To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure what had possessed him to toss them into his suitcase. It must have been the fact that he liked to be prepared for any occasion. Although there was nothing in his suitcase to prepare him for a discussion about his baby—his baby—the words echoed in his mind.
“Niko?” Sofia’s voice drew him from his thoughts.
Had she been speaking? He hadn’t heard a word she’d said. That wasn’t like him. He was good at multitasking, especially at business meetings. He could respond to emails on his phone while listening to a presentation and never lose a beat. But when he was around Sofia, he had problems staying on task.
“What did you say?”
“I asked if your business meeting went well.”
He nodded. “It would have gone better if I’d been able to close the deal then and there.”
“Why couldn’t you?”
He didn’t want to get into any of that now. They had other things to discuss. “That’s not important.” He stopped walking and turned to her. “We need to talk about your situation.”
“You mean my pregnancy.”
“Yes. That.” She said it so easily, as if she’d already come to terms with it all. Was it possible she was happy about it? Could that be? “What are you planning to do? Because if you need—”
“I don’t need anything. I already told you—I’m keeping it.”
He frowned. “I don’t know what you thought I was about to say. And I don’t want to know. However, if you had let me finish, I was going to ask if I could help with your medical expenses.”
He wanted only the best for her and their baby. Her vehement devotion to keeping their baby struck him. How had she become so attached and protective in such a short amount of time? It must be different for mothers, because he was still struggling to wrap his mind around the whole baby issue. A baby. His baby. It still didn’t feel real.
Curious about her acceptance of the situation, he asked, “How long have you known that you are pregnant?”
“I told you—I found out this week.” She turned and started walking again, farther from the resort.
That’s right. He vaguely remembered her mentioning it earlier that day, but he’d been too shocked for it to stick. “If it’s all new to you, how can you be so certain you want this baby? It’s going to change your entire world. Nothing will be the same.”
“The timing might not be the best, but I always hoped that someday I’d be a mother.” Her hand moved to her abdomen. Then, as though she realized what she was doing, she lowered her hand to her side. “But I understand that just because I feel this way doesn’t mean you feel the same way. And...and I’m okay with that. We can say our goodbyes and—”
“Hold on. I didn’t say anything about saying goodbye.” She was the mother of his baby—the Stravos heir. Like it or not, their lives were intricately entwined.
She turned to him, her eyes flashing with surprise. “So this means that you, um...want to be involved with the baby?”
That’s what surprised her? “It is my baby—”
“Our baby.”
He was going to have to work on that. He wasn’t used to sharing anything with anyone. As an only child, he hadn’t had the luxury of a sibling. As an adult, he’d never ventured into a committed relationship. So sharing was a new concept to him, but he would excel at it just like he did with everything he tackled in the boardroom. And by the stubborn look on Sofia’s face, he didn’t have any choice in the matter.
“How can you be so sure that being a mother at this stage in your life is the right thing to do?”
She glanced at him. “You really want to know?”
There was so much about her he wanted to know, but this was a good starting point. “Is it wrong for me to be curious?”
“No. But I’ll warn you, it isn’t what you’re thinking. I don’t want the baby because of who its father is. I want this baby for itself.”
The conviction in her voice had him wanting to believe her. But could he trust her? “You still didn’t answer the question.”
She sighed. “It all started when I met who I thought was the most wonderful guy. He was cute and charming. In fact, he ticked all of the boxes in what I thought I wanted in a man. He was a hard worker with a bright future in his uncle’s construction firm.”
“I take it he wasn’t all you thought he’d be?”
She shook her head. “At the time, I worked as a housekeeper at the Glamour Hotel in New York. A lot of times our schedules didn’t line up, so we’d go long stretches without seeing each other. As time went on, he seemed to work longer and longer hours.”
Niko could relate with her ex. It was easy to get caught up in one’s work. He did it all the time. But something told him there was more to Sofia’s story than she’d revealed so far.
“My family immediately loved Bobby. My mother was anxious to plan a wedding, and at the time I thought it was what I wanted, as well.”
“Families sometimes have the best of intentions, but they aren’t always right.”
“Are you referring to your grandfather?”
Niko nodded. “He sounds a lot like your mother, except for the part about planning a wedding. That would have never happened.”
“Because he believed it’s women’s work?”
“No. Because it would have taken time away from his work.”
“Anyway, when Bobby was home, he was too tired to spend quality time with me. My mother, with her eye on the wedding ring, assured me all was fine. Couples got busy, and we just had to work extra hard to find time to spend together. So I gave up my apartment and moved in with him.”
Not that Niko wasn’t interested in her background, but he suddenly felt as though this conversation was going much deeper than he’d ever anticipated. The more she opened up to him, the closer they became and the harder it would be for him to keep his distance. “But what does any of this have to do with you wanting a baby at this stage?”
She frowned at him. “I’m getting to it if you’ll just give me a minute.”
“Sorry.” He wasn’t. He didn’t want to get caught up in her sticky details. He didn’t want to empathize with her. He didn’t want any entanglements, but he supposed with a baby on the way they would be forever entangled.
“I was certain moving in together would fix things. And it did. At first. Then things fell back into a busy routine. He started working all hours of the day and night, including weekends. It was ridiculous.”
“Well, business isn’t always conducted between nine and five, you know.”
She stopped and planted her hands on her hips. “Who’s telling this story?”
Had she really just admonished him? He wasn’t used to this. At the office, people cowered in his presence. Not that he’d done anything to warrant such a reaction. He supposed it was the legacy his grandfather had left him. That man had been a force to be reckoned with. His grandfather had made grown men quake in their boots with just a look.
“I was just trying to explain.” When Sofia sent him an Are you done yet? look, he added, “Okay. Continue.”
“Bobby promised it would get better. He said we’d have the rest of our lives together. He just needed some time to work on his career while I cooked, cleaned and did his laundry. He was too busy for those things.” She sighed. “This went on for a while, and then I got pregnant. Bobby was excited. We got engaged. He started spending more time at home, and he expected me to be there.