“Whatever,” he grumbled before taking another long gulp of wine. He flopped back down on the couch beside her.
“Connor, don’t you see the bigger picture here. If I can’t have a baby with someone I’m romantically in love with, I still want it to be with someone I love. I know you’re a good and decent person, and you would be such a good father.” When he didn’t say anything, Emma leaned closer to him. “And think about your parents. Besides Grammy and Granddaddy, my baby wouldn’t have grandparents, and I know that yours are amazing to your sister’s kids.”
“That’s true,” he murmured, still not meeting her expectant gaze.
Emma sighed. She knew she had just thrown him for a loop, and it was going to take him awhile to process everything. “Look, I’m sorry that I brought it up.” When she started to rise off the couch, Connor grabbed her arm.
“Okay.”
She furrowed her brows at him. “Okay what?”
He exhaled noisily. “Okay, I’ll be your baby daddy or sperm donor or whatever.”
Emma’s chest constricted, and she almost couldn’t breathe. “Really?”
Connor nodded. “Yeah, why not.”
“But are you sure? I mean, you don’t need more time to think about it?”
“Nope. Let’s have a baby.”
Emma squealed with pleasure before throwing her arms around Connor’s neck and squeezing him tight. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you’re really going to do it!” She pulled away to kiss both his cheeks. “I love you so very much.”
“I love you too, Emmie Lou.”
She nuzzled her head against his neck. “But what made you change your mind?”
“Travis.”
Emma jerked her gaze up to meet his. A grin curved on Connor’s lips. “It was like I could almost hear him telling me to do it—to make you happy since he couldn’t.”
A mixture of happy and sad tears pooled in her eyes. “I can never thank you enough for doing this. I can’t imagine being happier than I am at this moment.”
He rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “I think the day we find out you’re good and knocked up will beat this one.”
She smiled. “Or the day our baby is born?”
Connor nodded. “And if it’s a boy, I wanna name him Travis—Travis Connor Montgomery.”
“I would like nothing more, especially for the baby to have your last name.” She titled her head at him. “But what if it’s a girl?”
“Travisina?” Connor suggested.
Emma giggled. “No, I don’t think so.”
Connor laughed. “We’ve got time to work on a girl’s name.”
“As long as he or she is healthy, I don’t care what we have.”
He pushed away from her to grab up their wine glasses. “Let’s drink to our future child.”
“To our baby,” Emma said before toasting with Connor.
***
Chapter Three
Aidan swept through the front doors of the Commerce Country club. He nodded at a few of his fellow colleagues. His fingers went to adjust the tie on his tux. He had barely been in the damn thing for thirty minutes, and it already felt like it was choking him. Spotting his best work buddy, Blake, he weaved in and out of the couples to meet up with him.
“Well, hello, Fitzy, how goes it?” Blake asked.
Without a response, Aidan jerked the glass of Scotch from Blake’s hand and downed it in one fiery gulp. “Hmm, that bad huh?” Blake asked with a smirk.
“Sorry man. I’ve been in family hell all damn day.”
“The Baptism thing?”
Aidan nodded. “That was at noon, but then there was a party at my sister’s house.” Aidan shuddered as he thought of how he had gotten corned by each of his sisters throughout the afternoon. Although they hit him at different times, their message was a unified one. He was thirty-two years old, and it was time for him to settle down and carry on the family name. It had been a living hell. “I just escaped an hour ago.”
Blake furrowed his brown brows. “You mean, there wasn’t any good booze at the party to at least take the edge off?”
“Yeah, but if I had started downing it like a lush, that would have just given my sisters more ammunition to give me shit about. Not to mention my dad would have joined in on the tirade as well.”
“Then I guess it’s time you started drinking heavily. Why don’t you head on over to the bar and get us both another Scotch?” Blake suggested.
“I may make it two for me and one for you,” Aidan grumbled.
“Pace yourself buddy. The night is young.”
Aidan bobbed his head and once again weaved in and out of the crowd. He was almost to the bar when someone jostled into him, causing him to lose his footing for a moment. He whirled around to see a vision before him. He had seen and screwed beautiful women before, but she was something altogether special and enticing. Her alabaster cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she was hiding her face behind a shroud of her fiery auburn hair that fell in waves down her bare back. And damn if she wasn’t wearing an emerald dream of a dress that hugged her ample curves like a second skin. He loved red heads, but most of all, he loved red heads in green. Something about the color brought out every perfect feature they had.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked.
She nodded her head furiously. “I’m so sorry. My heel got caught in the carpet for a second. That’s why I bumped into you.”