Cynthia continued to clean out the wound and talk to keep Simone calm, but Simone lay quietly.

Finally Curtis took a seat on the stool next to the bed. He laid all the materials he needed on the tray next to him. The wound wasn 't bad. Head wounds always looked worse than they were because they bled so much.

"Did you hit your head on the steering wheel? " he asked.

"Yes, " she said very softly, nearly inaudible.

"Simone, how did you do this? You couldn 't have been going too fast, " Cynthia chimed in as Curtis opened the package of bandages.

"I was just worked up and not paying attention, " again her voice was soft, almost inaudible.

Curtis lifted the bandages from their protective case with tweezers. Cynthia moved in beside him to help secure their placement and a moment later he tore off his gloves. "Done. "

"I 'm glad you didn 't hurt yourself worse. You can still dance with this, " Cynthia said and they both looked at her. "Oh, c 'mon, I heard you two had a great time. I want to go out again. "

Curtis watched as Simone 's eyes lowered and he stood up from the stool. "I 'll be right back. "

He walked out of the curtained area in search of a sonogram machine and realized Cynthia was right on his heels.

"She 's bawling like a baby in there. What the hell did you do to her? "

"How is it that everyone assumes I 'm the reason for her misery? " He opened the door to another room and saw the machine he was looking for. "She 's old enough to have made her own mistakes. I have nothing to do with her. "

"Nothing to do with her? I thought you two worked things out. I thought you were in love with her. I thought you were going back after you pissed me off and working on not being such an ass. " Cynthia stood at the door and watched him. "What 's the machine for? "

He huffed out an angry breath. "If you must know, she 's pregnant and I promised her I 'd check on the baby. "

Cynthia stepped into the room and let the door shut behind her. "She 's what? "

"Oh, please. You see this every day of your life. Simone is pregnant. "

"You 're having a baby? "

He wrapped the c1ord around his hand. "Not me. Her. I have nothing to do with this. "

"She told you it was someone else 's baby? "

"She didn 't tell me anything. " And that was getting to him more than any part of her antics. Even when he said he 'd check on the baby she hadn 't said a word.

"Curtis, " she placed a gentle hand on his arm, "you need to talk to her. Why would she have come here if it wasn 't your baby? "

"You don 't know her. She comes from a conniving family and she 's just posh enough to think she needs a daddy for her baby. What better man than one who has a gracious family around him all the time. "

"I don 't think she 'd use you. "

"Oh, yeah? She 's been around the block, honey. I 'm sure there are a lot more men who have claim to that baby than me. "

"I could slap you. " She moved up to him and stood there nearly chest to chest. "Just because a woman has been a bit free with herself doesn 't mean she can 't love the right man. Things happen, Curtis. Maybe if you 'd give her a moment you 'd see that. "

"She seems to be in a much better relationship with your boyfriend than she is with me. Maybe we should talk to him about this. Maybe he 's the daddy. "

At that point Cynthia did slap him right across the cheek and it stung.

He gritted his teeth against the pain. "Get out of my way. I 'm going to check on her and then take her to the airport. She 's already called her daddy and he 's sending a plane for his princess. My charity work here is done. "

He pulled the machine past Cynthia and pushed it down the hall to the curtained off area where Simone had been, but now she was gone.

Chapter Fourteen

The only thing Simone could hope for was that by the time she landed in Paris all of her tears would be dry forever, but for now, alone on her father 's charted jet, she 'd cry.

For a moment at the hospital she thought there might have been a chance t1o salvage what had gone so badly wrong. She 'd never intended on Curtis finding out she was pregnant in such a horrific way. He hadn 't even asked any questions, he 'd just turned to leave. Perhaps he was more volatile a personality than she 'd thought. Just because all the other Kellers were sound minded didn 't mean he was.

Perhaps that was good to know now, but still she would have thought he 'd have said something. The only mention he 'd even made was that he 'd check on her baby.

The tears kept pouring down her cheeks and her head pounded where the strips of fabric held her cut closed. Oh, she must have looked like an idiot crashing into the wall at in Zach 's building. That hadn 't gone as planned either. The phone call to her father where she cried like a baby was about the only thing that had gone right. He 'd said I told you so and sent for a plane.

She pulled the small lap blanket from the empty seat next to her and covered herself up. Her body shivered, not from the temperature of the air, but from the hateful words she 'd overheard Curtis say to Cynthia.

He thought she 'd run out of the room and skipped out on him, but not until after he 'd left the hospital. She 'd waited in the restroom until it was clear to walk out without being seen.

He had some lessons to learn about bedside manner. If you were going to talk so loudly that you could be heard from the bathroom across the hall perhaps you shouldn 't be a doctor.

She 'd only needed to go to the restroom, she didn 't know she 'd find that Curtis thought the baby was someone else 's and that she was trying to force him to be the father.

Well obviously, he was not father material.

She 'd be better off in Paris with her father 's money and her mother 's strange empathy than with Curtis, who only thought of her as a tramp who got in some trouble.

The tears began to dry as she reclined in her seat, but the small flutter in her stomach couldn 't be ignored. The baby was moving and it was just another moment Curtis would miss in their life of his child.

Simone certainly was surprised to see her mother waiting for her when she arrived in Paris.

The tears were back when her mother lifted her arms and Simone hurried to her and accepted the embrace.