His Hush-Hush Baby - Holly Rayner Page 0,15

from Kai telling her that he missed her and couldn’t wait to see her in two days’ time.

Sitting up in bed, she gazed at the phone and chewed on her bottom lip. She could call him and tell him the news. Text him back, saying something important had come up and they needed to talk as soon as possible.

In the end, she did neither of those things.

“Miss you, too,” she wrote. “Hope everything is going well.”

Over the phone was not the way she wanted to break the pregnancy news to him. They both deserved better than that. Especially when she’d already made up her mind to keep the baby.

Imagining the shock on his face when he heard the news made her feel nauseous, and she didn’t think it was due only to the morning sickness. Even if he was happy about the baby, these new waters would be completely uncharted.

Getting to know a person while having a kid with them wasn’t ideal at all. How many couples had gone through that? And how many of those relationships had lasted?

Rolling from bed, she took a shower and dressed in some paint-stained jeans and an old T-shirt. It was Saturday, technically her day off, but she would use it to finally get started on the mural at Kai’s place.

First, though, was a stop at her parents’. Her dad was in the office that morning, and so it was up to Diane to take her mom out for a walk.

“How are you today, Mom?” she asked as she walked into the apartment.

There was a long pause. Ruby sat at the kitchen table, looking out the window. Diane’s heart fluttered wildly. Did Ruby even know it was her daughter talking to her?

Finally…

“I’m good, Diane.” She turned her smiling face from the window. “How are you? The cats are here this morning.”

A bittersweet lump formed in Diane’s throat. It was great to have her mom fully present, but there was no telling how long that would last for.

The door to the master bedroom, which was right off the kitchen, opened.

“Hey.” Diane’s dad clapped her on the shoulder, then paused and squinted at her face. “What’s going on?”

“What? What do you mean?” Her cheeks turned hot.

He blinked. “You look tired, that’s all.”

“Oh, yeah.” She avoided his eyes. “I didn’t sleep well. Must have had too much coffee yesterday.”

“No such thing.” He grinned. “You ladies good for the next two hours?”

“Yep.” Diane forced a smile. She couldn’t tell her father she needed to work on Kai’s mural because he still didn’t even know that was a thing.

Much like her relationship with Kai. Oh, and her pregnancy.

She’d really amassed quite the list of secrets in a very short time.

With her dad gone, she had her mom get her shoes on so they could go to the park. It was a good morning, where they talked about the neighborhood and what was going on at work, and Diane wished she had the focus and energy to enjoy it more.

Unfortunately, the only thing on her mind was the pregnancy and all the varied ways in which Kai could react to it.

“And what about Robbie?” Ruby asked.

A twinge hit Diane’s heart. Robbie had been a guy she dated in high school.

“He’s doing good, Mom.” She could hardly say it without crying. “Thanks for asking.”

Though it brought her a lot of guilt, it was almost a relief when her dad texted to say he was on his way home. What Diane needed right then was a distraction, and there was no better way to make that happen than through painting.

After saying goodbye to her parents, she caught a train to Manhattan, having to switch twice in order to get to Kai’s apartment. An almost surreal feeling came over her as she walked into the home.

This was where Kai lived. The father of her baby.

Knowing that made everything, from the photos of his parents in the foyer to the welcome mat, look different.

Setting down her heavy bag of supplies, she inspected the kitchen wall that he wanted her to work on. Over the weeks, he’d had little more to offer in terms of preference, other than continuing to insist that he only wanted her to paint something nature-based.

As she stood there tapping her finger against her chin, her phone rang, making her heart skip a beat. Kai?

He’d called her a couple times over the last few days. If he wanted to have a quick chat right now, she wasn’t sure she was up