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Her mother reached out a shaky hand and steadied her, and Ava went into her arms, giving her a hug and receiving a long, tight embrace in return. As her mother held her, she whispered into her hair, "Ava, baby, I'm not perfect. I've never been perfect. Please forgive me. All I've ever wanted is what's best for you. Nothing else. I've said some harsh things—unacceptable, horrible things, out of pure fear. I thought I was doing the right thing. I only wanted you to be happy. I didn't want you to be robbed of your youth. It was never because of Ethan, I promise you that. He's a good man and he'll be a wonderful father. I'm afraid I've taken everything out on him. I'm ashamed of that. I'm ashamed of myself."
As her mother began sobbing again, Ava felt torn. Although her mom's apology was like nirvana to her, she truly didn't think she had the stamina to support the woman through this turmoil, but she knew she would try her best. But first things first. "Mom, I love you, I do, but I really need to pee," she said, breaking away from her mother.
"Oh! Of course," her mother said as she stepped away so Ava could make a break for the bathroom.
When she returned a few minutes later, the situation hadn't resolved itself. Nate had moved and was standing with his back against the front door, a silent observer to the tableau unfolding in his apartment. Her mother had crumpled into a sitting position on the couch.
Ava's cell phone began ringing. She picked it up and glanced at it, seeing it was Ty. "Hey," she answered quickly.
"Hey," he said, his voice holding an edge of wariness.
"What's up?" she asked soberly.
"Have you heard from Dad?"
She blew out a breath and answered. "He called me while I was on the bus, but I haven't heard from him since then. He was almost at your place but said he was stopping at a hotel to rest." She hesitated and then said, "Mom's here," still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that their parents had separated—and that her mother was taking the blame.
"Shit. I'm sorry, Ava. I didn't mean to tell her where you were, but I felt so damn sorry for her."
"It's okay," she said, pacing a couple of steps toward the kitchen to find a bit of privacy. "She apologized," Ava whispered into the phone. "Can you believe that?"
"About fucking time," Ty answered. "So, listen. I don't want to alarm anybody, but even if Dad stopped at a hotel, he should have made contact by now. I was expecting him hours ago."
"I'm sure he's okay. There's no reason to jump to conclusions, is there? He probably meant to call but went right to sleep."
"Yeah, I know, but still. He knew I was expecting him by now. And he's not answering his phone. I'm just having a bad feeling, I guess," he paused and took a deep breath. "You heard from Ethan?"
"Not yet."
"Yeah, well, you will. He called me last night. Super fucking upset. I warned him not to kill Nate," he intoned, tongue-in-cheek.
Ava felt another stroke of anger toward Ethan. He was upset? Where the hell had he been when she'd needed him? Where was he now? "Well, I haven't heard from him," she reiterated icily.
"I'm sure he texted you. Are you sure he hasn't?"
"I haven't had a chance to look. I literally just woke up and found Mom standing over me."
"Ava, listen. Maybe go a little easy on him. Nobody's asked for my opinion but it sounds like a big mix-up to me. He said he's been working. He got a job in a grocery store. Said he didn't want you to know because you'd worry. He sounded sincere and scared shitless that he couldn't find you. For what it's worth, I believe him."
Yeah, that sounded like Ethan. No matter how upset she was, she knew him and she had faith in him. He wasn't one of those guys who'd shirk his responsibilities. She should have known he'd stretch himself too thin for her sake. He'd want to earn every cent he could for her and the baby. But she still felt incredibly queasy when she recalled being tormented by the bitches in his dorm room. "Yeah? How did he explain the sluts in his room?"
"Said his roommate's a whore and they're the guy's fuckbuddies."
Ava fell silent. It was believable, even understandable, she supposed. She certainly couldn't blame Ethan for being so hot that girls wanted him and were jealous of her. Feeling some relief from her worry, she stretched an arm up above her head just as another searing pain wrapped around her belly, even worse than before.
Her hand fell to her back to ease the pain. She must have grunted because Ty's voice was urgent as he asked, "What's going on. Are you okay?"
