"What's the matter?" he said sharply, taking her by the shoulders when he reached her. "What's wrong with you?"
She shook her head, staring up at him. "Nothing-"
"Don't lie to me, Charity. I saw how you were going up these stairs. You could hardly make it. What's wrong? Are you sick? Did you hurt yourself?"
His gaze fell to where her hands were white knuckled, holding the parka closed. His eyes narrowed. "Let me see," he demanded.
"No, Ross-"
"Let me see." He pulled away one hand and peeled back the other. The parka fell open. Her condition was obvious.
"Oh, my God," he breathed. "Charity..." He looked into her eyes, then down again. "That's my baby," he said, his tone reverent. He looked up, joy and wonder filling his eyes. "Our baby," he amended. "Why didn't you tell me?"
It hurt to see his happiness. The temptation to take the easy way out, to smile and tell him, yes, this baby is ours, was so strong, she felt herself swaying toward him, ready to lean on his wide shoulders, ready to let him take over. But she couldn't. For his sake, for all their sakes, she couldn't do that.
"Because I didn't want you to know," she said, her voice harsh and grating.
His gaze hardened. "Don't be ridiculous. We'll get married right away."
"No." She shook her head. "We can't do that." She took a deep breath and plunged into her speech. "We're from different worlds, Ross. I tried to be a sane and sober citizen, and for a while I thought I'd succeeded, but you saw right through me. So did your parents. And I realized I didn't want to turn my back on my family and all the craziness they represent. I love them."
"Of course you do.''
"I knew you'd want to marry me as soon as you found out about the baby. But Ross..."
She forced herself to meet his angry gaze.
"You didn't want to marry me be fore you knew. You went off to Australia without a sec ond thought, not even thinking that I might want to come along." She shook her head slowly. "We're too different, Ross. We can't base a marriage on a baby alone. It wouldn't be fair to any of us."
Ross looked shell-shocked, as though she'd hit him.
"I'm going in now," she said wearily, reaching into her pocket and this time finding her keys. "I'm tired. I need to rest. You go on back to Destiny Bay or Australia or wherever you need to go."
She wanted to touch him, to reassure him somehow. He looked wounded.