LOVING ELLIE by Lindsey Brookes Page A

beauty the winter storm had left behind.  If only she had told him the doctor had warned against having children, he’d have taken precautions.  They’d had other options available.  Including the very thing he was angry with Ellie for considering - adoption.
    Shame filled him.  What right did he have to judge Ellie so harshly when he himself might have been raising a child whose mother had given up for adoption?  But Anna had been determined to have his child.  Their child.  If only he had known the truth.  If not adoption, they could have found a surrogate mother.  Or simply accepted fate and grown old together without children.  He would have been happy with any of those possibilities, but the choice hadn’t been his.  Anna’s decision had cost her not only her life but that of their unborn child.
    He’d never forget the emotions that swept through him when his wife came to him with the news that he was going to be a father.  Surprise.  Elation.  Even fear.  It was all so sudden.  They’d only just started trying.  But each passing day he grew more and more excited.  His world was perfect.  Then, a month before the baby was due to arrive, that ‘ perfect ’ world came crashing down around him.
    Hard.
    When word got out that the pregnancy was what had caused her heart to give out, he had shouldered the blame rather than have it known Anna had lied to him.  To herself.   
    With a heavy sigh, he pulled out his phone and dialed Alexandre.   
    “Amigo,” his friend answered. 
    “Alexandre.”
    “Knowing your reason for going home, I hesitate to ask how it’s going.”
    Lucas hung his head with a heavy sigh.  “Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse...”
    “Do you need a friend to stand by your side?  I could be there within a day or two.”
    “I appreciate the offer, but I need to handle this on my own.”
    “The offer stands should you change your mind.”
    “Thanks.”  Lucas cut the engine and stepped out into the snow. 
    “What aren’t you telling me?”
    His friend knew him so well.  “My brother was engaged.”
    “You didn’t know this?”
    He should have known.  Jarrett should have told him, but he hadn’t.  Lucas shook his head.  “Not until I walked into my brother’s house and found his fiancée asleep on the sofa.”
    “She was surprised to wake up and find you there no doubt.”
    Lucas stepped up onto the porch.  “Not as surprised as I was to discover she was pregnant.”
    “Amigo,” Alexandre said with a sympathetic sigh.
    The screen door creaked in protest as Lucas opened it.  He shoved his key into the stubborn lock on the front door and gave it a sharp turn.  “Ellie is exhausted and not thinking clear.  I need to be here.”
    “Of course, you do, my friend.”
    “I’m not talking a couple of weeks,” he said with a frown as the door refused to budge.  “I’m talking until the baby is born.”  He gave the door a shove with his shoulder, jarring it open.
    “She needs you there,” Alex said in understanding.  “Especially now.”
    No, his nephew needed him.
    “Lucas?”
    His jaw clenched at the thought of what Ellie intended to do.  “She’s thinking about giving the baby up for adoption when he’s born.”
    “He?”
    “My brother’s son.”  Lucas went to check the fire, adding another log.
    “I see.”
    “He’s the only blood tie I have left, Alex.  I’m can’t just stand by and let her give my nephew away to strangers.”
    “She’s his mother,” Alex reminded him.
    “And I’m his uncle.  If anyone other than Ellie is going to raise that child, it’s damn well going to be me.”
                                                            *              *              *
    Ellie closed the coffee shop a few minutes early.  The cold had chased everyone away as evening drew near.  For weeks, she’d dreaded the thought of going