ALL HE HAD was a text. One saying that while he could be in the baby’s life, Nicola didn’t want to marry him. Didn’t even want them to continue seeing each other. He’d tried calling her and texting her back, but he’d gotten no response.
And coming out of Harvey Smith’s office two days later, he felt shell-shocked. She was gone. Back to her old hospital without saying a word to him as to why.
According to Harvey, she wanted to try to work at both hospitals, consulting at NYC Memorial only when there was a specific case that needed her input. And most of those consultations would happen via a telemedicine link. She wouldn’t even need to physically come to the hospital.
The administrator had been fine with that, telling her if she changed her mind or if her caseload got to be too heavy to let him know, and they’d put her back on NYC Memorial’s schedule.
What on earth had brought this on? They’d had a sexy evening that she’d been totally into, after leaving her parents’ house. Hell, it had been her idea to go back to his place and make love.
She’d been absolutely fine.
Until he mentioned marriage. And then she was up and out of there in a flash. It was almost like she’d been expecting him to ask and was already poised to turn him down. Which she had. In no uncertain terms. Except at the very end, she’d said she would think about it. He guessed she had. And her answer was still no.
His thought after she’d left his apartment was “well, at least she didn’t take my furniture.” But it had been in a funny sense. He hadn’t seriously thought she was walking out of his life for good. Her text had said he could be part of his baby’s life, but she hadn’t said exactly what that would look like.
His question of marriage had been half joking, but if she’d said yes, he would have gone through with it. He really had thought maybe they could make a go of it.
The one thing missing had been love. But he’d gone the love route twice before and had flamed out. This time, he’d thought if he could go into it with more thought and build it on something other than fickle emotion, it might work. He cared about her. And he’d been pretty sure—until that text—that she might care about him, as well.
Well, hell. Maybe she’d just saved him from one more failed relationship. He should thank Snowden for suggesting they make that toast.
He’d give Nicola a week or so and then try to approach her about the part he was going to play in his child’s life. She didn’t want to get married? Fine. But he hadn’t changed his mind about wanting to be a father in a very real sense of the word.
Okay, he’d give it a week. And then he’d try to call again, and if that failed, he was going to march over to Grace Central and have it out with her in person. If she didn’t have him thrown off the property the way she’d thrown him out of her life.
Snow met him at the bar. Their bar. His and Nicola’s, where it had all begun. She still hadn’t answered his calls, and now he had a decision to make. Over a drink, he told his old friend what had transpired in clinical terms, letting him know that he was going to be a father.
“I knew something was up. I just didn’t know what. For supposedly just having met her when Harvey introduced you, you two seemed to know each other a little more than I would have expected. But I had no idea, she was already pregnant.”
“I didn’t know, either. At least not then. She took a pregnancy test a week or so after you saw us, and it came back positive.”
“So if she agreed that you could be a part of the baby’s life, and you met her parents, what happened?”
“I don’t know. I said her parents probably wanted us to get married and suggested that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. She took off like a bat out of hell.”
“You did what?”
“Yeah. I didn’t realize I was that bad of a catch.”
“Exactly what reason did you give her for wanting to get married?”
Kaleb took a drink of his beer, wiping the foam from his mouth with the back of his hand. “I said it would make everything easier.”
“Easier.” Snow laughed. “Man, no wonder you were willing to make that toast. You wouldn’t know how to catch a girl if she was placed on your hook.”
“I caught two of them just fine, thank you very much. They just weren’t what I was looking for.”
Snow smiled and leaned forward, thumping his untouched whiskey glass on the bar. “And just what were you looking for, Kaleb? Something that would make everything easier?”
“No, of course not. I was looking for lov...” He swallowed. Damn. No wonder she’d taken off. No wonder she’d sent him a text that had basically said thanks, but no thanks.
“Right. And don’t you think this girl—Nicola—might have been looking for the same thing? Not a man who thought marrying her would make everything easier. For him.”
“Hell. I thought I was playing it smart this time. Thinking it through without letting my heart or my—” his eyes fell to his lap before coming back up “—lead me around.”
“And that, my friend, is the biggest mistake of them all. Not that I’m looking for love anytime soon. Whether or not you choose to, I’m sticking to my vow.” He pushed his glass around the polished surface of the bar. “I only have one question.”
“What’s that?”
“If you married this girl, would you be marrying her for love? Or for the convenience of it?”
Kaleb frowned. “I’m not sure I under—” Suddenly he got it. Realized how far off base he’d been in asking her that question. How insulting it had probably sounded. And it had been a lie. Marrying her wouldn’t make things easier.
His throat closed up as he ran through all the things he and Nic had shared in such a short period of time: Collaborated at work. Laughed over drinks. Stood over a baby’s bed as he recovered from surgery. Made love like there was no tomorrow.
And he realized his answer to Snow’s question was yes. He would have been marrying Nicola for all the right reasons. He just hadn’t understood it at the time.
He loved the woman.
“Yeah. You’re right. And I’m a damn fool.”
“Then forget about our toast and go find the woman and tell her you’re not marrying her to make your life easier. In fact, it’s about to get a hell of a lot harder. But whatever you do, don’t leave out why you want to marry her. If that doesn’t change things, call me, and we’ll go out and get roaring drunk. But if it does...then don’t call me until you set a date.”
He clapped Kaleb on the back. “Good luck, old friend.”
“Thanks. Thanks for everything. Including that toast. Because it led me right to where I needed to be.” And with that, Kaleb climbed off his barstool and headed for the door. He knew exactly what he needed to do.