Author's Note: Rough seas for a couple of chapters yet… just hang in there. Thank you for all of the reviews and follows. Truly madly deeply appreciated. ~Iz
Chapter 15
Kelly parked the car and checked his hair in the rear view. He shook his head as he got out of the car. He locked the door and started walking toward the park. After three months of silence, Parker had finally called. She had asked to meet him back at Jackson Park. She wouldn't tell him what it was about. He saw her waiting at the park entrance. She had her jacket drawn around her to protect her from the wind. He approached her.
"Hi," he said as he looked her over.
"Hi."
She looked awful. Dark circles rimmed her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept. He could tell she had been crying but was trying to hide it. He waited patiently for her to say something.
"I'm pregnant, Kelly."
He sucked in a breath and then blew it out. He had been down this road before.
"And before you ask, it is yours. You're the only one I've slept with for the past 6 months. I'm sure you don't believe me because I'm sure some other woman has tried to trap you by getting pregnant. I'm not going to do that. I just wanted to let you know."
Kelly stared at her for a long minute. His mind flashed back to Renee. She had been pregnant, and she had told him it was his. Only Shay's careful pointing out that the conception and due dates didn't match up did he start to wonder. After he asked her about it, she had confessed to a one night stand and that the baby wasn't his.
"You know I'm going to want DNA," he said quietly.
"And you'll get it. Right after I sign the adoption papers."
His mouth dropped open. How could she just drop a second bomb on him?
"If this is my baby, there is no way in Hell I'm going to let you put him or her up for adoption," he said quietly and evenly, trying to not let his temper explode.
"You forget, my baby too. I can't raise a baby by myself."
"If this is my baby, I'll do everything I am supposed to do," he said evenly. He glanced at her and blew out a breath. "You are some piece of work, Parker."
He shook his head and walked away in disgust. He fished out his phone and pulled up the internet. He was going to have to hire a lawyer.
"She told me she's gonna give the baby up for adoption," Kelly said as he sipped his coffee. "I told her that if it was my baby too, there was no way in Hell I was going to let her give him or her up for adoption."
"Kelly, I'm not defending Parker here. Please don't think that. When a woman finds out she's pregnant and she's not married, her first instincts are fear and panic," Mary Alice said.
"And you know this how, Mary Alice?" Kelly asked. "Because you're older and wiser?"
"I'm not as innocent as you think, Kelly."
Kelly studied Parker's Grandmother. Even though she was 92, she didn't act like he thought 92 year olds should act. She was still with it mentally, and physically. She still lived on her own, did her own cooking, cleaning and household chores. She and Parker went to one Cubs game a month during baseball season and one Blackhawks game a month during hockey season. She also went to the Moose club on Thursday nights to play Bingo. She was an amazing woman.
Kelly looked at her, his eyes wide. "Mary Alice. You weren't?"
She nodded. "Philip and I got married in April and John was born in November. Parker doesn't know. She thinks he was premature. That was the story we all told at the time. Because we all had home births and medical care back then wasn't what it is now, we got away with it. Just don't be too hard on Parker. She's upset, scared, and hormonal. I'm sure she will settle down once the shock wears off."
"I hope you're right, Mary Alice. I truly hope you are right."