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“Nothing,” I replied with a kind smile.
“You can tell me what you’re going to do with my sister.”
“Wes!” I snapped at him as he reached Ethan. Henley rushed around the counter to push Wes back.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is not the place, Wes,” Henley said in a hushed voice.
Coral stared at them. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Wes.” Ethan put his hands up in front of him. “No offense, but this is between Riley and me.”
“Afraid not. Family is there for family. You know that.”
“What the hell is going on?” Coral raised her voice, and just then, Brad stepped into the room, Carmen and Tonya behind him.
“Nothing,” I tried to tell her.
Tonya came over to me. “Aunt Riley, when is the baby due?”
“You’re pregnant?” Coral snapped, and Carmen gasped.
I picked up the dish I had in my hand and slammed it on the counter. I sure was glad that it didn’t shatter, because that would have been my luck right then. However, I got the attention that I wanted.
“There is not one person in this room beside Ethan and me that have a right to talk about this. Yes, I am pregnant. Yes, he is the father. Now all of you butt the hell out until we have time to work things out.”
I turned and stalked to the back door, shoving the squeaking thing open and rushing out. I heard Ethan’s voice behind me, but not what was said.
I heard the door open and glanced back to yell at whoever was coming out, but I saw that it was Ethan. I resigned myself to having to discuss this with him whether I wanted to or not.
He approached slowly, stopping about three feet away. “How far along are you?”
“Nine weeks.”
“When did you find out?”
“The day before you left for training. I was only four weeks then.”
“You came over that night to tell me?”
I nodded and crossed my arms tightly over my chest. “Yes, and you told me that you had to put distance between us and you were moving on. I couldn’t tell you. The words just wouldn’t come out, not with how angry you were.”
He shook his head and hung it for a minute. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry about Henley hitting you.”
He touched his cheek. “I deserved it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I was an ass to you. Before I left and you wouldn’t admit that you loved me, I kind of lost it. I was jealous as hell of Newman—shit. I’ve been jealous of every single man you have been with for the last ten years, Riley.”
“I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to be what you wanted.”
He stepped forward slightly. “The only thing that I wanted was for you to be with me. We were always good together. We’ve been friends forever. We know everything about one another.”
“We are good friends,” I replied, my stomach quivering as I tried to figure out where he was going with this conversation.
Ethan stepped closer, taking my face in his hands and lifting my chin up. He stared down at me. “Riley, I have been in love with you since I was sixteen years old. I would do anything for you, including be here with you every single step of the way. I don’t know how you feel about me or about having this baby, but I need you to know that I will help you with anything. I will never leave you alone to deal with this—any of it.”
