Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
This flirtatious side of Lewis was new, but I couldn’t say I didn’t like it. I shivered as he pulled back, a cocky smirk on his face. He knew exactly what affect he had on me.
I playfully slapped his chest and pushed him away. “Big flirt.”
He grinned and tugged on my hand, leading me back up the beach. It was like he couldn’t help himself and needed to touch me all the time. I couldn’t say I didn’t like that either. In fact, I was feeling extremely needy, and his affection was soothing that neediness.
Back at the cottage, however, I convinced him to go to work.
Minutes after he’d left, I slumped over the toilet, exhausted from retching into it again. I wished I hadn’t told Lewis to go to work.
Realizing I wanted him there, needed him, that those few hours on the beach were the calmest I’d felt in weeks, I knew that it didn’t matter if we took things slow.
The moment Lewis Adair walked back into my life, a missing piece of me clicked back into place. And I’d always need him now. Taking it slow, in reality, meant nothing.
Because I was already as deep in it with Lewis as a person could be.
Twenty-Six
CALLIE
Most mornings Callie’s Wee Cakery was open, there was already a queue at the front door, waiting for us to unlock it. I’d spotted Aisla Rankin at the head of that queue, and I somehow knew right away why she’d made the effort this morning.
I shot Mum a concerned look. “I only told Lewis two days ago. Surely, not everyone knows?”
“Who did Lewis tell, other than his family?” Mum and Regan had been calling each other constantly since the news broke. And we were all set to have a family dinner next weekend. I was a bit nervous of that because I was still so early in the pregnancy. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have told anyone until much later, but the cat was out of the bag, so to speak.
“No one else, as far as I’m aware. Not even the rest of the Adairs.” Lewis had phoned Eilidh yesterday to relay the news, and I knew he’d sworn her to secrecy. She then video called me to squeal hysterically in excitement before dissolving into blubbering sobs about how we were finally going to be real sisters, and she couldn’t wait to be an aunty. I didn’t want to tell her she was jumping the gun a bit with the sister stuff because … well, I didn’t want to voice that, even if maybe it was technically true.
“Morwenna?”
I nodded. Once Eilidh calmed down, she also told me Lewis mentioned that Morwenna had been feeling neglected by her older siblings and confessed as much when Lewis told her about the pregnancy. “I’ve got a few days before I ship out to Romania, so I’m stopping off at Ardnoch to see you and to check in with my baby sister,” Eilidh said, guilt etched on her expression. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
I was so looking forward to my friend’s visit home.
The thought that everyone somehow knew about my pregnancy and Aisla Rankin was here to insult me made me want to run and hide in the kitchen. But I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing my anxiety. “Mor wouldn’t have said anything.”
Mum shrugged. “She’s a kid. She maybe told a friend without thinking. Maybe even Harry did.”
“No, we swore him to secrecy.” But we hadn’t sworn Mor to secrecy.
“Don’t worry.” Mum squeezed my shoulders. “I’ll ban her for good if she starts any nonsense.”
“Are we missing something?” Angie asked as she and Cathy exchanged a look.
“Nothing.” Mum covered for me. “Let’s open the doors.”
And I knew the moment that door swung open that Aisla Rankin knew.
She had her nose in the air, sneering down at me as she approached the counter.
My stomach churned. I’d had no sickness this morning, and I’d resent Mrs. Rankin for more reasons than one if she provoked it to make a return. “Good morning, Mrs. Rankin,” I choked out. “What can I get for you?” I made no comment about how last time we’d seen each other, she’d announced she was never setting foot in our establishment again.
“Well, the truth might be nice.”
I felt Mum pass off a customer to Angie and move to my side.
“May we help you?” Mum’s tone held a warning.
Mrs. Rankin raised her voice. “It has been brought to my attention that your promiscuous daughter has seduced Lewis Adair and trapped him with a pregnancy.”
Oh my God, she did not just say that.
Everyone in the bakery went utterly silent.
“Get out,” Mum seethed.
“I assure you I have no wish to be here, but it is encumbered upon me as an upstanding member of this village and a woman of good morals to warn my neighbors against spending their hard-earned money in an establishment run by a girl who would allow multiple men to use her body and then trap one with a pregnancy. Who’s to say it’s even Lewis’s and here you are … you’ve ruined that boy’s future and forced him back to Ardnoch. I see it as my job to make sure everyone knows who you are, so they can be more particular with their money and where they choose to spend it.”