Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(102)
Connor felt like he was going to be sick. He shook his head and rubbed his hand over his eyes. “Oh no…. no, no, no….” He sighed. “I’m so sorry.” He fell back against his chair and buried his face in both of his hands, rubbing his fingers over his forehead and temples.
“I can’t believe she came here and talked to Deborah. That is just about the worst thing that could possibly happen.”
Reggie shook his head slowly. “Nope. No sir, Mr. James, that is not the worst thing that could possibly happen.”
Connor dropped his hands from his face and looked at Reggie in confusion. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” He sat up a little in his chair. “What’s worse than her meeting Deborah and Deborah lying to her?”
Reggie frowned in surprise. “Lying to her? What do you mean lying to her?”
Connor shook his head. “I’ll explain that later, first, what are you talking about? What’s worse?”
Reggie pursed his lips for a moment and then breathed out the truth. “Cat’s pregnant,” he said simply, his eyes locked on Connor. He was going to know how Connor really felt about it before he let Cat talk to him. He knew that it was Cat’s right to talk to him about it, and she was probably going to be mad at him for telling Connor before she got a chance to tell him, but Reggie was anxious to protect her from another fall if Connor didn’t care about her being pregnant.
He could see right away that Connor cared. Connor cared a great deal. He leapt forward in his chair, his hands flat on his desktop, his eyes wide with panic as his heart nearly beat itself right out of his chest, and he stared at Reggie.
“What? She’s… she’s pregnant?” he gasped in utter astonishment.
Reggie nodded and kept his eyes on Connor. “Yeah. She thinks she got pregnant while you two were in Springfield.”
“She’s pregnant….” he whispered, the shock arresting him as he fell back against his chair and stared off into space. He mouthed the word and no sound came from him, and then he said it again in a barely audible whisper. “….pregnant?”
Reggie had long been over the shock himself, but it was still weird for him to think of her as being pregnant. His eyes stayed on Connor.
Connor shook his head and then leaned forward again toward Reggie. “Is she alright? Is she okay? Does she need anything?” Realization and panic had set in, and all he had in his mind and heart were questions.
Reggie nodded. “Well, that’s a matter of perspective, really. Physically, she's okay. She’s healthy and she isn’t doing too bad; no morning sickness or anything, so that’s alright, but she is going through a really tough time right now, and that’s why I’m here sitting in front of
you, telling you everything.”
Connor’s brow lowered in concern. “What do you mean, she’s going through a tough time?
What’s wrong? I mean… other than the obvious issue that she’s pregnant?”
Reggie sighed. “Well, for starters, she got told off by your fiancée, and you’ll excuse me, but I know your fiancée, and that woman is a cold hearted bitch. I can’t figure out how you would want to marry her and leave Cat, but whatever; everyone has their own standards, or none at all.” He eyed Connor and then continued. “So there’s that, which is making her miserable, and then there’s her dad.”
Connor shook his head. “Deborah is not my fiancée, so please stop calling her that.”
Reggie looked at him in surprise. “She isn’t?” he asked incredulously.
Connor shook his head. “No, she isn’t, but I will explain that later. What about Cat’s dad? What’s going on?”
Reggie tipped his head to the side as he tried to explain without making Harold sound like a monster. “Well, Mr. Marshall is pretty upset about the baby, and he’s really pissed about you being with his daughter, so he told her that she has to leave this school and go finish her classes up somewhere else, and graduate from another school, so that’s really upsetting to her because she started here and she wanted to finish here, but he’s just not going to let her do it. Then, he’s not having the pregnancy. He’s not going to change his mind about that. He told her that she has to get an abortion and focus on school and graduate.”
Connor’s heart flew into his throat. “NO! No!” he shouted, standing up out of his chair. “She didn’t get an abortion, did she? Am I too late?” he asked anxiously, his eyes wide and his heart racing.
Reggie stood up as well, sliding his hands into his jean pockets. “No, Mr. James, she hasn’t had the abortion yet. She doesn’t want to; she was thinking she would rather give the baby up for adoption, but she is in a tight spot right now. You see, her father is really the only support she has because she lives at home with him, and he is paying her way through school and giving her a place to live and you know… taking care of her.
“He’s all she has, besides me, and I’m still living at home with my mom, so I’m not really able to help her either, especially since neither of us has graduated yet. We don’t graduate till spring. So, he told her that she has to have an abortion or get out of his house, and she has nowhere to go.
“She feels like he is going to force her to do it, and she will have to let the baby go, except she doesn’t want to. What she really wants is to keep the baby, because she’s grown kind of attached to the idea that she gets to carry your kid and have some small part of you and the love that you two shared, and that’s important to her, so she’s definitely against the abortion, but she is also struggling with giving the baby up for adoption, which she thinks is the only viable option since she has no way to take care of a baby.