Before she could respond, a cell phone began ringing in the room. Ava recognized the ringtone as her mom's phone. Strangely, the pain wasn't letting up; in fact, it seemed to be getting worse.
As she struggled to catch her breath and answer her brother, her mother took the call. "Hello?"
Ty asked again, "Ava. What's going on? Are you okay?"
"Mmmph," she winced as she continued to rub her back. "Yeah, I guess. I think sitting in that bus seat for hours wasn't great for my back. Maybe I pulled a muscle. Damn, that hurts." She winced as the pain deepened. "Probably just stress. I've kind of had a lot going on lately," she said, going for a little levity.
"It's too early to go into labor," he replied worriedly.
"It can't be labor yet. Braxton-Hicks or something like that, maybe—"
"What?" her brother asked, as if she were speaking a foreign language, but Ava's senses were overwhelmed as two things began happening simultaneously: another wave of pain sliced viciously through her, this one so deep that she doubled over; then her mother dropped her cell phone, cutting off whatever the other party had been saying.
Her mom's face was ashen as the phone clattered across the floor, coming to rest by the door. With a raw, agonized wail, the older woman dropped down to the sofa, her head drooping, her arms wrapping around her midsection as her shoulders began shaking.
Through the debilitating pain, Ava was aware that things weren't right. The atmosphere in the apartment had changed and the air suddenly seemed stifling and utterly still. It was as if the world had simply stopped. Backing up a step, she leaned against the wall for support, her phone still in her hand but nowhere near her ear as she held her stomach in agony.
She was barely aware that Nate had moved away from his position at the front door. He picked up the phone that her mother had just dropped. He put it to his ear and said a few words, then just listened. After he ended the call, he lowered the phone to his side and just stood there in the middle of the room with his eyes closed, looking stricken.
All at once, he straightened and looked around. He took stock of the situation in the room and hurried to Ava's side. Firmly taking her phone away from her, he put it to his ear and turned his head away, saying quietly, "Anderson, it's Nate. Hold on a minute, okay?" With that, he put an arm around Ava's shoulders and led her over to the sofa, then gently eased her down next to her mother.
Her mom was actively sobbing now and it was all Ava could do not to pass out from the pain she was feeling. "What happened?" she asked. "Mom, what happened? What's wrong?" Ava gasped as a fresh pain took hold in her lower back.
Nate took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, then put her phone to his ear. "Anderson. You still there, buddy?"
Through a thick haze, Ava heard the affirmative answer her brother gave.
Nate's hand tightened on hers. "Ty. Listen. Your mother just got some really bad news." As he spoke into the phone to her brother, Nate held Ava's gaze with a compassion so deep that her eyes began to water. "I hate like hell to have to tell y'all this, but your father was in an accident." He paused and took a deep breath as if he didn't want to go on before finally saying, "His car hit the back of a semi." He swallowed hard. His grip on Ava's hand tightened almost painfully. "He didn't make it."
The words seemed to hover in the air, their meaning fighting for dominance against the roaring in Ava's ears and the wave of pain that struck again so suddenly, it stole her breath. The contraction radiated out from her spine to her abdomen and then back again. She shuddered as the edges of h
er vision splintered and faded to black.
Chapter Ten
Ethan climbed out of his truck and slammed the door. The sun wasn't even up yet, but he didn't care. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he crossed the drive toward the building that housed the apartment units. He was a man on a mission. No way could he have waited any longer. No, he was done waiting; he was here at the crack of dawn to storm the damn castle.
The mother of his child was in that house and he needed Nate to let him in so he could explain himself. He needed to make things right. When Ava had been alone and needed him, he hadn't been there. Even if it had been a simple matter of bad timing or whatever, he needed to make it clear that it would never happen again; that they were going to be together from here on out.
He was a family man now, and he was here to claim his family.
Ethan banged on Nate's door so damn hard that his knuckles throbbed. When the asshole finally opened the door, Ethan had no fucking clue how he managed not to lay the guy out cold. But he didn't, he held it in because all Ethan had time for was Ava.
And besides, he'd promised Ty he wouldn't hit the guy. Fucking Ty. Always ruining his goddamn plans.
