Page 115 of Day Break

I raced up the stairs and rushed through our new room into the bathroom and saw the box of tampons I used to hide Sherry’s journal still sitting on the counter. I opened it and relaxed when I saw the red leather inside.

Then I frowned down at the box, realizing that it had been far over a month since I’d used any tampons. I quickly calculated in my head and was positive I was more than two weeks late.

A baby.

I was going to have a baby.

I was going to have Lane’s baby.

I smiled and felt my heart flutter at the possibility.

“What?” Lane said from behind me. “Is it gone?”

“No, it’s here. It’s just…” I held up the box. “I… I’m late. Two weeks late.” I held the box between us.

Lane’s eyes moved down to the box, then back up at me.

“Okay,” he said slowly. Then he smiled. “Okay.” He nodded several times. “This could work.”

“It can?” I asked, dumbfounded.

He walked over to me and pulled me into his arms.

Seeing our reflection in the mirror, I almost laughed. We both looked like drowned rats. Our clothes were muddy and wet, our hair and faces caked with blood and dirt.

Yet, the smiles on our faces were the brightest I’d ever seen.

“We both knew we were heading there,” he said next to my hair. “I mean, we’ve been careful, but there were times we weren’t.”

I nodded, knowing what he was saying. He was right. I hadn’t cared for a while if we used protection or not. We were in love and if by some miracle we made life, I was okay with that.

I had dreaded the idea with Elliott, but not with Lane.

“Okay,” I said with a chuckle.

“Just to be sure, we’ll swing into town tomorrow and get a test.” He kissed me.

“Everything okay?” Alex said from the doorway, his eyes going between us and the box of tampons.

“Yes,” we both said at the same time.

“Everything’s perfect,” Lane added with a laugh.

There was only a little mess in Lane’s study. It was as if whoever had broken in had only wanted to scare us or had quickly gone through the house but only had enough time to thoroughly search the one room.

Byron had been locked in the backyard, as if someone had let him out and shut the door behind him so they could do whatever they wanted inside.

Which meant that Byron had known whoever it was. Right?

After the officers left, we showered and changed into warm clothes. Then we found a new hiding spot for the diary. I planned to finish reading it the following day, but I wanted to know it was safe for the night.

I helped Lane put fresh bandages on his hands and arms, and he put a new one on my forehead.

We were both cut and bruised, but happier than we’d been in weeks.

Taking a flashlight, we grabbed a shovel out of the garage and headed to the beach with Byron on our heels.

Thankfully, it was a full moon, which helped us along the pathway. I could have found my hiding spot with my eyes closed.