Found by Elle Field Read Free Book Online

to question or pressure her whilst she makes her decision, and I have to respect that.’
    ‘But surely you have rights?’ I argue as I walk down Broadway.
    Broadway is a weird one. It’s about thirteen miles long and, unlike the majority of New York City which is organised in a grid system, Broadway cuts diagonally across Manhattan, the cheeky rebel.
    ‘It’s your baby, too,’ I point out, ‘so get some advice. You want to be a dad, right?’
    He ignores me. ‘Where are you now?’
    ‘I’ve just walked past the Flatiron Building and now I’m heading past a park. In a few minutes I’ll probably be able to see the top spire of the Empire State Building, but back to you...’ I roll my eyes. What I can see is not as important as Ob’s baby because, yes, Jade is pregnant.
    He ignores me. ‘The Flatiron Building?’
    ‘It’s a building that looks like an iron. Google it,’ I say dryly, ‘and stop stalling. Promise me that you’ll speak to someone. Find out your rights.’
    ‘And do what? If Jade gets a whiff of this, what’s to stop her getting an abortion just to spite me? Once she’s done that, it’s not as if it’s reversible. Whatever you might think of Jade, Fatty, I do want to be a dad. I want her to keep this baby.’
    I refrain from remarking that I don’t think very much of Jade. I don’t want her to get rid of this baby, of course I don’t, but if it could transpire that it isn’t Obélix’s, I would like that scenario to play out.
    Obélix deserves so much more than a woman who used him to get out of paying a vet bill. He deserves to have a baby with a woman that loves him for who he is, someone who actually wants to be with him.
    ‘Really?’ I say, even though I know Ob can’t really do anything to make Jade have this baby. I fully respect that it’s her body, her choice, but maybe trying something, anything , would help him not to feel so out of control.
    ‘Are you saying that you’ve never thought about it?’ he asks me as I dodge out of the way of two New Yorkers having a loud argument in the middle of the pavement. ‘No hankerings for a mini-Bramley or two?’
    ‘Have you met Annabelle?’ I point out, only half joking.
    ‘ Seriously ?’
    Ob sounds disgusted with me, but I never realised he felt that strongly about having children. I mean, he can barely look after himself. The thought of him looking after a tiny defenceless baby is a pretty scary one.
    ‘Of course I don’t mean that, and of course we’ve thought about having children,’ I admit, ‘but it’s not something we want to explore until I’m in my thirties. There’s so much we want to do before then.’
    And, quite frankly, the thought of housing a baby for nine months – my body changing and going out of my control – freaks me out. It really freaks me out.
    When I was growing up I never had baby cousins or friends with baby siblings; if I had a baby, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Piers is the same. OK, I suppose he’s helped Giles out a bit with Annabelle – being a single dad can’t be easy – but he’s never expressed an overwhelming urge to start a family anytime soon.
    We’re young, we have plenty of time, but then I think of Piers’ illness and how we might have run out of time if things hadn’t played out like they did. That makes me sad. I want Piers to be the father of my children, just not for a long while.
    ‘We’re talking about you anyway,’ I point out crossly, more at Piers and his secrecy than at Ob. I do not want to think about my circumstances, which is why I phoned him.
    ‘Are you there yet?’
    ‘Am I where?’ Is this Ob being philosophical in some way, or merely plain annoying?
    ‘At the Empire State Building.’
    ‘Nearly.’
    ‘What’s it like?’
    I laugh. ‘Tall, but stop dodging the conversation.’
    He ignores me again. ‘Where are you heading to anyway?’
    I laugh weakly. ‘I have no idea.’
    After speaking to Tabitha I need to mull things over and