TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 207

Two hundred and seven

Lisa POV

The translucent gel Harry squeezed onto my stomach was cold, making the muscles across my abdomen tighten. He pressed the transducer against my skin, moving it in small circles over my lower belly. The monitor displayed gray, shifting shapes that blurred whenever I took a breath.

After Cameron left, the crying clogged my throat until my mom turned from the window and snapped that I was going to make myself sick if I didn’t get a grip.

“What if he had done worse?” I kept saying, my knuckles digging into the edge of the mattress. “What if he had a knife or something dangerous? What if he killed me?”

“Well, he didn’t,” she said. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a tube of wintergreen ointment, and began rubbing the thick cream into my palms to warm them. Harry kept his eyes fixed on the gray screen, moving the probe without a word.

I blinked, clearing the moisture from my eyelashes. “But why? Why would they send him to hurt me?”

My mother stopped rubbing my hands. Her mouth settled into a straight line.

“Somebody reinforced the idea that the pregnancy was harming him,” Harry said.

He toggled a switch on the machine and reached for a roll of paper towels to wipe the cold gel from my ribs.

“Try to get some sleep. He’s not here anymore.”

“I can still feel it. I can feel his hand pressing against my stomach,” I said, my fingers tracing the red marks where his grip had been. “I can feel it.”

My mother and Harry looked at each other.

“Susan, stay with her tonight,” Harry said, tossing the paper towels into the waste bin. “She shouldn’t be alone after this.”

She nodded, setting the tube of ointment on the nightstand. “I’ll go get some milk,” she said.

Once the door clicked shut behind Harry, my mom lay down beside me on the mattress. She kept her arm over my shoulder, talking about the neighbors at our old house, anything that had nothing to do with this pregnancy or Cameron. But the words floated through the room without settling.

She let out a heavy sigh. “Remember when I was dealing with your dad’s sudden divorce and almost going blind at the same time? I felt as though the world was against me.”

I managed a nod, the cotton of the pillow scraping my cheek.

She turned to look at me through her glasses. “Remember how you kept telling me to stay strong? You used to get irritated whenever I said I missed your father.”

I nodded.

“And you kept saying things would get better. You said you were going to take care of me and that I would survive it.”

I nodded again, watching the curtain’s shadow move along the wall.

“Well, things aren’t perfect yet, but look at me now,” she said. “I can see without my glasses now. Not perfectly,

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but still.”

The dry way she said it made my mouth twitch despite everything. She laughed softly and brushed the hair near my temples back.

“And then there’s Kieran,” she said, her voice dropping as she glanced toward the bedroom door. “Who would’ve thought I’d fall in love again? Even now, it still feels strange to say out loud. That was my burden, Lisa. I had to survive all of that to reach this part of my life.”

She touched my cheek gently.

“You’re carrying your own burden too. Being a surrogate. Falling in love with your client. Getting trapped in al this darkness.” Her eyes softened. “And I still believe the person who hurt you tonight was someone confused and manipulated.”

My shaky breath filled the room.

“I know he violated your trust, and I know you were trying to help him, but you cannot keep blaming yourself,” she said, pulling the blanket higher over my shoulders. “And whether we like it or not, Cameron is sick too.”

“For how long?” I said, staring at the door. “What’s the next thing they’ll come after me with?”

“We won’t let them hurt you, Lisa.”

I lay back against the bed, knowing exactly what that meant. Staying safe meant staying away from Cameron, at least until this child was born.

Bitterly enough, until I had their baby.

Except the thought no longer felt accurate.

I pulled the quilt over my chin and tried to sleep, but even with my mother snoring softly beside me later that night, my eyes remained fixed on the gray light filtering through the blinds.

By morning, the skin around my waist had turned dull purple. Harry came into the kitchen before breakfast, checked the bruising with careful fingers, and assured me the baby’s heart rate remained stable.

Earlier, I had stood in the bathroom staring into the mirror. I pulled my oversized shirt up to my chest, exposing the marks where Cameron’s fingers had dug into my skin.

It wasn’t Cameron.

I kept repeating the words silently, but my body still remembered the pressure.

I dropped the hem of my shirt when my mom knocked against the doorframe.

“Lisa.”

“I’m fine.”

She pushed the door open, carrying a ceramic mug that smelled of ginger root. Her eyes dropped toward my waist before lifting back to my face.

“Your father called last night,” she said, setting the mug on the table. “He’s worried about you. He wants to come.”

I shrugged and turned on the tap to rinse my toothbrush.

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вспив

She stayed quiet until I spoke again.

“Now that the contract’s been violated and they tried to hurt the baby, I don’t think I’m willing to give it up anymore.”

My mother’s mouth parted slowly.

“What?”

“Why would I hand the baby over now? Evangeline sent Cameron after me. They already poisoned me once. What happens after the birth? What if they kill the baby? What if they use it for whatever ritual madness they’re planning?”

My mother remained seated on the ottoman, her fingers twisting together.

“I’m deep into my second trimester,” I continued, pointing toward my stomach. “I can’t undo this anymore. So if I’m risking my body and my life carrying this child, then I’m not giving it away.”

“Lisa, that’s an enormous decision.”

“So was trying to use me as some disposable incubator.”

“But what about the agreement? The money?”

My chest tightened.

“I’ll repay it somehow,” I said. “I’ll ask Kieran for a loan if I have to. I’ll work. I’ll figure it out.”

“Lisa, keeping a baby out of fear isn’t the same as wanting motherhood.”

“It’s my egg,” I snapped, the tea sloshing near the rim. “Not Evangeline’s. Mine. And now I don’t even know if she lied about being infertile in the first place.”

My mother rubbed a hand across her forehead.

“This child belongs to me,” I continued. “And Cameron is the father. Until I know he’s mentally stable and free from whatever they’ve done to him, I’m not handing the baby over to anyone.”

“I understand why you feel protective,” she said carefully. “But you need to think beyond fear and anger before making a permanent decision.”

Tears burned behind my eyes.

“I already love the baby,” I whispered. “That’s the problem.”

Her face softened after that.

She stood and pulled me into her arms. The scent of her favorite powder filled my nose while my tears soaked into her cardigan.

And deep down, beneath all the terror and confusion, I already knew I wasn’t letting this child go.