Page 50 of Under the Mooseltoe
“Chase.” Her expression went completely blank.
“Can we talk?”
“Now’s not the best time. I should get back—”
“Please. It’s important.”
Laurel let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes for several beats. When she looked back up at him, any hint of the love they’d shared seemed gone.Maybe it’s just masked. Laurel was a master at hiding her emotions. “I’m not home for you.”
Chase took the gut punch with surprising grace. “I need to tell you something,” he insisted. “It’s important. It can’t—”
Laurel held her hand up. “No.”
At the slight strain in her voice, the urge to draw her into his arms overwhelmed him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He dared to touch her elbow again, unsurprised that the tingles from years ago returned. “You might fool everyone else, Laurel, but you never could lie to me.”
She glanced down the hall, but no one came in search of either of them. “You can’t tell anyone, Chase. I mean it.”
“You know I keep a secret better than anyone.” Their locked gazes spoke volumes. Despite how much pain he’d endured when they lost the baby and Laurel left town, making him swear never to tell anyone, he’d kept his promise. He kept it for her. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s Haylee.”Laurel’s youngest sister. A thousand possibilities zipped through his mind as he waited for her to explain. “She’s . . . pregnant.”
Chase blinked at Laurel, certain he’d heard her wrong. Haylee was the youngest of the Evans siblings. Too young to be having a baby of her own. She’d just left for college this past fall.
“It’s a long story,” Laurel said. “No one knows, not even my parents. I’m here for Haylee. She and her baby are all that matter right now. So whatever important thing you have to tell me, it has to wait until after her baby is born. I can’t handle anything else right now.” Such pain lingered in those soft blue eyes. “I just can’t.”
“I understand.” It had to be stressful enough for her youngest sibling to be unexpectedly pregnant. He didn’t have to ask about the father. Laurel wouldn’t be here if the father were in the picture. But he was most concerned about Laurel’s pain and how the loss of their own child would affect her now. “Are you okay?”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I have to be.”
“I’m here if you need anything, Laurel. I mean it.”
“Thank you.” She turned back toward the party, but Chase caught her wrist.
“I need to tell you—” Chase’s radio chose that moment to sound.A call, now?He looked at Laurel with regret, but she appeared relieved at the interruption. Relief wouldn’t be too frequent a visitor for her these next several months. He had to let this go; hold on to it for later. They could sort everything out after her niece or nephew was brought safely in the world.
“You’re good at keeping secrets,” she said. “Keep yours a few months longer. I’m not going anywhere.”
* * *
