Johnson Family 1: Unforgettable by Delaney Diamond Read Free Book Online Page A

you had taken it.”
    “I didn’t tell you I took it.”
    “Are you calling me a liar?” he demanded. “I specifically remember asking you if you’d bought the pill and taken it.”
    “And I said don’t worry, everything’s taken care of,” she said quietly.
    He paused, scouring his memory to recall what exactly they’d said to each other. He’d been blunt and honest, just like in the beginning. He’d reminded her that soon he would be flying off to South Korea for a year to teach English. The last thing he had needed was to become a father. Fatherhood had never been an option for him, and he’d told her as much.
    He’d specifically asked her if she’d taken the pill, and she’d said…now he couldn’t remember. As he reflected on the conversation, she hadn’t actually said yes, had she? He’d made the assumption based on her vague answer.
    “So you lied by omission,” he bit out.
    She took a deep breath. “I told you what you wanted to hear, but I decided to let nature take its course. I decided that if I got pregnant, I would live with the consequences.” She lifted her chin in a display of defiance.
    “I can’t believe this.” Lucas paced away from her and clutched his head in his hands. Outside the window was a bright, sunny day. Inside the room, he suffocated under a cloud of disbelief. Was this really happening? “What are we going to do?”
    “I don’t understand.”
    He whirled around to face her again, and she actually looked confused.
    “I’m her father,” he explained, as if it needed explaining.
    “As far as she’s concerned, her father is dead. I don’t want or need anything from you. You’re free to go.”
    “Free to—” He broke off with a grim laugh.
    “You could leave, and no one would blame you.”
    “You expect me to just walk away?”
    “She’ll never know. I haven’t said a word to her about you.”
    Lucas fell silent as the thought took root. “So you expect me to fly out of here tomorrow and pretend I don’t have a child—someone walking around in the world whose life I helped create? Half my personality, half my traits.”
    “You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Ivy said. The emotion from a few minutes ago had completely dissipated. The mask was back in place and she was once again her cool and collected self. “I don’t need anything from you.”
    “I know you don’t need anything from me, princess, but this isn’t about you, is it?”
    Use of the endearment took them both by surprise. She stiffened and he wished he could take back the word. He’d nicknamed her “princess” almost from the moment they met, only finding out later how close to the truth he’d been. From the beginning he could tell she came from money, but when she’d disclosed the extent of her family’s wealth, he’d been floored. Princess indeed, and he couldn’t help but wonder why this woman would be messing around with a lowly waiter.
    “You should have told me,” Lucas said.
    She swallowed. “You said you didn’t want children. You made that very clear. You were leaving for Asia and wanted to see the world. Those were your words.”
    “I tell you I don’t want kids, and you use that as an excuse not to tell me I have a daughter?”
    “I took you at your word.”
    “So it’s my fault you didn’t tell me? Don’t blame your deception on me, because the bottom line is, we had an agreement. I told you I didn’t want kids, and I meant it. You had no right to ‘let nature take its course.’”
    “It was my choice.”
    “Yeah, your body, your choice,” Lucas said in a derisive tone. “Just leave me out of it. It’s only my sperm.”
    “I never said that.”
    “You don’t have to,” Lucas shot back. “You’re not the only one who has reproductive rights.”
    “I’m trying to get you to understand why I never told you about her. First of all, I didn’t even know how to get in touch with you.”
    “Give me a break. I don’t