Daddy’s Little Surprise (Missouri Daddies #6)

3. Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

RAINEY

“ C an I get an iced salted-vanilla cappuccino?”

“Of course. Two percent milk okay, or do you want to substitute that out?” Rainey asked.

“Two percent is fine.”

“Will that be all?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“That’ll be five dollars and twenty-five cents.”

The customer paid for their drink, and Rainey handed over their receipt before she got working on the drink.

Normally, Rainey ’didn’t take orders. She was usually making drinks or going through inventory to see if she needed to buy anything. She was the boss, but it wasn’t exactly how she imagined things would be.

Rainey knew owning a coffee shop wasn’t going to be easy. It was a lot of hard work. She was the one who had to hire people, make sure everything was running smoothly, pay her staff, and so much more. She hadn’t realized how much went into running a coffee shop .

But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Sure, she didn’t sleep well, but she also attributed that to being six months pregnant. She was more than halfway to her due date and was excited and also terrified. She going to be a single mother. She didn’t know if she had it in her, but she was going to try.

Rainey had to.

Finishing up the order, she turned around and handed the coffee to the customer. She took a step to the side and inhaled several deep breaths. There were times when it felt like she couldn’t breathe fully, and it made her panic. She tried her hardest since she knew she could breathe perfectly fine, but that was easier said than done. She was all alone on this journey.

Springfield, Missouri, was a new town to her. A fresh start. Something she needed desperately.

“Why did you open a coffee shop? You knew you wouldn’t be able to drink it.” Grace chuckled.

Rainey sighed. “It’s been a dream of mine. When the opportunity opened , I took it. Sure, it’s torture, but when was this possibility going to happen again? I had no clue, and I couldn’t take a chance on missing it.”

She hadn’t told anyone why she’d moved to this town. Not that many people asked. It was a small town, and everybody knew everyone. They probably figured she would leave after a coupleof months when the coffee shop failed.

The building was a coffee shop before, which closed a year after it opened. Rainey was determined to not have hers go the same way. She was probably one of the lucky people with enough money to rent the building while buying the equipment and everything else she needed .

Rainey wouldn’t say lucky, but other people did. She would much rather have her dad alive and with her instead of him being gone and having left her his money. Rainey hadn’t known what to do with the money when her dad died six months ago. It had just been sitting in her bank account.

She had used it all up opening this place and buying everything. But it had set her up for a little success since she was now making a profit. She only had three other employees, but they were a good group of hard-working people.

“Why did you move here all of a sudden? Why Springfield, Missouri?” Grace asked.

Nausea started to bubble in her stomach as she thought about the question. No one knew her ex-boyfriend had been both mentally and physically abusive before she left. When he found out she was pregnant, he threw money at her and told her to have an abortion. That’s when Rainey knew she needed to get out of there.

She had always wanted children and thought she had wanted them with Pete, but he started to show his true colors toward the end. It all changed when he joined a gang. When she heard him talk about it after he told her to get rid of the baby, she knew her only option was leaving. Especially when she told him she wouldn’t and he said he would give up all the rights if she had the baby.

Deep down, Rainey knew he wouldn’t give up the rights but kill her instead and keep the baby. She didn’t want Pete to bring the baby up. Not when he was abusive toward her.

“I was looking for buildings, and I saw this one had come up. I figured since I had some money, I could open and people would love it.” Rainey was being vague .

She hoped she never had to explain everything. She wanted to keep it a secret so nobody looked at her differently. When people heard someone had been physically or mentally abused, they tended to look at them weirdly and stay away. Thankfully, it had only been the last month she had lived there, so she hadn’t gotten used to it. But it still messed with her. Sometimes, she found herself flinching when a man, the same build as Pete, raised his hand. The first couple of times, she apologized but quickly realized it was a good way to get people to look at her strangely.

It was a small town, and things spread like wildfire.

“I know there’s a reason, and at some point, I’m going to get it out of you. I feel like you need to talk about it for some reason, but I don’t know why.”

“Probably because I gave you a job when you really needed it and now you feel like you owe me?” Rainey gave her a pointed look.

Grace waved her hand in the air. “Thank you again for hiring me, but I don’t think that’s it. There’s like, a sadness of sorts to you. But at the same time, I feel like you’re scared.”

Rainey took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a coupleof seconds. She was scared. She had left in the middle of the night, telling nobody where she was going. Pete may come looking for her, and she had no way to defend herself. She was terrified that if he found her, he would kill her.

