Read Online Tempting Love - Haley & Eddie by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Melanie Shawn
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needed to get this conversation back on track, Eddie asked, “So why were you nervous?”
“Oh, that.” Haley blinked and swallowed hard. “I just need to know how you want me to field the Lacey questions when they come up.”
“I think how you’ve been handling it up until now is fine. Honesty usually is the best policy.”
“Okay, but what about when she asks why her mom left?” Haley questioned.
“She’s asked you that?” Eddie was surprised that Emily had asked Haley that. She’d only ever asked him that once. And that was over a year ago.
“Several times,” Haley confirmed.
“Damn.” Eddie rubbed his hands over his face. “Well, I told her that, even though her mom loved her very much, she just couldn’t be a mom. But that she would always love her.”
“What did happen?” Haley hesitantly asked. “With Lacey.”
Eddie didn’t talk about this. Ever. But for some reason, tonight, under the stars, sitting in his backyard with Haley, it all just came flowing out of him like her three-word question had broken down the wall to an emotional dam.
“Well, I don’t know how well you knew her, but Lacey was wild. In high school, she experimented with drugs. I mean, a lot of us did, but she took it further than any of the rest of us. Her home life was bad. Really bad. And I think she used alcohol and drugs to escape it.
“Then, when we graduated, she left. Went away to college. You probably know I stayed here and started working for Sloan Construction. School was good for her. She got clean. We kept in touch. I still loved her. She said she still loved me. After college, she came back to town and we hooked up again. I honestly thought we had a real chance. She was different.
“She hadn’t been home more than a few months before I proposed. She accepted and moved in with me, but that was as far as it went. She didn’t show any interest in planning the wedding. Never talked about it. I thought it was a little strange. I had always heard girls lived for that stuff.
“About a year after she was back, things were getting a little rocky between us. I could tell she was restless. Every day, I expected to come home and see a Dear John note sitting on the kitchen table. Then one day, on a random Thursday, I came home and there was a note, but instead of saying she was leaving, it said that she was pregnant.”
“She told you in a note?”
Eddie had never told another soul what he was about to reveal to Haley. Not his sister, not Riley, no one.
“Yeah. It also said that she needed time to think. I didn’t see her or hear from her for three days. I tried all of her friends. They said they didn’t know where she was. I called and left so many messages I filled up her mailbox. She never called me back. I was going crazy. I didn’t know what her head space was like. What she might be thinking.
“Then, Sunday afternoon, she walked into the house. I remember how skinny she looked and that there were dark circles under her eyes. She told me that she’d decided she was going to have an abortion. That she’d already scheduled it for the next week.”
Eddie’s gut turned as he remembered that day. “I didn’t know how much I had already fallen in love with my unborn baby until the moment she told me she wasn’t keeping it. I begged her not to do it. She told me she wasn’t ready to be a mom and I told her that it was okay. That I was ready enough for the both of us.
“It took a lot of convincing, but she finally agreed to keep the baby.” Taking a deep breath, Eddie looked down at the lines in the wood boards of his deck. “I honestly thought that once Lacey held the baby in her arms, her maternal instinct would kick in and everything would fall into place.”
Looking back up at Haley, he saw tenderness and compassion in her expressive baby blue eyes. “That didn’t happen. She just never bonded with her. I do believe she loved her, but she was right. She wasn’t ready to be a mom.
“Oh, that.” Haley blinked and swallowed hard. “I just need to know how you want me to field the Lacey questions when they come up.”
“I think how you’ve been handling it up until now is fine. Honesty usually is the best policy.”
“Okay, but what about when she asks why her mom left?” Haley questioned.
“She’s asked you that?” Eddie was surprised that Emily had asked Haley that. She’d only ever asked him that once. And that was over a year ago.
“Several times,” Haley confirmed.
“Damn.” Eddie rubbed his hands over his face. “Well, I told her that, even though her mom loved her very much, she just couldn’t be a mom. But that she would always love her.”
“What did happen?” Haley hesitantly asked. “With Lacey.”
Eddie didn’t talk about this. Ever. But for some reason, tonight, under the stars, sitting in his backyard with Haley, it all just came flowing out of him like her three-word question had broken down the wall to an emotional dam.
“Well, I don’t know how well you knew her, but Lacey was wild. In high school, she experimented with drugs. I mean, a lot of us did, but she took it further than any of the rest of us. Her home life was bad. Really bad. And I think she used alcohol and drugs to escape it.
“Then, when we graduated, she left. Went away to college. You probably know I stayed here and started working for Sloan Construction. School was good for her. She got clean. We kept in touch. I still loved her. She said she still loved me. After college, she came back to town and we hooked up again. I honestly thought we had a real chance. She was different.
“She hadn’t been home more than a few months before I proposed. She accepted and moved in with me, but that was as far as it went. She didn’t show any interest in planning the wedding. Never talked about it. I thought it was a little strange. I had always heard girls lived for that stuff.
“About a year after she was back, things were getting a little rocky between us. I could tell she was restless. Every day, I expected to come home and see a Dear John note sitting on the kitchen table. Then one day, on a random Thursday, I came home and there was a note, but instead of saying she was leaving, it said that she was pregnant.”
“She told you in a note?”
Eddie had never told another soul what he was about to reveal to Haley. Not his sister, not Riley, no one.
“Yeah. It also said that she needed time to think. I didn’t see her or hear from her for three days. I tried all of her friends. They said they didn’t know where she was. I called and left so many messages I filled up her mailbox. She never called me back. I was going crazy. I didn’t know what her head space was like. What she might be thinking.
“Then, Sunday afternoon, she walked into the house. I remember how skinny she looked and that there were dark circles under her eyes. She told me that she’d decided she was going to have an abortion. That she’d already scheduled it for the next week.”
Eddie’s gut turned as he remembered that day. “I didn’t know how much I had already fallen in love with my unborn baby until the moment she told me she wasn’t keeping it. I begged her not to do it. She told me she wasn’t ready to be a mom and I told her that it was okay. That I was ready enough for the both of us.
“It took a lot of convincing, but she finally agreed to keep the baby.” Taking a deep breath, Eddie looked down at the lines in the wood boards of his deck. “I honestly thought that once Lacey held the baby in her arms, her maternal instinct would kick in and everything would fall into place.”
Looking back up at Haley, he saw tenderness and compassion in her expressive baby blue eyes. “That didn’t happen. She just never bonded with her. I do believe she loved her, but she was right. She wasn’t ready to be a mom.
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