What are these two up to?
Leaning down to whisper in Sophia’s ear, I ask, “What’s going on with them?”
This time she narrows her eyes at them, and I know they’re up to no good.
“Nothing.Theyare fine,” she answers through gritted teeth while keeping eye contact with both of them.
Ems and Aubs have the decency to look away and walk over to the family after Sophia’s stare down.
Sophia takes my hands in hers, looking sweet as pie. “Do you want to walk down to the cove with me?”
“Sure. Are you still not feeling well? Need to be away from the food?”
“No, I feel better. Just missed you and want to go for a walk to spend some quality time together.” She loops her arms around my middle and stands on her tippy toes to give me a kiss.
“Who am I to argue with that?” I laugh and take her hand in mine to walk down to the cove.
All of my brothers start singing,Wyatt and Sophia sitting in a tree. K-I-S–S-I-N-G.
Sophia laughs at their antics. I just roll my eyes. Guess I should expect it. I haven’t had a girlfriend since Melissa. Not that they even liked her, which they didn’t feel the need to tell me untilafterI moved back home, post-messy breakup. They really could’ve saved me a lot of trouble.
“Where would you like to sit?” The cove is private and small, so there’s not much space to walk down the beach, but we can sit here and enjoy the sound of the waves and the beauty of the descending sun on the horizon.
“Um… Anywhere really,” she says, looking around. “How about over on the log?”
Follow her over, I sit down and pull her into my lap. “Are you sure everything is okay? You look nervous.”
If seeing her so quiet wasn’t enough, when we sit down, her hands tremble in her lap.
“Actually, there is something I need to tell you.”
A cold dread snakes over my body. “Okay… I’m really sorry if I made you mad—”
She reaches out to cup my cheeks in her hands, pulling my face to hers. “No. You didn’t. You did nothing wrong.” Her soft lips drop to mine.
When she pulls back, she has a smile on her face, and now I’m more confused. “Okay? Then why do you seem nervous to tell me?”
She chews on her bottom lip. “Um… Maybe… It might be easier to show you.”
Reaching into her back pocket, she pulls out her hand in a closed fist. “Close your eyes.”
Closing them, I hold her tighter. “You know I like to be the onedoingthe surprising, right?”
She giggles. “Open your eyes.”
Looking at her outstretched palm, my eyes widen. That’s one, two, three, four… five pregnancy tests in her hand, each one showing a glaringly obvious positive. Stunned into silence, I can’t even think. I’m excited, but thoroughly shocked.
How did this happen? We’ve used condoms every time.
In the time it takes me to process what’s happening and what she’s saying, she moves off of my lap and out of my grip.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m so stupid to think that you would be happy. I amsosorry. I can leave right now, and I won’t ask you for another thing.” The panic in her voice has her eyes welling with tears.
She starts to walk away from me, but I reach out and grab her around the waist, pulling her back down to my lap. I tip her back and wrap my hand around the base of her neck, spreading my fingers into her hair and holding her to me.
“Don’t you ever think that you could make me mad with that news. I was just shocked and trying to process.” Moving my hand down to her stomach, I kiss her again. “How did this happen? I mean… I know how ithappened, but we’re always so careful.”
“I guess with everything going on, I didn’t think about it. But before I got here, I was in a medically-induced coma, and taking a ton of medications, and I never thought about how they could interact with my birth control. The night after Rebels—”