The month before she left, Pete had gotten more physical, especially when he was drinking. All his rage just came out, and he decided to take it out on her. If he found her, he would get that angry again—or worse .

“I need a couple minutes of fresh air,” Rainey rushed out. “Watch the shop.”

“Take your time. I’m sorry for asking all the questions!” Grace called out.

In the little time she had known Grace, Rainey had learned she wasn’t really sorry. It was more of a formality, but she would be asking those questions again. Rainey would just have to make sure she was doing something busy, so she didn’t have to answer them.

Rainey had already been nauseous when Grace started her questioning. It made her worry that Pete knew where she was. What if Pete was talking to Grace? Just the thought of that made her want to vomit.

She took several deep breaths in, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn’t working. If anything, she got more nauseous as she smelled the food from next door. Rainey turned in the other direction, trying to get some air that didn’t smell like food, but as she continued to breathe, the only thing she could smell was the aroma from her neighbor’s shop.

Rainey bent over, putting her hands on her knees as she tried not to throw up. It was not on her bucket list to puke in front of her coffee shop.

“Are you okay?” a man asked.

Rainey held up her hand, signaling to give her a second. She was trying her hardest not to vomit. It was her least favorite thing. But the nausea wasn’t going away.

The man took her hand and gently started to rub it. “Are you okay?”

She turned her head and looked to see who the guy was talking to,but before she could get a good look, she felt her stomach roll as she smelled his cologne and puked on the sidewalk.

“Wow, you’re okay,” the man said as he grabbed her hair while still holding her hand.

Tears ran down her face as she puked once again. Rainey had thought it was going to be a good day and she wouldn’t puke when she woke up. Even though she was out of her first trimester, she was still throwing up at least four times a week.

“You’re okay. Everything is going to be okay. Here’s a handkerchief to wipe your mouth when you’re done,” he gently spoke.

She started to cry harder at his tone of voice. She couldn’t remember the last person who talked to her in such a gentle and kind way. Her hormones were all out of whack. She cried over the silliest things and got angry over nothing.

“Everything is going to be okay. How about we go into the coffee shop and get you some water and have you sit down? You just let me know when you’re okay to walk, and I’ll help you in there.”

Rainey took in several deep breaths, knowing it could make her puke again. She needed to fill her lungs with air, or she was going to pass out.

“You’re okay. I’m not going anywhere. You take your time.”

Who was this man? Why was he being so nice to her?

Most of the locals in town didn’t pay much attention to her. She loved that, but it meant whenever she was in a pickle, she was by herself. There were less than a handful of people willing to help, and she felt bad calling them. They had their own lives .

“Such a good girl for taking some breaths. I have a mint. Do you want it?” he asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t want anything flavored right now. Even if it would get rid of the taste in her mouth, she knew there was a slight possibility she would hurl again.

Rainey loved being pregnant but didn’t much like this part of it. She had hoped she’d be one of the women who didn’t get sick after the first trimester, but that didn’t turn out to be true.

Her brain finally wrapped around him calling her a good girl. She so desperately wanted to look up and see who this person was.

“Feeling a little bit better?”

“Y-yes,” she whispered.

Ever so slowly, she stood to her full height. The man wrapped his arm around her waist, and they both started to walk toward the coffee shop.

Rainey would have looked over had they walked up to the front door, but she was worried she would trip on her own two feet. She was clumsy and didn’t need to trip, especially in front of this kind man.

“Once we get into the coffee shop, I’m going to find you a seat before I go get water for you.”

She nodded and briefly closed her eyes as her vision started to swim. Maybe she stood up too fast and all the blood was rushing to her head. Or maybe it was because she was dehydrated and needed to feel her body.

“Are you okay?” the man asked.

“Y-yes.” But it was a lie. As they walked the through the door, her vision started to swim even more. The corners started to grow dark.

“Everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to find you a chair, and I’m going to get you some water.”

“Rainey!” Grace yelled.

She whimpered and leaned into the man’s embrace as she started to become dizzy. His body was so warm and inviting. Rainey knew she should tell him she was dizzy and felt like puking again, but she couldn’t get the words out. It was like her brain decided it was done and was shutting down her whole body.

Was she dying?

“Here’s a chair,” the man gently said.

Rainey saw Grace run toward her, but before she could sit down or Grace could get to her, she started to slump into the man’s side.

“Woah.” He held on tightly. “Are you okay?”

That was the last thing she heard before she passed out in his arms.