The Girlfriend

Chapter Twenty-Four

Patrick

Lydia frantically pressed the button on the elevator and pounded on the metal doors with her free hand.

"Kitten, please stop, he'll be back soon." I pulled her away from the elevator and led her back inside.

The door shut behind us and I watched her start to crumble in front of me; tears streamed down her face and she sunk to the marble floor. I knelt beside her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to my chest. My hand rested on her stomach and felt my skin prickle with excitement. She was upset and so was I that Jon had just left, but I couldn't help the thrill of knowing she was pregnant. I don't care whose baby it is; blood doesn't make it mine. Being there for her pregnancy, raising it together, that's what made someone a father, that's what made Nora my mother too. Mum will be so happy.

I was ready for this, even if Jon wasn't.

"Dia, baby," I murmured into her hair. "I love you so much."

"Please don't go," she choked out, looking up at me with watery eyes. "I need you—"

"Shh," I hushed pulling her head to my chest. "Come on, let's go fit in the living room until he gets home."

She sniffled and I helped her up off the floor, she clung to my arm and I led her slowly to the sectional sofa. I flicked on the lights as we went and helped her get comfortable in the corner seat.

"Do you want a blanket?"

She nodded and pulled a pillow into her lap.

"Hot water bottle?"

"Please," she whispered.

I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back, stay put."

I managed to find blankets in the linen closet but I had to knock on the maid's door to find out if Jon had hot water bottles. Kathleen was more than happy to pull out a white and pink polka-dot one and get it set up for me. I always liked Jon's housekeeping staff, like mine they were always extremely friendly and willing to just hang around for conversations. Kathleen and Anne loved Lydia, though they did tease that she was helping steal their jobs. I thanked her and she patted my shoulder before heading off to their rooms.

When I came back, Lydia was tapping away at her phone, her face was dry but she still looked heartbroken. I handed her the water bottle and sat down beside her, spreading the blanket over both of us while she got comfortable beside me.

"When did you find out?" I asked, tracing patterns on her arm.

She let out a breathy laugh and looked up at me with a faint smile. "You reminded me last week. Remember when you said we could start trying in the New Year? It reminded me that I got my IUD taken out back in June or July, whenever that went down and because of how things worked out with us going to the Bahamas, I just sort of...forgot. I took a test today, and I got that ultrasound too."

"In one day?" Wow, what happened to Miss Chronically Late?

She nodded and held up her bandaged hand. "I got this beauty earlier in the weights room, Jon called a doctor for me and she said I could come again this even to talk about my happy accident."

I'd noticed her hand but I hadn't said anything, at least I knew where the injury came from. Self-inflicted, of course, she'd hurt herself with a spoon if you left her alone with it long enough. Lydia could be an airhead at times, and she admitted it too, but she rarely hurt herself badly enough that it left a lasting mark, usually, that was me and Jon.