25. Kitty

25

KITTY

O ut of everyone who came through for me after the explosive argument between me and my parents, I didn’t expect it to be Paul.

I always thought he was so far up my father’s ass that there was no way he could see the light. But I was pleasantly surprised when he awkwardly came to check on me. I’d jokingly told him the only thing that would make me feel better was getting a letter to Rook after my father stole my phone, and Paul had agreed.

I thought he’d been joking at first, but with no other way to contact anyone, it was my only hope. And when Paul returned the next day to tell me he’d delivered the letter to Melanie and that if I needed anything else I was just to ask, I was even more surprised.

I thought Paul hated Rook as much as he disliked me. I was wrong. I’d mistaken indifference for dislike, and now, with everything utterly ruined, it seemed Paul had a heart.

He even snuck my phone back when he caught me sneaking out of my room to go and meet Rook. I didn’t know what his endgame was. Maybe Paul didn’t have any. Maybe he was trying to help.

Either way, it was thanks to him that I was able to meet up with Rook the next day in the small café just across from the seamstress shop. He was seated at the back when I arrived, tapping the table with his fingertips, and a shredded napkin lay a few inches to his left. I’d never known him to show any anxious tics but it excited me a little. Was this how he felt when we were apart?

Maybe I wasn’t the only one insanely obsessed.

“Rook?”

Rook’s head snapped up, and then he surged upward and dragged me into a tight hug. I closed my eyes and sank into his embrace, clutching at his shirt while breathing in his familiar, calming scents of soap and coffee.

“Kitty. Oh, my God.”

He hugged me so tight that my bones creaked, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to imprint this feeling against me forever.

“I’m okay.”

“I was so worried.” His chin rested on top of my head, then I felt the press of his lips before he stepped back and gripped my shoulders. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I smiled weakly. “I can handle my parents.”

“Can you?” His frown deepened as we sat. “Melanie worried me when she said you didn’t text her back.”

“My dad took my phone.”

“Shit.”

“It’s okay. Paul got it back for me.”

“Paul?” Rook was as shocked as I was, and I nodded. “He was actually who got my letter out of the house.”

“Son of a bitch,” Rook muttered, his eyes darting back and forth. “I thought he hated me.”

“Same. Guess I pegged him wrong. But that doesn’t matter now. Rook.” I sucked in a deep breath and leaned onto the table. “I have something to tell you.”

“Me first.” Rook smiled nervously. “Kitty… your parents’ finding out was inevitable, I know that. But there are things in motion now that I didn’t fully consider, and I just need to make sure you understand everything.”

My heart began to sink. What was he saying? Was he about to break up with me?

A clammy sweat broke out over my palms and I pressed my hands together, chewing on my lower lip. “Rook.”

“Kitty, we have to think about this seriously. What we were doing when we were together…” He sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, then puffed out his cheeks. “Our being together is a huge risk.”

“I don’t care,” I replied quickly. “Honestly, Rook. I don’t. My parents can’t do anything. I’m an adult and I know what I want.”

“Kitty, I could go to prison.”

“What the fuck ?” My heart punched up into my throat. “I’m twenty-six. What do you mean, you could go to prison?”

“Not that.” Rook snorted softly. “What I did with you while I was in the employ of your father could be considered a breach of contract, and if he decided to go down the route and sue me, then I have no defense. I did what I did.”

Oh, no.

I hadn’t fully considered that and now, suddenly, I was facing the prospect of Rook being taken from me because my father was an asshole. If he thought it would keep us apart, he would do it. I knew he would.

“And I could go away for a long time. I don’t have the funds to fight against someone like the mayor .” Rook groaned. “So it might… it might be best if you stay away from me.”

“ What? ” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A small part of me understood Rook’s perspective, but a larger part of me, the part that was insatiably in love with this man, only saw the possibility of losing him.

“Believe me, I say this from a place of love, Kitty, because I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m also not saying I don’t want to be with you, but if your father takes that route, then I don’t want you to be shackled to a man who?—”

“I’m pregnant.”

Those two words burst out of me like gas, and it didn’t even sound like my voice to my own ears. I glanced around briefly, trying to locate the source before I realized I was the source.

Rook was deadly silent, staring at me with his face frozen mid-speech.

Did I really say that?

On the way over here, I’d rehearsed how to reveal this to Rook. It was the main thing I wanted to talk about because I had no idea how he felt about me and in my mind, this was the make or break reveal.

I hadn’t even considered his contract.

“And… I think I love you. No, I know I love you. I realized it a little while ago, and maybe it was always there, and okay, I don’t know what to do about my father or your contract or anything like that, but I love you and I’m pregnant and I want… I don’t know what I want, but I just have to say it.”

