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“Wouldn’t know. I’m the one in the bed,” she says with a half-smile.
I consider her face for a moment and smile. “Color’s back in your face.”
She touches her cheek. “Oh. Good.” Her eyes are looking everywhere but mine. “Listen, I need to tell you something.”
“I know, Stella.”
“No, not like –” She swallows. “It’s like a big something. I just found out myself and –”
“No, Stella. I know.” I throw caution to the wind. Fuck it. This woman is carrying my baby. I grab her hand tight and hold it up to my chin. “I already know.”
Stella frowns. Her fingers shift in mine as if trying to get more comfortable. “H-how?”
“The nurse spilled the beans. She thought you were here because you were worried about the baby or… I don’t know.” The word “baby” just slips out, and the second it does, I feel my heart punch up into my throat.
Stella stares into her lap. “I just found out. I promise I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you.”
“So, it’s mine?” I ask softly.
She snorts. “Is that a joke?”
I try to smile. “Only sort of.”
Stella looks slightly wounded. That wasn’t my intention. “Yes, Flynn.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to assume that…” I shut my eyes and shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“How does it make you feel?”
I lift my gaze and find myself bathed in hazel. “Me? I mean, how do you feel? You’re the one who just –”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m fine. I’ve got an IV, I’m…” She inhales deeply. “How does the news make you feel?”
I could write epic poems about how the news that Stella is pregnant with my baby makes me feel. “I think it matters more how you feel than me.” It’s her body. She can make her own choices. I don’t want my feelings to taint what she wants to do.
“Flynn, I’m asking you because I need to know how it makesyoufeel,” she says in a whisper, practically begging.
I take a beat, wrapping her hand in both of mine. It’s a risk, but what do I have to lose at this point? I’ve already lost her once before. “Terrified. But the good kind. Because the thought of you having my baby makes me happier than I can even begin to describe.”
Stella’s eyes widen.
“And if you feel the same, then all I can ask is you let me be a part of it, even just the littlest bit.” My eyes well with tears. “I know you hate me, but maybe you could forgive me or –”
Stella pulls on my hands and presses her forehead to mine, effectively silencing me. It’s different than a kiss. It’s like our souls are connecting just as our bodies already have.
Then, it just spills out along with my tears. “I love you, Stella. Really. I know it doesn’t make sense, but –”
“I love you too. I love you so much.”
I can’t believe my ears. All this time, I thought she hated me, yet the same feelings have been growing in her. Along with a little something else we didn’t anticipate.
Stella kisses one of my falling tears away and nuzzles my cheek. “I want to have a baby with you.”
I can’t resist her a second longer. I kiss her on the lips with all the passion I have in me. Not the kind of intense midnight entanglement, but that of boundless love.
Stella falls into my arms; it feels like she’s making a home there. Like she might never leave. And that’s just fine with me. She takes one of my hands and puts it up against her navel. “It’s still so early. Nothing has really changed, but…”
Right there. Our whole future is growing inside her. I’d do anything to protect it. I smile at her, tears still brewing in my eyes. “Is this real, Stella?”
