Walt finished his drink only to have Trent fill it again.

The bell at the door rang and Trent answered it laughing.

“Mr. Laurens.” Walt jumped, felt his heart in his chest.

The man’s glare said everything.

“Come in.”

Trent offered a sympathetic look over Mr. Laurens’s head. Walt introduced the two of them, watched a friendly handshake. “I think I’ll give you some privacy,” Trent said. “You can find me downstairs in the lounge when you’re done.”

Walt offered a thanks and turned to face Dakota’s father once they were alone. “Can I offer you a drink?”

“I’m not staying long.” Mr. Laurens walked deeper into the room, looked around. “It certainly appears as if you have the means to take care of my daughter.”

“I do.”

“Yet you didn’t.”

Walt opened his mouth only to have Dakota’s father stop him with a look.

“I have only been the father of daughters, Walt. When they were teenagers and first started dating, I put the fear of God into the boys picking them up. Elaine and I always worried. As I’ve grown older and my daughters have turned into women, the worry of one of them coming home unwed and pregnant didn’t enter my mind. Until tonight.”

Walt studied his shoes. “I will take care of your daughter.”

“You’re off to a booming start there.”

“I know you’re upset—”

“I passed upset before I got in my car. I’m pissed and I’m here to hear what you plan on doing. Raising children is a full-time job for two parents. Two!”

“I know that. I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Laurens. I am going to be here for your daughter and our child. I’m not sure what else you want me to say.”

Mr. Laurens stepped closer, lowered his voice. “What do you think I want to hear? What will you say to the man, who is not your son-in-law, when you learn your child is pregnant?”

Even though Dakota’s father was several inches shorter than him, Walt was happy the man wasn’t in his twenties.

“Marriage doesn’t scare me . . . but divorce does. I won’t do that to your daughter or our child. So when we decide it’s time for that step, you’ll be one of the first to know.”

Mr. Laurens rocked back on his heels, shoved his hands in his pockets. “I think I’ll take that drink now.”

“Not now, Mom.” Morning sickness and her mother. Dakota groaned as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, her head in her hands.

What was I thinking running home?

Three seconds of compassion filled her mother’s face before she crossed to the sink and ran cold water over a washcloth. “Guess who I just got off the phone with?”

“I couldn’t tell you.” And right now I don’t care.

“Mrs. Pinkerton.”

“Louise’s mother?”

“Yes, Louise. Why did you feel it necessary to tell your friends about your indiscretion before you bothered to tell us?”

My indiscretion? She let her mother’s words go . . . for the moment, and focused on the question. “I didn’t. Other than Walt and Mary, you guys are the only ones who know.”

Elaine squeezed water out of the washcloth and held it over Dakota’s forehead. The cool relief helped pull her focus off her grumbling stomach. “Teri Pinkerton knows plenty. And if I know her mouth, half of this town will know by noon.”

Dakota regarded her mother with one eye, the other remained under the cloth in silent darkness. “Louise knows nothing.”

“Then she guessed. Oh, Dakota, this is awful.”

She hid her other eye, found a quiet place in her brain, and tried like hell to stay there.

“I’m not the first pregnant twenty-eight-year-old, Mom.”

“You’re not married!”

“Thanks for your support.”

“I’m serious, Dakota. I live in this town, shop here, go to church with Teri Pinkerton and all her friends.”

“Why do you care a rat’s ass what those women think?”

Elaine started to pace the small footprint of the bathroom.

“Holding your head high is hard when people are talking behind your back.”

The motion in her stomach let up and drove Dakota from the bathroom. She found her bed and pulled the covers over her crossed legs. Once again, she’d lied to herself, made herself believe her mom would be less judgmental about the situation simply because she wasn’t a kid. How short-sighted of her. “Let it go.”

“I can’t. You know that’s not the way it works here. What am I going to tell my friends when they start calling?”

“Tell them I’m a slut.” Just go away.

“Dakota!”

“Tell them whatever you want.” Dakota met her mom’s eyes. “And while you’re telling them whatever you want them to hear, make sure to keep your chin high. Just make sure it’s a chin and not a nose, Mom. Every woman in your friendship pool has had sex and I sincerely doubt they hit their marital bed a virgin.”

With pinched lips, Elaine shot daggers with her eyes. “I didn’t think you were a virgin. But you could have been more careful.”

The room shot up ten degrees, or maybe it was her. Dakota tossed off the covers. “I think I overestimated you. I didn’t expect you to be happy about this, but I didn’t see you chastising me like I’m sixteen.”