It made her cringe, but she realized she was going to have to call her mother. She’d once sworn she’d have to be dying to ever ask her mom for anything, but right now that seemed the lesser of two evils.

“What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger, right?” she muttered.

Lame. So lame.

Still, she picked up the phone, drew in a deep breath and called the last number she had for her mother. It was entirely possible Deidre no longer lived in Florida. Who really knew with her?

She’d washed her hands of Kelly the minute Kelly graduated high school and all but shoved her out of the house so she could move in her latest boyfriend. She’d informed Kelly that she’d done her duty and devoted eighteen of the best years of her life—years she’d never get back—to raising a child she’d never intended to have.

Good luck, see you later, don’t ask me for anything else.

Yeah.

Kelly was about to hang up when her mother’s voice came over the line.

“Mom?” Kelly said hesitantly.

There was a long pause. “Kelly? Is that you?”

“Yeah, Mom it’s me. Look, I need your help. I need a place to stay. I’m…pregnant.”

There was an even longer pause this time. “Where’s that rich boyfriend of yours?”

“I’m not with him any longer,” Kelly said in a quiet voice. “I’m in Houston. I lost my job and I’m not well. The doctor is worried about the baby. I just need a place to stay for a little while. Until I get back on my feet.”

Her mother sighed. “I can’t help you, Kelly. Richard and I are busy and we just don’t have the space.”

Hurt crowded into her heart. She’d known this was pointless, but somehow she’d hoped… Quietly, she turned the phone off without saying anything else. What was there to say anyway?

Her mother had never been more than a resigned babysitter.

Kelly smoothed a hand over her belly. “I love you,” she whispered. “I’ll never begrudge a single moment I have with you.”

She leaned back in the recliner and stared up at the ceiling, hating the helplessness that gripped her. She closed her eyes in weary resignation. She was exhausted.

The next thing she knew she was being shaken awake. She yanked her eyes open to see Ryan standing over her, a plate and glass of water in his hands.

“I brought you Thai,” he said gruffly.

Her favorite. She was surprised he remembered. She struggled to sit upright and then took the plate and glass from him.

He pulled a chair from the kitchen and sat across from her as she ate. His scrutiny made her uncomfortable and so she focused on her food, not looking up.

“Ignoring me isn’t going to help.”

She paused, set her fork down and then leveled a stare at him. “What do you want, Ryan? I still don’t understand why you’re here. Or why you want me to go back to New York with you. Or why you care, period. You let me know in no uncertain terms that you wanted me as far out of your life as possible.”