She couldn’t stop the tears. They dribbled down her cheeks without her permission.
“But she’s also prideful.”
Her lashes automatically lifted, her gaze connecting with his. “What?”
“Sadie only wants to be the caregiver, not the receiver.”
So? “Doesn’t everyone?”
“No.” Zach’s dark eyes offered compassion, but he didn’t back down. “Lots of people want their dirty jobs done for them. They ignore the hard parts of life. You power through them.”
“That’s a problem?” she asked.
“Only when it makes you blind to other people’s desire to help care for you.” He leaned forward over the island between them. “It took me five long years to become vulnerable to you, Sadie. Don’t you think I deserved the same?”
She took a step back, needing space, needing to breathe. “But me being vulnerable, opening up to you would have placed an obligation on you. A demand, even if it was unspoken, for you to take care of me and my problems.”
“It’s never an obligation when you love someone.”
That took her breath away. “I’ve never had someone love me that way,” she murmured.
“Haven’t you?”
That dark gaze wouldn’t let her look away, wouldn’t let her pretend to not see the truth. “Yes.”
Silence stood between them for long minutes, almost as if the world held its breath, waiting to see what came next. Sadie wasn’t sure what it was.
Finally Zach spoke. “I want you to do something for me, okay?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“When you’re ready, truly ready, for me to love you that way...you let me know. Okay?”
A tremble started deep inside. What he asked seemed like almost too much.
“Okay?”
She could barely get the word out. “Yes.”
“Goodbye, Sadie.”
Her whole body screamed in protest, but she kept her lips sealed as he walked away. She could hear his footsteps down the hallway, then the click as he opened the door.
“Wait. Zach,” she called, then forced her timid feet to follow him. She paused a few feet away from where he waited by the front door. “I—I know I disappointed you.” She swallowed at the lump trying to form in her throat. “But there’s something you need to know. You can’t leave without knowing...two things, actually.”
He nodded, but didn’t encourage her by word or any further gesture.
“One is... I love you. I’ll always be glad that I experienced loving you, even though I screwed it up so badly.”
His expression didn’t change, and she died a little inside. But this had to be done.
“And two?” he asked.
She almost couldn’t say it, almost told him to leave, but that was as selfish as every choice she’d made up until now. “Two is—I’m pregnant.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want you to feel obligated—wait, what?”
Now she detected a touch of amusement in his voice. “I already know.”
And from his softening expression, she knew he accepted it. “How?” she breathed.
Very gently, he closed the door. “You dropped the test. I found it when I went to get my things.”
Sadie groaned, collapsing with her back to the wall. “Oh, goodness. I was putting it back in the box to bring home with me. I knew if I threw it away there—”
“Miss Gladys would have found it and the whole town would know, not just me?”
“Right.” She opened her eyes to find him right in front of her. “I was trying to figure out how to tell you without making you feel...”
“Obligated?”
She nodded. “And I knew I couldn’t do that with you looking at me, touching me. So I thought it was better to wait.” She offered a halfhearted smile. “After what happened between KC and Jake, I couldn’t keep your child from you. I wouldn’t do that, Zach.”
“I know that now.”
“You do? How?”
“You just showed me. Thank you for trusting me with the truth, Sadie.”
“So you aren’t angry?”
He shook his head, stepping in until they stood body to body. “I’m not angry. We have a lot of things to work out, and I think we will both have to learn to let someone else take care of us, instead of always being the strong one.” He brushed his lips gently over hers, leaving her weepy and boneless.