I Had a Baby without You novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Little Lantern

The cameraman swung his lens across the diner.

Poppy ducked behind Roark's arm.

I came around the counter and put myself in front of the lens.

"You can't film in here," I said.

"It's a public place," said the woman in the headset.

"It's my kitchen and my customers, and there's a four-year-old at this counter. Turn it off."

"Morwen, please." Gretchen's voice was all sugar. "We just want to clear up a misunderstanding."

She turned to the regulars with her hand on her heart.

"Roark has been under so much pressure," she told the camera.

"This woman has been feeding on his kindness for days.

She sent a false claim about our history, she accused me of fraud, and now she's brought a child into it."

A hush fell over the room.

The two nurses in booth two lowered their forks.

"That's a lie," said the mailman.

"Sir, please." Gretchen smiled. "I was the waitress who found him in the blackout five years ago, and I have the pin to prove it."

She touched the silver lantern on her lapel.

"This woman has copied my story word for word."

I stood very still.

It was clever.

She had waited for the camera to stand in front of everyone, and she was going to make me the thief.

Roark rose from his stool.

"Gretchen," he said. "Stop."

"Roark, you're confused. You said so yourself."

"I can't tell your face from hers.

I can tell your voice."

He stood between us, so close I felt his heat.

"That's the only reason this lasted five years."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Had a Baby without You from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.