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Angelina turned to face her more directly. “Joe cares deeply for you. Why do you think you would lose him if he found out?”
Elizabeth wiped her tears with her shirt sleeve and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “Because I was...well, now I’m...oh God what if I’m pregnant.” Her hysterical sobbing started all over again.
Angelina embraced her tightly, and rocked her back and forth. “Are you telling me you’re not on any birth control?”
“Yes, I mean no, I’m not. I hadn’t planned on...I’m not sexually active, haven’t been yet,” she muttered between gasps.
Angelina released her from her grip, and looked her in the eyes. “Listen to me, you need to go to the doctor and get checked out. And I really think Joe deserves to know.”
Elizabeth nodded and resumed chewing on her bottom lip. Exhaustion consumed her. She turned her attention back to Nick and expelled a breath. “I just don’t think I have it in me to tell Joe. Can you do it?”
He stared intensely at her. She knew she was asking a lot of him, but she knew she couldn’t do it herself. She’d been through so much already, she couldn’t bear to look into Joe’s eyes when he heard the truth about her. Nick’s lips parted to speak. She was sure he was about to refuse her request.
“Okay.”
She turned back to Angelina. “I’m so tired I just want to sleep all the time. I can’t keep my eyes open no matter how hard I try.”
“Why don’t you lay down in here and rest while Nick and I talk.”
Elizabeth slid her shoes off and curled up on the bed. Though exhaustion consumed her weary body, her mind raced to put her thoughts in order as she relived her conversation with Nick. Did she do the right thing by saddling him with telling Joe? Or was she simply being a coward? And how was Joe going to feel, getting the story from his brother, rather than her? She couldn’t seem to do or say anything right.
She cried as she curled herself into a tighter ball while attempting to reassure herself she handled the situation correctly. The Antonetti’s were a close family, surely Nick would find a better way to convey the incident to Joe, than she would.
* * * *
Joe was just about to step into the kitchen when he heard his brother whisper his name. Why a whisper? What was going on? Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he paused to eavesdrop.
“Christ, Angelina, Joe’s going to go ballistic on the bastard that did this to her.”
“I was really hoping she would tell him, but honestly, I don’t think she has it in her,” his sister’s soft voice replied.
Tell me what? What are they talking about?
“I want to know how you’re going to break this to him. You can’t just blurt it out. I think you need to soften it a bit.”
“Actually, I was kind of hoping you would take the lead on this one.”
“You’re the one that promised...”
“Promised what?” Joe asked as he stepped through the doorway. His heart racing in anticipation. “And where’s Elizabeth? I thought she would be in here with you guys?”
Angelina and Nick sat silently staring at each other, then they shifted their gazes to him.
“What’s going on? Where is she? Did something happen while I was napping? Tell me!” he demanded.
His worried gaze caught his sister’s as he waited for a response.
“Elizabeth was tired so she decided to take a nap. She’s resting in my bedroom right now.” Angelina took a deep breath. “But there’s a little more to it, though. Why don’t you sit with us?”
His heart hammered in his chest. He reached for the kitchen chair with his unsteady hand and sat. He didn’t have a clue what the problem was, but he knew by the look on his sister’s face it wasn’t good.
“Is it bad? It wasn’t the flu like she said, something happened to her, didn’t it?” Worry crashed through him like a tidal wave. “Tell me, tell me what happened.”
Angelina reached forward and placed her hands on his, and looked him in the eye. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out of her mouth. He watched as she struggled for words, then he glanced toward his brother, unable to hide the pleading desperation from his stare. Without words, his brother seemed to understand.
“Joe, what I’m about to tell you will be hard for you to hear, but I need you to listen to the whole thing before you talk with Elizabeth. Do you understand?”
He swung his gaze between his siblings, unsure as to how to respond.
