The Second Chance

So why didn’t she feel like the love-at-first-sight lightning bolt had hit her? Lust maybe, but not love.

“Shana, I’m really sorry to have confused you or made things more difficult.” Fidgeting, Alayna ducked out from under her brother’s arm and stood. “I’ll just leave, and we can talk another time when things are less, well, confusing. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Or rather, she hoped it would be. Shana exhaled hard, unsure how she felt about carrying a child she couldn’t recall conceiving versus there being a child already in the picture, a child she also wouldn’t have remembered giving birth to.

Alayna held up a hand. “I really do apologize.” She backed away. “I love you to pieces, Shana.”

Standing, Chuck cupped Alayna’s shoulder. “If you could get coffee for me I would appreciate it.” He pulled a twenty out of his wallet. “Get something for yourself, too. Thanks, kiddo.”

Once the door closed, Shana pushed herself up to sit straighter in the bed, unsure when she’d sunk into a slouch.

Chuck rubbed the back of his neck, frustration in his eyes. “I apologize for not managing the news better.”

“How could you have predicted any of this? No one could.” An understatement.

“You’re being too understanding.” He sank back in the chair by her bed.

“Well, I do have some questions.” Even thinking about the possibilities sent a fresh wave of panic through her, but not knowing was worse. “The child is yours, right?”

“Absolutely yes,” he said without hesitation. “The baby is mine. And no, we don’t have any other children.”

She hadn’t even considered that. But what else didn’t she know? Five years was a long time to make significant memories. Life-changing memories.

“You said we’d struggled with fertility.” She chewed her fingernail. “There’s just so much to learn about what’s happened over the past five years.”

And her brain was on overload, weighing every nugget of information before she trusted the latest revelation. Even well-meaning people had private agendas. And she also knew how easily a person could be misled by someone smooth at lying. Her father had taught her that lesson too painfully.

“Then we won’t press any further today.” He covered her hand with his and held tight. “I would really feel more comfortable if we called the doctors back in and let them check you over or give us more guidance.”

His touch felt...familiar somehow. Strong, yet careful all at once.

She couldn’t deny the wisdom in his words. “I just want to know one more thing for now.”

He grinned—the first time she’d seen him smile, or remembered seeing him smile—and it shone from his eyes, setting her senses buzzing.

He was sheer magnetism personified.

“Like I have the option of arguing with you?”

She couldn’t help but smile back. “Apparently you do know me well. Better than I know myself at the moment, which brings me to my question. What’s my last name? Or rather, what’s your last name? Did I keep my maiden name?”

His smile faded and he clasped her hand, the left one without a wedding ring. “You took my surname. It’s Mikkelson.”

Surprise spread through her. “As in the oil family Mikkelsons?”

“Yes, the same.” He nodded.

There was a wariness to him she couldn’t quite understand. Maybe people befriended him for his money. That would have never crossed her mind. Still, a lot of things made more sense now.

“No wonder I have this private room. Your parents own Mikkelson Oil.” She pressed her fingers to the headache starting again.

“It’s not Mikkelson Oil anymore. My father passed away nearly three years ago. My mother recently married the head of Steele Oil—widower Jack Steele—merging the two companies into Alaska Oil Barons, Inc.”

For what should be big news, he didn’t look all that happy about it.

“I’m sorry about your father.” She squeezed his hand and a shiver of electricity passed between them, like static popping through her.

His thumb stroked along the inside of her wrist over her speeding pulse. “Thank you. He was fond of you.”

“I wish I remembered that.”

“Me too.”

Awareness increased until the static between them was like a meteor shower. Beautiful...but something she feared could leave her scorched.

The door opened again with a call at the same time. “Dr. Gibson here.”

Chuck cleared his throat and stepped back. “He’s your ob-gyn.”

Dr. Gibson entered, wheeling a machine of some sort, with a nurse trailing behind. “I hear the two of you were going to have a discussion.”

Chuck nodded. “I’ve told Shana I’m her husband, and she knows about the baby.”

“How are you feeling?” Dr. Gibson stopped beside her bed.

“Overwhelmed. A little woozy. But mostly just confused.”

“That’s understandable,” he said with a kind bedside manner that must have been reassuring during all the fertility treatments Chuck had mentioned. “The nurse is going to check your blood pressure, and then we’re going to do an ultrasound. We’ll go as slowly as you need us to.”

Shana’s heart skipped a beat. So much was happening so quickly she wanted to tell them all to slow down, to stop altogether. But life didn’t work that way. She had to face the present. “No need to wait. I want to know as much as I can.”

“Ask anything you like, and I’ll do my best to answer,” Dr. Gibson said. “Are you all right with Mr. Mikkelson staying in the room? I understand these are rather unusual circumstances.”

Shana looked at Chuck. He was her husband. Everyone here knew that. And this was his child. As strange as it felt to have him in the room, he had a right to be here. The past day must have been hellish for him with her health scare. “Of course he can stay.”

“Thank you.” Chuck took her hand in his, his touch strong and confident.

Those green eyes of his held her, reminding her again of a changeable rolling sea. She could so easily dive in, immerse herself in him.

Lose herself.

And that made him dangerous.

Her first priority right now was deciphering who she was.

She couldn’t afford to let down her guard around the one man she should be able to trust with her life.