Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Yet it was a spectacular house and knowing how much Dad loved it, it would be nice to keep this particular creation in the family.
I just … it was a lot for a twenty-five-year-old bachelor.
Still, I couldn’t help but imagine Callie here. I knew, like I knew myself, that she’d fall head over heels in love with this place.
“I’ll have my solicitor reach out with an offer.” I found myself saying.
Apparently, I was still a hopeless fool for Callie Ironside.
Since I’d taken time out of a working morning to view the house, my intention was to return home and get stuck into projects. It was great not having to be in the office often since the commute was a bugger. I didn’t know how my dad had done it every day, back when working from home wasn’t as popular.
I knew Dad was out with a client, so I could use his office. The other good thing about having my own place was I could use one of the bedrooms as an office, and Dad would get his space back.
Truthfully, I was feeling a bit jittery, which was normal considering I’d called my solicitor ten minutes ago to ask him to put an offer on the house. Without discussing it with anyone. I’d talk to my family later. For now, Mum was working at the preschool and had roped Morwenna into helping there during the summer holidays for extra pocket money.
My parents’ home was one of five built on a parcel of land along the coastline of Caelmore, just outside Ardnoch. It was land owned by my family, and each house was lived in by my aunts and uncles and cousins. There was no excuse for missing Sunday dinners in this family. Some folks might have hated living that close, but I liked it. Whatever the situation called for, I always had an aunt or uncle I could turn to growing up.
As I rode down the country road that led to the homes, I spotted a vehicle in the driveway of my parents’.
One I didn’t recognize.
But as I approached the house, a figure came into view. A person sitting on the front porch.
It didn’t take me long to recognize her, and my pulse quickened as I pulled in beside the white car and watched Callie push up to her feet. I wasted no time getting off the Harley and removing my helmet.
Callie walked down the steps slowly, looking a bit peaky and a lot nervous.
Worry overrode my relief at seeing her. “Callie, what’s wrong?”
She gave me a wan smile. “We … we need to talk.”
My concern was growing by the second. I couldn’t stop glancing over at Callie as she sat on the sofa, twisting her fingers nervously. I’d never seen her so antsy, and the fact that she didn’t look well was freaking me the fuck out.
I brought over the glass of water she’d asked for and sat on the sofa opposite. There were dark circles under her eyes. “Are you sick?” I blurted out, palms sweaty at the thought of something being seriously wrong with Callie.
“I … I did go to the doctor this morning.”
No.
Fear rose up inside me. She was sick.
The Adair men were cursed after all.
Hadn’t Uncle Lachlan thought that for years before he met Aunt Robyn? The Adair men were cursed to lose the women we loved. There was a long line of evidence to support the theory, leading all the way to my birth mother, Francine, dying in her sleep from an aneurysm. Anytime I thought of what it must have been like for Dad waking up to find her gone, I couldn’t … the idea of Callie …
“Lewis, no.” She leaned toward me, suddenly recognizing the terror on my face. “I’m not sick. Sorry. I … Lewis, I’m pregnant. I’m just over five weeks pregnant. And since you’re the only person I’ve had sex with in the last three months …”
The baby was mine.
Holy fuck.
First, I experienced a wave of relief that Callie wasn’t ill.
Then terror.
Then more relief that the baby was mine.
Then more terror.
And finally, an overwhelming mix of terror, relief, hope, and more terror.
Callie’s anxiety registered through all of that. “Fuck.” I pushed up off the couch and sat down next to her, taking her hands in mine. “Don’t look like that. You must know I’m going to be there for you and our baby.”
“You’re not angry.”
I frowned. “Callie, you didn’t make the baby alone. And …,” I winced, “I used two really old condoms that night, so it’s probably my fault.”
She burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help but grin in relief as she full-body cackled at my confession. As her amusement tapered off, a tenderness and sorrow crossed her face. Then she was throwing her arms around me, and I melted into her, breathing her in and holding her close.