1105 Yakima Street - Debbie Macomber [35]
“I’d like to remind you that I didn’t go behind your back. You, on the other hand,” he began, then floundered for words and finished with, “did.”
Gloria stared openmouthed at the two of them. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” Roy sat back in his recliner and snatched up the paper. It crackled as he jerked it open to the page he was supposedly reading.
“Not a thing,” Corrie told her, resuming her cooking.
Gloria noticed that her mother’s hands trembled and she had to pause, drawing in a deep breath.
“Maybe I should go,” Gloria said, fearing she was about to get caught in the undertow of whatever was wrong between them. Their disagreement was obviously something neither Roy nor Corrie wanted to discuss in front of her.
“Don’t, please,” Corrie said, and to Gloria’s astonishment, her mother’s eyes were bright with unshed tears.
Sliding off the stool, she walked around the counter and hugged her. Corrie felt small and fragile in her arms.
“Your father’s never forgiven me for not telling him about you until we were almost married. Unfortunately, it’s still a…a problem between us, even after all these years.”
“And I refuse to let history repeat itself,” Roy said. He tossed the paper aside and returned to the kitchen. “Have you told Chad about the baby?”
Gloria bristled. “No, and I don’t intend to…at least, not yet.” She felt that when she did tell him, she should know her own intentions. Adoption remained a viable option.
“Even after everything I’ve said.”
Gloria didn’t respond. She didn’t feel she had to make any decisions right that minute.
“I think you should tell our daughter what you did,” Corrie said angrily.
“Fine, I will.”
“Tell me what?” Gloria asked, looking from Roy to Corrie and back again.
“Sweetheart,” Corrie said, reaching for Gloria’s hands. “Chad knows about the baby.”
The words went through Gloria with the force of a blow torch.
Gloria jerked her hands free of her mother’s. “Who told him?” Although she asked the question, she already knew the answer.
“I did.” Roy stepped forward and confronted her face-to-face. “You can hate me if you want, but I wasn’t going to let what happened to me happen to another man, especially if that man’s the father of my grandchild.”
Gloria felt the sudden need to sit down.
“Furthermore…”
“What else is there?” She wondered what other betrayal he was about to hit her with.
“Those books you’re reading didn’t come from Mack or Mary Jo.”
“Chad?”
“Yes,” Roy admitted.
“He gave them to you?”
“He asked me to deliver them, but Mack offered and Chad decided that might be best.”
She drew in a deep breath. “In other words, he didn’t want to give them to me himself.”
“Can you blame him?” Roy asked, none too gently. “You’ve hidden this from him for months. What did you expect?”
“Does he know the doctor wants to do an ultrasound?”
“Yes, Mack mentioned it.”
So Chad knew she was pregnant. She’d wanted to tell him, felt he had a right to know—and then she’d learned he was involved with someone else. The situation was complicated enough without adding another person. She’d concluded that it was better to wait until her own plans were clear. Only when she’d made a decision about the baby would she contact him. Telling him now seemed premature.
Her father disagreed with her, and he felt strongly enough to go behind her back.
“Gloria,” Corrie whispered. “I’m so sorry. I did everything I could to talk your father out of this.”
Gloria looked at Roy, who stared belligerently back at her.
“What…what did Chad say? When you told him, I mean.” She could barely get the question out.
“At first he was surprised.”
“And later?”
“Angry.” Roy didn’t try to soften the word. “Who wouldn’t be? He has a right to know he’s going to be a father.”
“Is…is he still seeing…her?” If Gloria had known the other woman’s name she’d forgotten it. As it was, she tried not to think about Chad at all, let alone Chad with that lovely blonde.
“You’ll have to ask him,” Roy said shortly.
The phone rang and for a moment everyone ignored