AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I fight against the lethargy holding me down. Working against the exhaustion to prop myself up. “Two hours?”
“Yeah.” He runs a hand down my face. It’s my favorite hand. His left hand that holds the ring I put there a month and a half ago. The coolness feels good to the warmth of my skin. “Babe, are you okay?” His eyes are worried, a frown mars his gorgeous face as he stares hard at me. “I know we haven’t been together years and years, but in the months I’ve known you, I haven’t ever seen you be this tired or this rundown.”
“I know.” I push my hair back from my forehead, stomach growling. “I’m starving now, and I feel like I have a bit more energy.”
“I made you a grilled cheese!” His voice is proud now that he’s finally mastered it. “Even though I fuckin’ learnedaftermy kid is grown and out of the house.” He has a seat next to me, as I pull my legs up to my chest.
“Just like I did for Caleb when he was sick?” I smile thinking of my stepson. “Have you talked to him lately?”
Mason takes a bite of one of the two sandwiches on the plate in front of him. “He called earlier while you were asleep. Said to tell you hi and he loves you, he’ll text later.”
Taking another bite of the food, I breathe through my nose as the food threatens to come back up. Throwing it down, I concentrate on trying to keep the food inside my body. When I know it won’t work, I throw back the blanket I’m covered with and head for the trash can in the kitchen, right as I lose it all. Mason is behind me, holding my hair, trying to keep it from getting dirty, rubbing my back as I heave deeply. As I’m done, he directs me over to the sink where with shaking hands, I clean up and then turn to face Mason.
He looks lickable, leaning against the opposite cabinet, staring at me with those dark eyes of his. His arms are crossed over his chest, the ink on his forearm standing out to me as I make a feast of his body. When I get to his face, his mouth is set in a firm line.
“What?” I tilt my head to the side.
Pushing off the counter, he stands in front of me, grasping my chin with his thumb and index finger, making our gazes meet. “Rina.” He stops speaking, using his other hand, he pushes it down my body, stopping on my stomach. “Have you even thought?” He lets the question hang there in the air.
“Before school started.” I swallow hard, remembering that afternoon where we’d joked about getting pregnant. The one last hoorah of debauchery before we both had responsibilities and early wake up times. “Do you think? Mason, it couldn’t have happened the first time we tried, right?”
“All it takes is once,” he whispers as he crowds into my space. “You weren’t on birth control before.”
He’s right, I wasn’t, but I always assumed getting pregnant would be this long, drawn-out process, with plans, and charts, and temperature taking. But maybe when you’re the happiest you’ve ever been, throwing caution to the wind and letting love encompass every part of your soul, you’re given a miracle. “You really think so?”
“Only one way to find out, babe.”
* * *
Not even inmy wild youth have I ever suspected I was pregnant. Me and my ex-fiancé never had a scare. I’ve always been more cautious than the next person, just because that’s my personality. Mason is the first person I’ve ever been unprotected with. It strikes me as funny when I think of what that really means. I don’t hide anything from him, he gets it all unfiltered and unprotected. The sex, the love, the heart, the mouth, and he accepts all of it. It’s just the way he is.
And right this moment, I never imagined we’d be where we are. At a drugstore the next town over, picking up a pregnancy test. We’d decided to go this far out of our way because we didn’t want to run into anyone we know and get a rumor started. But I can’t help the way my hand shakes as we walk through the store.
“It’s over there,” I whisper as I point to the aisle withFamily Planninghanging over it.
When we turn the corner, we’re faced with more options than I ever thought possible.
“Jesus Christ.” Mason glances at me. “Which one do we get?”
“You’ve done this before,” I remind him as I start to feel queasy again.
“Oh, not this part,” he’s quick to correct me.
“Howdidyou find out about Caleb?” I’m honestly curious, and this is something we haven’t talked about before.
“This one of those questions, Rina?” He references back to our twenty-question type game we played when we first got together.
Do I really need to know how this happened to him before? Do I want to subject myself to what he went through with another woman? Before the answer would have been no, a very quick and adamant no. But today, starting what will hopefully be a new version of our family, I want to know.
“Yeah, I’d like to know.”
He blows out a deep breath, running his free hand through his hair. “Her mom actually told me. I guess she had morning sickness and eventually they got it out of her. At ten in the morning, someone was beating on my bedroom door, screaming at me that I was a no-good piece of shit.”
My heart breaks for him. To be as young as he was, and to be thrust into a situation such as that, with no planning and no warning – it was probably the scariest moment of his life.
“When I finally woke up, I was a heavy sleeper back then, and came out, her mom, my mom, and Maggie were standing there all facing me like I should have known what they were talking about.”
“Where was your dad?” I ask quickly, the first thought that popped into my head.
