A Hero to Dance With Me by Marteeka Karland Read Free Book Online Page B

it is. I really appreciate all you’ve done. Your whole family.” She didn’t specify Steve, but she did give him a smile before closing her eyes once more. If hope were the best poker hand in the world, Steve would be all in. This time, he had to make it work. If not, neither of them would get out of it with their heart intact. Besides, the SEAL in him refused to lose. This was one mission that was hell-bent on success.

Chapter Nine
     
    After Leland and Vivian drove her home the next day, Elle sat at her kitchen table for a long while debating on what to do. Not that there was a choice, really--she just needed time to process it all when not in an exhausted stupor. Deciding the first thing she need to do was find out once and for all if she was pregnant, she left a couple hours later and picked up a home pregnancy test. After another twenty minutes of sitting on the toilet staring at the little blue line, trying to determine if it really was positive or if she was reading it wrong, she took the second test in the package. Nope. Not reading it wrong. Damned little line was about as positive as it could get.
    It all sank in then. She was pregnant with Steve Carver’s child. Any number of women she knew would kill to be in her shoes. Not only was Steve an incredibly sexy man, but his family was very well off. All Jezelle could think about was how she was going to juggle his parental rights without having to see him again. And when he found another woman—and he would find another woman—how would she deal with that?
    Shit. There was no way she’d ever be able to deal with that. So what to do?
    Later. She’d deal with that later. Get the baby here and healthy first, then figure out how she was going to be able to see Steve Carver on a regular basis without her heart breaking.
    Making the doctor’s appointment proved fairly simple. She had an appointment two days out with the advice to start a prenatal vitamin. Two days later, she found out she was thirteen weeks and two days pregnant. Exactly what she’d expected. Hearing the baby’s heartbeat, then actually seeing the little gummy-bear-like shadow on the ultrasound brought it all crashing down around her, made it real. The emotion was nearly overwhelming. It was in that moment she knew that, no matter the cost to herself, she wouldn’t give up being pregnant with this child for anything in the world. Not even to save herself the pain of knowing Steve.
    So. Now what? She needed to let Mr. and Mrs. Carver know, because she’d promised. Unfortunately, she felt she owed it to Steve to tell him herself as well. The first conversation went surprisingly well. Vivian wished her well, of course, and made her promise to keep her informed. She also made her promise to let her know if Jezelle needed someone to take her to any of her doctor’s appointments. Jezelle had hesitated about asking for Steve’s number but should have known better. Not only did Vivian give it up willingly, she encouraged Jezelle to make him wait as long as she liked. If he wanted to know, he could damned well hunt her down and ask her himself. It had been the first real laugh she’d had in weeks, but Jezelle had chuckled at that. Unfortunately, talking with Vivian only reinforced how much Jezelle wanted to be a part of that family. Having lost her parents to a car accident when she was twenty, she’d nearly forgotten what it was like to have a close connection like that with anyone. Now, she craved it.
    Taking Vivian’s advice, Jezelle didn’t call Steve. Instead, she set about making plans. She had just shy of twenty-seven weeks to prepare for the little bundle of joy. And to decide how much of a role Steve and his family would play in the child’s life.
    It wasn’t until a week later that there was a knock at her door. Elle knew before she looked through the peephole who would be there.
    “Steve.” Elle was surprised at how badly she wanted to simply run into his arms, let him hold her as