and he was going to help her financially… Why had she been so angry? Why had she acted as if she had been promised more than she was getting?
My life is important too, he told himself. I shouldn’t be expected to sink my company over this. I know the baby is my responsibility—that’s why I’m helping with the money. But I don’t owe any more than that.
Still, for a moment he felt a pang of regret.
He would never see the baby born. He might never find out if it was a boy or a girl. The child would grow up not knowing who he was, not knowing anything about him. Knowing only that his or her father hadn’t been willing to stick around.
It pained him to think that would be the way his child thought of him.
But there was no alternative. Quadra-Well wouldn’t survive if its CEO became involved in a scandal. And because the board was determined to release Androcyl on schedule, there was no way he could admit to having fathered a child without causing a scandal.
It was heartbreaking, but his hands were tied.
He flagged a cab and gave the name of the hotel he had checked into earlier that afternoon. He had planned to fly back to Boston tomorrow evening, but suddenly he wanted to get out of Albuquerque as quickly as he could. He didn’t want to linger here, in the town where his career had been derailed, in the town where the mother of his child hated him.
He would go back to the airport. With enough money, he would be able to get a plane ticket that would take him back to Boston tonight instead of sitting around in a hotel room and brooding about his professional and personal failures.
And that was good. Because right now, there was nothing Lucas wanted more than to be at home.
Chapter 20
Elise
Over the next couple of days, Elise’s anger at Lucas faded.
She’d been prepared to accept it if he had decided not to involve himself in their child’s life. It was the suggestion that his company was more important, she realized, that was really bothering her.
But what did she know about running a company? He had sunk over a decade of his life into it, after all. Maybe it really was too difficult to give up. Besides, Quadra-Well didn’t just belong to Lucas. He would be compromising the jobs of everyone who worked there, not just himself, if he allowed the company to go under.
In a way, she decided, she could respect the choice he had made.
A part of her wanted to call him and tell him. She regretted storming out of the restaurant, letting her emotions get the better of her. But at the same time, she knew that she had to stop reaching out to him. He had chosen not to be involved in their lives, so Elise had to distance herself.
She had given her parents an abridged version of their conversation, and they had expressed condolences while seeming to sense that she didn’t really want to talk about it. Since that night, though, they had gone out of their way to be nice to her.
Today, her mother had offered to drive her to her doctor’s appointment, and Elise had accepted. It would have been sad to go for her first scan all alone.
“You’re awfully quiet,” her mother said as they pulled into the parking lot.
“I guess I’m a little nervous,” Elise said.
“There isn’t anything to be nervous about,” her mother said. “This is a routine appointment.”
“I know,” Elise said. “I just worry that something will be wrong with the baby.”
“I’m sure nothing’s wrong,” her mother said soothingly. “You’ve been taking your vitamins and eating well. I’m sure the baby is fine.”
Elise nodded. She knew there was no real reason to worry, but it was impossible not to. She had never been responsible for something so precious before. What if she made a mistake? What if she did something that caused her child harm?
“I wonder if all single mothers feel like this?” she mused. “I mean, if anything bad happens, it’s definitely my fault.”
Her mother parked the car, then turned to face her.
“Nothing bad is