Read Having My Baby for Free Online

her shoulders. “There,” he said. “That’s the way I remember you.”
    “Derrick, stop it.” She pushed his hands away.
    “It’s been a long time. I just need to look at you for a moment. I want to thank you for coming all this way. You were always there for me, Maggie. When I needed a friend, somebody to talk to…it was always you.”
    “You give me too much credit. You had your family and—”
    Before she could finish her sentence, he leaned forward and covered her mouth with his, her words disappearing on his lips. Instead of passion-filled bliss, he felt a thunk against his shin when she kicked him.
    “What the hell is going on?”
    Derrick recognized the voice as Aaron’s. He pivoted to his right just in time to take a fist to the face.
    Derrick staggered backwards before regaining his balance. He raised a hand to the side of his face. “Impressive. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
    Aaron looked wildly at Maggie, ignoring Derrick altogether. “I told you he was still in love with you, but you didn’t want to believe me. Tell her,” Aaron said, turning back to Derrick. “Tell her you love her. Tell her the truth.”
    One corner of Derrick’s mouth tilted upward. “I don’t have to tell her anything.”
    “Come on,” Aaron said, taking Maggie’s arm. “Let’s go. And you,” he said, turning to Derrick. “Get a new lawyer because this is the last you’re going to see of us.”
    As she was led away by his friend, the guy he used to call his brother, Derrick looked at Maggie. Her eyes had a lost, sad look to them.
    His hand fisted. He was angry with Aaron, but also angry with himself for not using more self-control. What the hell was wrong with him ?
     
    That same night Derrick sat in his big empty home and, for the first time since purchasing the eight thousand square foot hulk of a house two years earlier, he wondered what he’d been thinking. He had a big home, nice cars, everything people talked about wanting. He had a career he loved. And yet here he sat, staring out the large paned window, watching the rising tide, and wondering what the hell it was all for? The lights were off but the television was on, giving the room a soft glow and throwing odd-shaped shadows across the walls. He held an ice pack to the left side of his face.
    Kissing Maggie had been a stupid move on his part, and yet if he were given the chance, he’d do it again. Aaron was just as much to blame. Aaron knew how he felt about Maggie. Hell, every guy in Arcadia had felt the same way about her. She was pretty and smart, and she was a flirt. Always had been, always would be. They all liked her, which was exactly the reason why they all took a solemn pledge to never take Maggie too seriously. In plain English: she was off limits.
    Nothing, especially a female, his brothers had all agreed, would ever come between them. But Aaron obviously didn’t understand the meaning of a pledge. After Maggie left for college, they’d all swept their brow with relief. At least he had because he knew then what he knew now: he loved Maggie, and yet he had been willing to give up love over digging a trench between him and his brothers. He thought he’d made the big sacrifice, but now he could see he’d made the worst mistake of his life. He should have gone after Maggie years ago and told her how he felt. He never should have let her out of his sight.
    Derrick let out a groan of frustration. He didn’t want to think about Maggie, or Aaron for that matter. His head pounded, prompting him to shift his thoughts to Ryan Michael Garrison.
    He had a son, a son he had yet to hold.
    On the day Ryan was born, a nurse had tried to place his son in his arms, but he’d made up some lame excuse, telling the nurse he had a scratchy throat and didn’t want to get the baby sick. The truth was he’d been scared, scared to hold his own son. Now that he thought about it though, he was much more frightened by the idea of never getting the chance