“Easton, umm…he visited in the days after you left. I asked if he knew whether you’d returned to Whispering Willows, but he had no idea where you were, so I knew you hadn’t gone home.”
Fucking Easton.
“I looked for you. In all our old places, but it was like you disappeared into thin air.”
There’s an ache in my chest at the pain in her words, and I remember those early days when I forced myself to stay away, only allowing myself to glimpse her the afternoon of the Hans Liebermann audition. I snuck into the theater, needing to ensure she was still whole. In one piece.
But I’d felt her pain even more keenly than my own as she poured every ounce of raw emotion into her audition piece.
And when she’d finished the final strains of “On My Own,” she’d opened her eyes to stare right at me where I’d cloaked myself in shadows at the back of the theater. She’d stared for so long that I was entirely sure she’d been able to see me…
“The day you left, I finished up at the studio earlier than usual. I don’t know if you remember, but I hadn’t been feeling well, so Hayles came with me. She jokingly asked if my period was late…”
As my veins turn to ice, my body freezes, and my heart starts to thump so fast that I swear I can feel it jack-knifing against my breastbone.
“I told her she was being silly, but we stopped at her place. She ran out and grabbed a test, and I took it…to get her off my case more than anything else.”
My mouth is bone dry as my breaths come in panting rasps, and my palms itch with the need to hold Emmy as she continues, her voice breaking on the last word.
“But it was positive, Ford. The day you left was the day I found out that I was having your baby.”
CHAPTER 20
EMERSON
Five Years Ago
My hand tremblesas I stare at the window of the pregnancy test in my grasp. There’s a buzzing sound in my ears as panic swirls in my chest, threatening to rise with each breath I rasp.
I can’t be pregnant…
The timing is all wrong. Ford’s father’s trial is beginning soon, and we’ll have to deal with the fallout, whatever that may be. My big break might be just around the corner. My first major audition isnext week, for Christ’s sake.
Not to mention the fact neither of us has a cent to our names…
“Oh my God…” My words are a whisper, meant for no one, until I realize I’m not, in fact, alone. Eyes dropping from the blatantly positive lines to my flat stomach, I lay the palm of my hand atop it, eyes widening in wonder as the panic shifts to all-consuming joy. Because suddenly, everything else ceases to matter.
Tears fill my eyes, and my voice trembles when I murmur, “Hello, you.”
Raw emotion clogs my throat, and my chest feels tight as I’m filled with awe at the knowledge thatright there, beneath my hand, is living proof of the love shared between Ford and me.
Visions of our future flash through my mind. Ford’s face as I tell him the news shifts into him pressing a kiss to my heavily pregnant stomach. That visual slowly morphs into him cuddling a pink bundle to his broad chest, a smile wider than the Grand Canyon creasing his face.
Joyful tears crest my lashes, streaming down my cheeks to splash onto the hand curved protectively over the space our miracle occupies as a sense of rightness settles over me.
“Well? What does it say?”
Hayley’s impatient voice from the other side of the door bursts my bubble, and I quickly glance around, spotting the spare stick poking out of the packet.
“Hold on…umm…I think it’s a dud. I’ll try the other test.”
I grab the spare and rip it open, turning on the tap before holding it beneath the stream of water. Hayley tuts loudly, and I hear her feet begin to pace once again, as they had been before.
Knowing that I need to tell our baby’s father before anyone else, I quickly ram the positive stick into the back pocket of my jeans, carefully arranging my oversized tee to cover it. Then I grab the spare stick, unlock the door, and waltz into Hayley’s bedroom with an artfully careless look on my features.
“You realize this is a waste of time, right? It’s the stomach flu, nothing more, nothing less.”
Hayley squints her eyes, looking me up and down with a wary expression. “Hmm…I dunno. You’re giving me all the preggo vibes, Em. I mean,come on! You’ve been nauseous practically every day for more than a month now. You’ve been falling asleep at rehearsal, forgetting stupid things, and your boobs are bigger too?—”
