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The woman just watched her.
    "Why can't I do this?" Emmy straightened her shoulders. "Thanks to the success of my bakery, I've paid off all of my student loans. I can afford to buy a house. As for spending time with the baby, I can train someone to be a manager so I can be home more. Compared to a lot of women, I'm more than capable of raising a child."
    Mary Lou nodded. "You'll also have a good babysitter who'll look after the kid for free while you're busting your ass making all of those cupcakes."
    "Who?" She blinked.
    "Duh." Mary Lou elbowed her. "Me."
    "You'd really watch the baby while I'm at the bakery?" Emmy stared at her, eyes wide.
    "Who else is going to teach the kid the really important things?" Mary Lou asked.
    Emmy gave her a sour look.
    "Well, besides you, of course," Mary Lou said quickly.
    She was so touched tears welled in her eyes. "Thank you."
    "Oh, jeez, don't you start crying." Mary Lou shook her head. "If you cry, then I'll start to cry too. Damn, look, I've started already."
    Sure enough, the woman's dark brown eyes were looking a little red. Emmy sniffed and fought down her own overwhelming emotions. At least now she knew that she had an ally in all of this. After all, she had no way of knowing how angry her parents would be, but she knew they weren't going to be dancing for joy. And as for Sebastian…Well, she'd have to be a fool to even consider the fact that he'd try to help her.
    "Thank you for being so cool about all of this." She took a deep breath. "I had no idea how I was going to handle this situation on my own."
    "But what about the father, Mr. Hero?" Mary Lou was still fanning her face, trying to blow away the tears. "He did help you out that day. Who's to say that he won't help you now?"
    "He might want to help a bit, but I can't see him being overly committed," she said. "Saving a woman from being hit by a car and raising a baby are two completely different things. I don't even want to think about counting on his help."
    "You are going to tell him, though, right?" Mary Lou asked.
    She chewed her bottom lip. "Well, yeah."
    "You don't sound like you're really going to do it." Mary Lou gave her a scolding look. "You sound like you're going to puss out."
    "I'll tell him," she said. "I just don't know when yet."
    "What's there to question? Tell him right away." Mary Lou asked. "The longer you wait, the harder it'll be. All you've got to do is march down to that man's place, knock on his door, and say, 'Surprise, you're going to be a father.'"
    She winced. "Shouldn't I be a little more diplomatic about it? It's not as though I'm telling him that he's won a free trip to the car wash. I'm telling a man that he's going to be a father."
    "It's better if you do it fast." Mary Lou patted her hand. "That's how I always told Henry I was pregnant."
    Henry was Mary Lou's now-deceased husband. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Mary Lou had gotten pregnant several times, she'd always miscarried.
    "You didn't get pregnant until you were married," she said, exasperated. Despite Mary Lou's exotic behavior, she'd been married for fifty years to the same man. 
    "A pregnant woman is a pregnant woman." Mary Lou shrugged. "It still means there's an extra mouth to feed. The first time I ended up pregnant, my husband was in college. He about crapped his pants in horror when he heard."
    The color drained out of her face.
    Mary Lou winced when she saw her expression. "I'm not helping at all, am I?"
    "Not really, no." She shook her head.
    "I was always about as comforting as the plague," Mary Lou said. "Still, I stand by what I said. You need to go to that man's place as soon as possible and tell him the news. What he does after that you have no control over."
    Emmy batted her eyes hopefully. "Think you can do it for me?"
    "Ha-ha. You wish." Mary Lou smirked. "No way would I want to be in your shoes."
    "You really are as comforting as the plague." Emmy stood up, prepared to leave.
    "Told you so," Mary Lou