Kristin grabbed a couple of Kleenex from the diaper bag and handed them to Quinn,
"Quinn, we're sorry. We shouldn't have set you two up, we thought it would be nice, please don't cry." Quinn shook her head as she wiped her eyes,
"Sorry I don't know why I'm crying." Kristin rubbed her back,
"Is it because you really wanted to see him? Maybe a bunch of feelings came rushing back." Quinn shook her head,
"No, that's not it. I really don't know why I'm crying." She released one long breath and looked in the mirror,
"Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Kristin looked at the baby,
"Don't you need to change the baby." Quinn smiled half-heartedly,
"No, that was just a reason to get away."
Another chair had been added and Quinn sat at the end, near Nick, with MacKenzie on the end. She was opposite Kristin, who was next to Kevin, with Howie on the other side of him. Larry was on the other side of Nick. The waitress came and took her order and once she handed her the menu she looked over Kristin. Kristin smiled softly,
"Hey, we don't even know her name." Quinn smiled,
"Her name is MacKenzie Lillian. The Lillian is after my mother. I just call her Mac." Kevin nodded,
"MacKenzie, that's nice, it's different." She smiled,
"Exactly, so there won't be three other girls raising their hands when her name is called. The world has enough Jennifers, Julies and Amandas don't you think?" They all nodded and smiled,
"How old is she?" She smiled at Kevin,
"Four months." She held her breath that no one was trying to do any math in their heads. Kristin leaned over and looked at her,
"She is so beautiful Quinn. And wow, green eyes." She nodded,
"Yeah, those aren't from me." Howie nodded as he leaned over,
"From her dad?" Quinn's stomach dropped at the mention of the word dad,
"Um yeah." Kevin nodded,
"I bet he's a proud papa." Actually he was clueless, but maybe she should just ask him, 'I don't know, hey Nick are you proud?' but she couldn't bring herself to do that and simply replied,
"Yeah, he adores her." For the first time Nick spoke up,
"So he's your boyfriend right?" She looked over to see that he hadn't looked at her, he was concentrating on his glass,
"Uh yeah." No one noticed the frown of Larry's face as she answered. The rest of the night was full of baby stories and Quinn being talked into trying to make it to one of the shows. Nick never uttered a word unless someone spoke directly to him.
They stood at the entrance of the restaruant saying their goodbyes, Nick walking away from the group first without bothering to say anything. Larry walked Quinn to her car and waited as she buckled down MacKenzie. She turned and gave him a hug,
"Is Nick Mac's father?" Her eyes widened and she was grateful that they were locked in an embrace or he would have seen her face,
"No, why would you wonder something crazy like that?" He pulled back and looked at her,
"Because you said you didn't start dating yur boyfriend until he helped you move into your condo. You moved like six months ago, Mac is four months old so you moved in when you were like seven months pregnant." She sighed,
"We had known each other longer but we didn't start dating until. One night things just went too far, you know how it goes." He shook his head,
"You forgot you told me everything. How he had just moved here from Texas three months before you started dating. You were pregnant when he moved here." She shook her head,
"Ok, so I'm not happy about my circumstances and the father is no good and isn't around, do you feel better now? But Nick is not MacKenzie's dad." He grabbed her arm as she tried to turn away,
"Ok, I'm sorry. Ok?" She nodded and they embraced once more before she left. He walked back over to the van and couldn't get the baby's color out of his head or the math. Four months old, plus nine months of pregnancy added up to the time period she was with Nick. Of course there was the possibility that she did get pregnant by someone else but he couldn't shake the idea that Nick was the father. What other reason would she have to hide it from him, they talked on a regular basis, its not like she forgot she was pregnant.
Chapter 7
Reunited
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