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Hope was saved from answering by the arrival of Jules and Adam. He didn’t look particularly happy, but then, he hadn’t every time she’d seen him recently. Jules, on the other hand, was grinning, just like her aunt. “Hope!”
They went through another round of welcomes, and then another when Quinn and his girlfriend, Aubry, showed up. Apparently she was Jules’s best friend or something. The energy of the room was great, everyone smiling and chatting.
Which was when Hope’s parents showed up.
They stopped just inside the doorway, their faces expressionless. Just like that, she knew exactly how things were going to go down. There would be no happiness here. No joy. Nothing but more guilt, filling up the room until she was liable to choke on it. She broke away from talking with Quinn and crossed to meet them, her heart in her throat. “Mom. Dad. I’m glad you’re here.” She wasn’t, though. She kind of wished she’d saved this news to be shared privately, so it wouldn’t tarnish the Rodriguez family’s happiness.
“What’s going on?” Her dad put his arm around her mom’s shoulders, as if she would break apart if he didn’t hold her tightly enough. Ever since Hope graduated, her mom had become almost…brittle. As if she’d managed to put a good face on things and hold it together until she was sure her one remaining child would be okay. It was only then that she’d fallen apart and never quite seemed to put herself back together again.
Now, in the room full of John’s old friends and the Rodriguezes, she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Hope cleared her throat. “I, uh, we have something to tell you.”
“Oh, God, don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
The room fell silent, the harsh words seeming to take up physical space, creating an atmosphere that no one was willing to break. The seconds ticked by—five, ten, fifteen, twenty.
She jumped when Daniel’s arm slipped around her waist, a comfort she hadn’t been aware she needed until it was there. His expression gave nothing away, but his dark eyes weren’t happy. “Yes, you’re going to be grandparents.”
Hope’s mother swayed like she might faint. She pinned Hope with a look. “How did this happen? You said you weren’t seeing anyone, let alone him. You said nothing about seeing him when you were here for John.”
She had to say something, but she couldn’t push the words past her closed throat. Daniel didn’t seem to have the same problem. His arm around her tightened, a slight tremor the only indication that he was as unsteady as she was. “It might not have been planned, but it doesn’t matter. We’re having a baby.”
Her mom made a face like she was going to say something to cut straight to the bone, but her dad cut in. “I think now isn’t the best time to talk about things. We all need some time and space to calm down so we can talk rationally.” He nodded at Hope, pointedly not looking at Daniel. “We’ll call you, honey.” And then they were gone, sweeping out the door and leaving awkward silence in their wake.
Well, that’s a great sign of things to come.
…
Daniel could feel the tension in Hope’s body, even if none of it showed on her face. They’d known there was a chance the people in their lives wouldn’t react positively to the news, but he’d expected reactions more like Adam’s—shock and anger and then acceptance. He hadn’t thought that the Moores would actually turn around and walk out the second they heard they were going to be grandparents.
He squeezed Hope’s hip, trying to tell her that even if every other person turned their back on them, he would stand by her side no matter what. He owed that to both her and the memory of John. They shifted to take in the shocked expressions on the faces of every single person in the room. For one eternal second, no one said anything.
Then his mom moved forward, her dark eyes shining. “A baby?”
Hope gave a jerky nod. “I’m due May seventeenth.” They’d calculated her due date using some internet site, but she had a doctor appointment in about a month to confirm it.
May 17. That’s going to come up so fucking quick.
“Oh, honey, that’s wonderful.” She hugged Hope again, meeting Daniel’s eyes over her shoulder. There was so much there—too much to readily decipher. It was like he’d offered his mom a lifeline in the middle of a hurricane when she’d given up hope of a rescue. It was too much for the news they were giving her. He didn’t deserve that look for what had started as yet another fuckup in a long line of fuckups. Daniel might not view it that way now, but it wasn’t like he and Hope had planned it out. The damn condom broke, and this was where they ended up.
