Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3)(60)

“I can’t believe it,” he muttered after taking another swallow.

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing. It’s a boy, did I tell you that?”

“No, but that’s cool. Maybe he’ll play ball like us. So, how about you stop drinking now? It’s time to put away whatever you’ve got.”

Hudson pictured the crib he’d built in the nursery at Ellie’s. “I’m going to love my son.”

“You will.”

“Doesn’t matter that I’m not ready for him—or that this isn’t the ideal situation.”

“Exactly,” Bruiser said. “You’ll do what your parents didn’t. Rise to the occasion. I’m convinced of that. But you have the money and you have the time. Maybe they had neither.”

That could be true. But could anyone be justified in treating a baby like garbage? Couldn’t they at least have taken him to a fire station or a hospital? Why hadn’t they?

That was the question, what he was dying to know. If his mother lived in Beverly Hills, she’d most likely had access to money or to family who had money.

Hudson wanted to explain that, but after he heard Bruiser say, “If you could cut them some slack, maybe the rejection you feel wouldn’t hurt so badly,” he lost track of the conversation. Or he might’ve passed out, because the next thing he knew, the sun was shooting daggers through the blinds, stabbing him in the eyes, and his head felt like it was about to explode.





16

Ellie stretched as she woke up. She’d slept the entire night, hadn’t had to get up once. All her flu symptoms were gone and her stomach felt normal. “Finally!”

She kicked off the covers and hurried out of the bedroom to get something to eat—she was happy to think she might actually enjoy a meal—but stopped halfway to the kitchen. This wasn’t just another Tuesday when she’d head over to the lab as soon as she’d eaten and showered. Her colleagues didn’t know she was out of the hospital, weren’t expecting her quite yet, anyway. But now she had to quit her job, say goodbye to Amy and her work associates, pack her bags and close up her house.

Should she call her parents, too? Was it time to tell them she was pregnant?

No. She’d planned to wait until she was seven months, and she’d stick with that. She couldn’t handle telling them today, not on top of everything else—especially because she’d also have to tell them she was moving to California so her son could live near his father, who happened to be the star quarterback for the Los Angeles Devils. Since they’d heard about Don’s relationship with Leo and her broken engagement, but nothing beyond that, they’d be shocked about the baby. Shocked that she was giving up her postdoc and moving out to the opposite coast. Shocked that she’d somehow gotten intimately involved with a man she’d never even dated.

She wasn’t looking forward to explaining how that had occurred. Until she was absolutely certain she’d be staying in California, there was no point in having that conversation, anyway. She’d probably wind up back in Miami. She had no guarantee that she’d like California, that she’d be able to adapt to it or that Hudson would remain interested in their child. Once she got out there, he could decide he missed his old life and ask her to leave.

Imagining that convinced her it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit longer to tell her parents—when she felt more stable and confident in the direction she was taking.

When she’d had some scrambled eggs and toast, she pulled out her laptop and settled at the kitchen table to compose her resignation letter. Leaving the BDC wasn’t easy. But every time she felt she shouldn’t do it, couldn’t quit, she came to the conclusion that she really didn’t have any choice. She couldn’t be as committed as they needed her to be right now. They had so many great things going on. And a job with such long hours wouldn’t be ideal for the baby.

After she’d finished writing her email, she reread it several times before summoning the nerve to send it.

After it was gone, she closed her laptop and buried her face in her arms. “I hope I haven’t just destroyed everything I’ve built so far,” she mumbled. She knew how hard it was going to be when she went in to gather her things and say goodbye...

Amy came over at lunch to see how she was doing and helped Ellie choose what to take with her. She insisted Ellie pack the dress she’d worn to Envy, but Ellie knew how impractical that was. Most of her clothes wouldn’t fit in another month or two—and that dress would be one of the first things she’d have to put away.

“It could come in handy after you have the baby,” Amy said when Ellie almost returned it to her closet. “He lives a more glamorous lifestyle than you do. You’ll have to quit being so practical and spend some money on clothes if you plan to keep up with him.”

But she didn’t plan to keep up with him. He might not even want her to...

Rather than argue, Ellie shrugged and closed her suitcase. “Why not? Doesn’t take up much room.”

“You don’t agree that you might need it?” Amy said.

“I’m not sure what I’ll need.” At least with Hudson paying her five thousand a month, she could buy a few things when she arrived in California. Shopping would give her something to do, since she would no longer be happily immersed in trying to help Dr. Towers bring her innovative islet cell encapsulation technique to clinical trials. As she’d told Hudson, she liked to read, liked to research. There’d never been a time when she hadn’t been pursuing some new academic goal.