“I’m pregnant.”
He remained silent, unsure of the appropriate response. But she was silent too, making it glaringly obvious that she expected him to say something.
“Who’s the father?” he blurted out, then he cringed, waiting for her attack.
“Drake, of course. God, Garrett.” The tears in her voice softened her anger. “I just took a pregnancy test. Happy fucking Valentine’s Day to me.”
“I didn’t think you two were together.”
“It’s complicated.”
She’d been seeing Drake on and off again for three years. As far as Garrett was concerned, the only complication he could see was that she hadn’t cut him loose yet. “What do you want to do? You have options.”
“I don’t know.” She sniffed. “Yesterday I got offered a promotion. My timing sucks.”
“Your pregnancy should have no effect on your promotion, Kelsey, and if it does, we have legal recourse.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. The job’s in Kansas City.”
He grinned. “That’s great. You’ll be closer to me.”
“Drake says he won’t move, and he claims I can’t take Addie from him.” She took a breath. “A new baby will only make everything worse. Why am I such an idiot?”
He wanted to go off about how worthless her boyfriend was, but he knew she’d hang up if he did, so he forced a short chuckle that sounded false to his ears. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“No. And the fact you’re not answering shows me how much of an idiot I really am.”
“You’re not an idiot, Kelsey,” he said quietly.
“Then why do I keep going back to that man?”
“I don’t know. Do you love him?”
“I thought so, but this last year…honestly, I would have dumped his ass if not for Addie, but he kept telling me he wanted to be part of her life, throwing it in my face that I’d be depriving my daughter of a father if we aren’t together. And you and I had Dad…” Her voice trailed off. “I already fucked up getting pregnant as a single mother. I didn’t want to take Addie’s father from her.”
“Last we spoke, you said he was trying to help more.”
“I lied,” she sighed in defeat. “He’s never paid me one dime of child support, not that he had a job to pay it with. He’s been living here at the house. Last week I worked late one night and asked him to put the dishes in the dishwasher.” She paused. “He threw a glass across the room at me.”
He froze, sure he heard her wrong. “Did it hit you?”
“I have five stitches on my forehead,” she said sheepishly. “I told my coworkers I ran into a door.”
Garrett jumped up from his chair and began to pace. “God, Kelsey. You’ve told me all about his chronic unemployment, but you never once told me he was violent. Never.”
She remained silent.
Concerned she’d hang up if he lashed out, he took a deep breath and counted to five, until he was a little calmer. “Before this glass incident, had he ever hurt you? Was this the first time, Kelsey?”
“He’ll try to take Addie. I can’t lose her, Garrett. And now I’m pregnant and he’ll try to take this baby too.”
That was answer enough.
She started to cry, and his stomach twisted. The last time he’d heard her cry was when they were kids.
He slipped into attorney mode. “Is he living with you now?”
“I told him to leave, but he won’t.”
“Is the mortgage in just your name? Or is it in his name too?”
“Just mine.”
“Do you want to work this out with him?” He hoped to God she said no. He understood the complexities of why women stayed with abusive men, but he never imagined his older, stronger sister falling into this trap. Yet his experience as a divorce attorney had demonstrated that no woman could be helped until she was ready to accept that she needed it. And only Kelsey could come to that decision.
“No,” she said quietly. “What if he hits Addie? He already gets short with her if she cries too much.”
Garrett clenched his fist and then unclenched it. “Has he hurt Addie? Kels, has he hurt my baby girl?”
“No.”
“You’re sure? You’re not covering for him?”
“You think I’d let him hurt Addie?” she asked in disbelief.
“I know how this works, Kels. It’s not a reflection on you or your parenting. It’s a slow build until you’re left wondering how you got there. It starts off with yelling—everybody yells, right? There’s nothing wrong with yelling. It’s expected. But then it’s a shove. What’s a shove? Nothing really. Or a tap with a foot. It wasn’t a kick. Then the next thing you know, he’s slapping, then punching. And then you’ve reached the point where you’re wondering how in the hell you got there, and you can’t figure out how to escape.”
She was sobbing now.
“Kelsey, I’m your escape plan. Let me help you.”
“I’m so ashamed, Garrett. I’m a professional. I make six figures. How the hell did I get here?”
He walked over to the windows, lowering his voice. “No, Kels. No judgment from me or anyone who cares about you. It happens to all sorts of women—income has nothing to do with it. I just want to make sure you and the babies are safe.”
“But Addie…he’ll try to take her.”
“I’m damn good at what I do, and don’t forget Blair. We’ll both take your case, and by the time we’re done with him, he’ll be sliced to ribbons.”
“But we’re not married.”
“And thank God for that. But if what you say is true, you’ll have a custody case on your hands. We’ll fight the bastard for all we’re worth. Blair loves Addie. She’d sooner fight Drake in hand-to-hand combat than let him have custody of her.”
“Blair could probably take him,” Kelsey said, laughing through her tears.
“Damn right she could.” He paused and turned his gaze to an overhead TV showing a nationwide weather map. “Listen, I’m in San Diego right now, but I should be home tonight as long as the snow storm in the east doesn’t keep delaying planes. You need to get out of the house until we can get the locks changed and notify the sheriff.”
“I can’t do that, Garrett. It’s embarrassing.”
“Would you rather he hurt Addie?” It was a low blow, but he knew she’d protect her daughter before she protected herself.
“No, of course not! I just want to be reasonable about this.”
“Kelsey, take a step back and look at it from my perspective. You’re living with a man who hasn’t held a full-time job for longer than six months in the last five years. He completely lives off you, except for when he’s out screwing someone else. He offers absolutely no help with the household responsibilities, and he hurts you both emotionally and physically. Do you think you should let him live in your house with your baby?”
“Where will he go?”
“Not your problem.”