Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3)(49)

Although it wasn’t the smoothest of exits, they said their goodbyes and managed to squeeze past Don and Leo, but Ellie wasn’t happy to see them go. Now she was alone with her ex and his lover.

*

When Hudson heard voices, he paused outside Ellie’s room. He expected to identify the men as doctors or nurses, but he soon figured out that they weren’t.

“It’s because you’re holding a grudge. Otherwise, you’d see the sense in this.”

“I said no, Don. I’m not interested.” This came from Ellie.

“How can you be so sure?” Don asked.

“Because I’ve already made the decision.”

“You’re going to raise the baby alone.” This voice belonged to someone other than Don, a second male.

“Yes.” Ellie again. “And there’s nothing wrong with that. I plan to do everything I can to be a good mother.”

“Why tackle this by yourself when Leo and I would like to help? We can give this child two parents. And we’d never restrict you from seeing the baby. You could be a big part of his life.”

Ellie began to sound exasperated. “I appreciate that, but like I said, I’m not interested.”

Hudson almost walked in then, but the way Don lowered his voice made him pause again.

“You must’ve figured out by now that Hudson King’s never going to take an interest. He probably has illegitimate children scattered across the US.”

“You don’t even know Hudson!”

Hudson was more than a little surprised that Ellie would stand up for him.

“You’re naive if you think different,” Don continued. “It was a one-night stand, Ellie. You’ve admitted as much.”

“Please, I’m not feeling well,” she said. “Can you go so I can get some rest?”

“Ellie, just let me say one thing.” This was the second male again—Leo. “I’ve been trying to let Don handle this. I understand that you can’t feel too good toward me, but—”

“You think I feel any better toward him?” Ellie broke in.

“I’m trying to apologize! I’m sorry for the pain we put you through, but don’t let that make you miss a great opportunity.”

“Since when did a baby become an opportunity?” she cried.

“Since you got pregnant with Hudson King’s child!” This came from Leo, too—and made Hudson stiffen in anger. “Do you know how many baby-hungry parents would be eager to adopt his son? How much you could get for a baby with those genes?”

“Stop talking about money!” she snapped. “You’re upsetting me.”

“Leo, let me handle this,” Don said. “What Leo means to say is that you might make a lot of money, but you’d never know how the child’s being treated if you go in that direction. You wouldn’t be part of the child’s life. But if you go with us, you’ll make the $80,000 we would’ve paid for a surrogate and an attorney and you’d get to watch the child grow up. It would almost be like...the three of us had a child.”

Hudson couldn’t tolerate any more. Shoving a hand through his hair in one final attempt to get it to lie down, he strode into the room. “Hey,” he said when Ellie’s guests turned to gape at him.

After setting the last of his milkshake on the tray—he’d gone to eat, since he hadn’t had the chance to finish his burgers before the ultrasound—he held out his hand. “I’m Hudson King.”

A slender man, several inches shorter with hair dyed black and styled like Elvis Presley’s, reached out to shake with him. “Don White.”

“Ellie’s ex-fiancé.” Hudson couldn’t help squeezing his hand a little tighter than normal.

Ellie spoke up. “Yes. And this is his partner, Leo Stubner.”

Leo was far more attractive. Even Hudson could see that. He was as thin as his partner but had a model’s chiseled features.

“Nice to meet you.” Hudson gave his hand a shake—harder than necessary, too—and started herding them toward the door. “I’m sure Ellie appreciates the visit, but she needs her rest now. So...if you wouldn’t mind.”

“No, of course.” Don tried to look around Hudson at Ellie. “We’ll talk more later, okay?”

Hudson didn’t wait for her reply. “Not about my baby, you won’t.”

Don shot Leo a surprised glance that Leo returned with equal surprise. “You must’ve heard...”

“Listen, I can explain,” Leo cut in. “We know you probably aren’t too excited about this...surprising turn of events, considering how...how everything came to pass. So we’re offering to step in. Ellie can vouch for the fact that we’d be great parents. And we’d sign anything you require to make sure you never had to worry about child support. We have solid jobs, will take excellent care of this baby.”

“It’ll be like the pregnancy never happened,” Don added. “You’ll be able to return to Los Angeles and get on with your life.”

“Sounds great,” Hudson said. “Except for one thing. I’m happy I’m going to be a father. Oh, and since you were speculating, this will be my first.”

“You—” Don started but Hudson didn’t let him finish.