“What?” Rook finally unfroze. “You’re…” His eyes dropped to the table as if he could see my abdomen through the wood. “You’re pregnant ?”

“It’s yours, by the way,” I added hurriedly. The longer Rook sat there, the hotter my body became. A prickling sweat washed over my skin, making my T-shirt stick to my back, and suddenly, it was as if I were in a hundred-degree heat rather than the middle of winter.

“You’re pregnant,” Rook repeated slowly.

“The hospital called at the dress fitting and I… I was going to tell you then, but then we y’know, and then my mom…” I trailed off, quickly deflating.

This was it. Rook was surely working out how to let me down gently. How to tell me there was no way he wanted a woman and a kid. Hell, maybe he’d even cart himself off to prison to avoid me.

My thoughts spiraled as my heart raced and emotion began to build behind my eyes.

“Kitty,” Rook choked out, and then he smiled the widest smile I’d ever seen across his handsome face. “Oh, my God!”

Rook darted out of his chair so fast that it fell backward with a clatter, and he swept me right off mine and into his arms.

“This is amazing!” Rook kissed me deeply, panting slightly against my lips, and then he kissed every inch of my face he could reach. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God, this is amazing. This is… I’m going to be a dad!”

A few other people in the café cheered softly at Rook’s words, and he utterly smothered me in kisses.

“You’re not mad?” I gasped as excitement burst through my body like the spark of a firework. Wave after wave of hot shivers ran down my arms.

“Mad?” Rook gasped. “No! This is…” He cupped my face and stared right into my eyes. “Kitty. I love you too. I think I always did, and I just buried it because how could someone like you love someone like me? I love you, so fucking much. And this?”

Rook set me down and in the same breath, he dropped to his knees and grasped my waist.

“Our baby.”

I laughed, and tears welled up hot and fat in my eyes. “Yes,” I gasped, my heart hammering fiercely as if it was trying to escape me and leap right into Rook’s arms. “Our baby.”

“I take back what I said.” He looked up at me, and tears sparkled in his own eyes. “I don’t give a shit what Samuel does. I will fight it, you hear me? I won’t leave you. I promise. I promise .”

He pressed a few kisses to my abdomen, then surged back up to kiss me full on the mouth. Our tears mingled, and further calls of congratulations rose up around us.

Holy shit, thank God .

I stayed with Rook for as long as I dared, but as the world started to darken, I knew I had to make it back home before anyone noticed I was missing. It was difficult to leave Rook when we couldn’t keep our hands off one another, but eventually, we parted on the edge of town and I snuck back to the manor.

I needed to get something for Paul. A decent bottle of whiskey or whatever his choice of drink was.

My steps felt lighter. In fact, my entire body felt lighter now that Rook knew the truth. It had been too easy for me to get lost in scenarios where Rook rejected me. We’d never discussed a life together, or children, so it would be understandable. He was a lot older and had lived much more than I had. I had even envisioned him telling me that he’d only been in this for the sex.

I had never been happier to be wrong.

Approaching the edge of the estate, I pulled my coat tighter around my body and tried to fight off the waves of cold piercing through my clothes.

How could it be this cold and yet not a single flake had fallen from the sky? It was the one thing holding my festive joy at bay because it just didn’t feel like Christmas without the white blanket everywhere.

Although the joy of being loved by the man I loved and carrying his baby were pretty good consolation prizes.

Just as I reached the back gate I had snuck through behind the old shed, a shadow melted out of the darkness and grabbed my arm. I screamed so loudly that my throat ached.

“Kitty!” said a familiar voice. “It’s me! Calm down!”

Snatching my arm away, I peered at the stranger and then rolled my eyes. “Holy shit, Anton. You scared the crap out of me! What are you even doing here?”

“I came to see you. We haven’t heard from you in ages.”

“Oh.” Trying to brush off the fright, I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’ve been busy. Wait, how did you get in here?”

“The back fence.” Anton jutted his head behind him.

A shiver crawled down my spine. Rook’s security alarm should have caught Anton sneaking onto the property, but I quickly realized that Paul might have shut it off so I could sneak back in without issue.

“Well, why are you here? If you want to invade another meeting, everything’s on pause until after Christmas, so there’s nothing we can do.”

“Oh.” Anton smirked. “Well, you see, I have a plan.”

“Which is?”

“Well, that would be telling. I need you to get me into the manor.”

I scoffed and took a step away. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not letting you into my home at this time of night. Look, I told you, there’s nothing for us to disrupt until after?—”

My words died as Anton surged forward and slammed his hand so hard into my throat that my entire stomach somersaulted. I immediately crumpled to the ground, and he stood over me, bringing his face very close to my ear as I choked.

“You mistake my intention, Kitty. I wasn’t asking .”