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“Yeah, I’m going.”
“Let me help you with that,” Blake mumbles when he sees Ethan and Mrs. T carrying the last of the baby boy gifts out.
I sigh longingly once I’m alone, rubbing my tightening stomach again.
“I think it’s past time for you to sit your adorable ass down, Ms. Reed.” I jump when I hear JD’s command, thinking he was still outside. “Or should I say, the future Mrs. Bourgeois?”
“I’m fine,” I say again as I make my way to the couch.
“Hmm. I don’t think you are,” he replies, helping me lift my feet, and I press my lips together to stop myself from tearing up again. He must notice it, because he plops down beside me and reaches over to grab my left hand. “She would have absolutely loved seeing this on you,” he says wistfully, holding my hand up in front of us.
I furrow my brow in confusion, and he smirks. “Mom always liked you. He doesn’t seem to remember it, but she used to tease him about you all the time. She must have known about his crush.”
I stare down at the ring. “This was Mrs. Monica’s?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”
I shake my head slowly as the panic returns. “JD … I’ve ruined everything. Even if Blake says he still wants to marry me after this, he’s going to wake up one day and regret giving me your mother’s ring,” I ramble, reaching down to tug the ring off my finger. “This belongs to Tenley, not me.”
“Hey, slow down,” he says, putting his hand on mine. “You’re scaring yourself out of this right now. Do you really think he’s going to change his mind, or are you just afraid of saying yes?” Then he pulls me closer when the only answer I offer is a loud sniffle.
“We can’t get married, though,” I wail. “I can’t let us end up like my parents.”
“It’s not fair to compare yourselves to them,” he says softly as I continue sobbing in his arms. “Besides, your parents got hitched in high school. You and Blake are two of the most intelligent, mature people I know. If you can’t make this work, who can?”
“It’s too risky to give in.”
“It’s too riskynotto give in,” he corrects me. “You can’t ignore your feelings and expect not to build resentment this way. I promise you there is something worse out there than being sad, and that’s being aloneandbeing sad.”
Ugh.He’s right. But I can’t tell him that right now.
“Wait a minute. You’re quotingTed Lassoagain, aren’t you?”
“Coach Theodore Lasso is the wisest prophet of our time,” he says, making me laugh. “But, seriously, Lo. What’s stopping you? Do you really think there’s someone else out there meant for each of you? Do you doubt how much he loves you? Are you not sure how you feel about him?”
“No,” I say softly, sitting up again. “No one tolerates me as well as he does. And I’ll never love anyone else the way I love him, will I?”
“You probably won’t,” he admits ruefully. “But the truth is you’ll still have to make the choice to keep loving him every day. So if you don’t think you can do that, then you probably shouldn’t be leading him on, either.”
I frown, not expecting JD to say that. “We’re talking about forever with the man I probably wouldn’t even consider my friend if I hadn’t gotten pregnant.”
“So what? Youdidget pregnant, and youdidfall in love. Who cares about what probably could have happened? Identical twins and a surprise proposal are way better than a sad and lonely existence.”
I tilt my head back and groan. “Gah, JD. Why are you making so much sense today?”
“I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is,” he says in his best Forrest Gump impression, making me snort.
I hold my hand up again, and he smirks as he stares at the ring with me. “You and my mom were friends, right?”
“Yeah, I guess we were. We had book club together.”
“I bet your taste in books was about the only thing the two of you had in common, though, besides your ability to secure my brother’s unconditional love and all that.”
I roll my eyes. “I mean, yeah. Your mom was lovely. She was so tall and …”
I look down at the ring again, swallowing hard. Monica Bourgeois wasn’t a tiny woman. I am. (Well, I used to be, anyway.)
“He had it resized to fit me,” I whisper, more to myself than to JD. “He was just waiting for the right time, wasn’t he?”
