Page 205 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

“I didn’t ask that.”

“You were going to.”

A broken little sound escapes me.

He reaches for my hand, then pauses. “I need to go home.”

My fingers go slack in his. “Oh.”

His grip tightens immediately. “Not because of this.”

I stare at the blanket. The hospital blanket's rough and thin and tucked too neatly around my waist. “Okay.”

“I can’t leave Oliver with Diane too much longer. It’s too much for her, and there isn’t anyone else.”

I nod.

Of course.

Oliver.

Sweet, sleepy Oliver in airplane pajamas, expecting his dad to come home.

The guilt arrives fast and ugly, because for one terrible second, I want to say “don’t go”. I want to be selfish. I want him to sit in that chair all night and hold my hand and tell me every terrifying thing is manageable because he’s Ethan Strong and he makes things manageable.

But Oliver needs him.

Oliver is five.

Oliver has already lost one parent.

And Ethan looks like the hospital room is made of ghosts.

“You should go,” I say, even though it hurts.

His jaw tightens. “I’ll come back first thing in the morning.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll speak with the nurse before I leave. Make sure they know to call me if anything changes.” He pauses. “I can arrange a private room and additional consultation.”

“Ethan.” I force myself to look at him. There he is, trying to build a fortress around a situation he can’t control. “I’m okay.”

Then he leaves.

The door closes softly behind him, and the room becomes enormous.

For a minute, I hold it together, I really do. I stare at the ceiling. I listen to the beeping. I drink water. I tell myself I'man adult woman who can spend one night in a hospital without dissolving like wet tissue paper.

Then my hand moves to my stomach again, and a sob slips out.

I turn onto my side carefully, curling around the place where everything has changed, and cry into the scratchy hospital pillow until my throat hurts.

I cry because I have no idea what’s next.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Ethan