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His confusion hangs in the air, and my heart starts to hammer for an entirely different reason. I have to do this, and despite everything, I’m terrified.
“Natasha did say something to me. She made it pretty clear she was going to do everything in her power to destroy you.”
“I know this.”
“Just let me finish.” I sigh. “I tried to stand up for you. I tried to make her see she’d be hurting Elijah just as much if she went through with all this. It wasn’t going to stop her, but in doing so, I let something else slip. Something that she swore she’d use against you if I didn’t leave town.”
“Natasha told you to leave?”
“Yes. And I was going to. It might still be the better option, but…”
Silence hangs for a moment while my head swims.
“What, Liv? Tell me.”
“You should know. Before you decide to throw away your career to be with me, you should know.”
My heart thunders, and my throat pinches my words back, sealing them behind my vocal cords.
“I should know what?” Noah raises his brows at me. “Just tell me. Stop stalling.”
It’s such a “dad” thing to say, and the tears start back up again.
“When I spoke to Natasha, I said you were a good father, that you’d been trying so hard to be there for Elijah even through all the stress going on. I didn’t mean to put my hand on my stomach, but I didn’t notice until it was too late.”
“Put your hand on your stomach?”
Noah squints at me as I repeat the gesture, laying my palm over my lower belly and the tiny poppy-seed fetus growing in there.
He stares for a moment before looking back up at me. I raise my brows at him, nodding. Come on. Put it together.
And he does.
His eyes flick from my face to my stomach and back several times, and then his hands go under my elbows, pulling me close.
“You’re…you’re…”
“I’m pregnant.”
I haven’t officially said the words out loud since Becca, and it feels strange.
I don’t think it’s possible for Noah’s eyes to blow any wider, and a tiny gasp escapes him.
“Holy shit.”
When I look back on this, I’ll always remember Noah’s first words upon finding out were holy shit.
The tears come again, and I’m worried Noah is upset, but then he falls to his knees in front of me and rests his head on my lower belly as he cries. His big arms wrap around me, and then he turns, pressing his lips to where our little human grows.
“Hello, in there. I’m your dad.”
Sobs rack my body as a relief so profound washes over me that my knees buckle. Noah’s got me, though, and that feeling just bolsters the joy spreading through my body.
“Oh, Liv. Are you okay?”
Noah stands back up, pulling me into his arms, and all I can do is nod. I let the emotions overwhelm me, laying my head against his chest.
When I can finally speak again, I look up at Noah, who smiles down at me. It’s the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen him wear.
