Page 104 of One Baby Daddy
“Were you, Adalyn?”
Remorse fills her face when she shakes her head no.
“Why the fuck not?”
“Why would I?” she asks meekly.
Stepping forward, anger taking over my body, I answer, “Because it’s my goddamn child, Adalyn. I have a right to know about it, and I have a right to be a part of its life.”
“You lead a different life than I do. Do you really think you can be there for this baby . . . for me?”
Is she serious?
“Plenty of hockey players have kids. Fuck, Calder has been a single dad from the beginning. He makes it work. You can’t blame this on my profession. How could you not tell me? What the fuck, Adalyn?”
“You live across the damn country, Hayden,” she shouts. More tears fall from her eyes. “You’re here now for what, a few hours and then you have to take off to your next stretch of games. As much as you like to think this can work, it can’t. You want to be a part of this, I get that, but let’s face it, when it comes to logistics, I’m going to be a single mom with a flyby baby daddy. So excuse me if I didn’t believe you needed to know yet. Whether you knew or not, it wouldn’t make a shitload of difference to me right now. Or when the baby is born.Iwill be raising a child all by myself. And I’m fucking terrified.”
Turning away, she walks to the back of the house where her bedroom is located. The soft click of her door sounds through the silent house.
Instead of going after her right away, I take a seat on her couch, trying to gather myself. What a fucking disaster.
I’m going to be a dad. A fucking dad.
Christ.
I attempt to let that sink in as my head drops past my shoulders, my hands clasped in front of me. But she wasn't going to tell me . . .
What kind of man does shereallythink I am to believe I wouldn't want to know? If there was one thing she should have understood it’s that I'm not a man to ditch those I care about. And a baby? Our baby?What the hell, Adalyn? How could you be so callous? What did I do to deserve that?
And then there's the fucker who most definitely moved in once I left.Is Adalyn not the girl I thought she was?
I’m going to be a dad, sooner than I would have liked, but fuck if I’m not going to be in this child’s life. My parents gave me a beautiful childhood and opportunities to better myself; they gave me the world, and that’s exactly what I want to give my kid.
And doing it with Adalyn? Hell, I don’t think I could have chosen a better person to partner up with. The only problem is our distance.
From the back of my pocket, I pull out my phone and send a text to Chris Thompkins, the goalie on our team who’s been working with me lately after practice. I have an idea, but I just need to know if he can help me.
Chapter Twenty-One
ADALYN
Iam going to kill her.
Emma is dead to me. Absolutely dead to me.
Technically I don’t know if it’s Emma who told him, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure it is. Racer is too scared to be castrated, and Logan would probably prefer Hayden to never know at this point. So that leaves Emma.
Ugh.
I bury my head in my pillow. Breathe, Adalyn, breathe. This isn’t good for the baby, none of this stress or anxiety is good for the baby and yet, I can’t seem to find a happy place.
Hayden deserves to know about his baby, I understand that, but I never wanted him to find out like this. He was blindsided, although he would have been blindsided no matter what. But with Logan here, protecting me . . . God, no wonder Hayden is so angry.
I have no idea if he’s still in my house. I didn’t hear the front door open and close, but then again, I’ve been crying into my pillow for the last half hour; I might have blocked out any other sounds in the house.
Rolling to my other side, facing the door, I wish I had X-ray vision so I could see if he was still here or not.Do I want him to be here still?Not really. It was easier when he wasn’t here, because I could go on thinking there really was no daddy to my baby. But now, it’s real. This whole clusterfuck is real.
Sighing, I snuggle in closer to my pillow, trying to get my rest when the door to my bedroom cracks open, startling me.
