I shake my head. “I came straight here when I realized it. I…I…” Tears well in my eyes. “I didn’t want to deprive you of anything…if you want to be a part of it.”
His face falls, and he pulls me close to him. “Why are you crying?”
I wipe the tears. “I’m not.”
“You are. You’re not happy about this?” he asks with worry written all over his face.
“I don’t know how I feel,” I answer honestly. “I haven’t had time to consider it. Frankly, I was more worried about you. I realized I was pregnant and came straight here. I didn’t think you’d be so damn happy. I thought you were going to hate me, and I wanted to rip off the Band-Aid.”
His brows crease together. “Why would I hate you?”
I point to my stomach. “Duh?”
“It’s not like you did it on purpose. You’re the one who stopped things that day. I was the irresponsible one, not you. You should hate me.” He gasps. “Wait, do you hate me?”
What in the fuck is happening here? This is the weirdest conversation to ever take place.
I stare at him and shake my head. “No, Daylen, I don’t hate you for getting me pregnant. We both did this…and Beau Fudd.”
His shoulders relax. “Phew.” He sits up suddenly and gasps again. “We need to get you a pregnancy test. I don’t want to get all excited only to have my heart broken.”
“Excited? You’re excited about this?”
“Hell yes. I can’t wait to be a dad. I had the best dad ever. Oh my god, he’s gonna flip his lid about being a grandpa. I need to call him right away.”
I grab his arm. “Daylen, I don’t want anyone to know yet.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t keep secrets from him or Vance. I won’t last. He and Vance are my best friends.” A dreamy look takes form on his face. “I hope I’m as good a dad as mine is.”
I plop my head back down on the pillow. “I had the worst mom. All I hope is that I’ll be nothing like her.” Realizationfinally starts to settle in, and I begin to freak out. “Oh god, I can’t do this. I don’t know how to be a mother. I’m not like you and your dad. I had no one to show me how to act.”
He wipes the tears beginning to form under my eyes. “You’re going to be a great mom,” he confidently assures me.
I shake my head, no longer able to control the tears from spilling from my eyes. “I can’t do this,” I sob.
He takes my hand in his and kisses it. “You can. I know you can.”
I look up at him and croak out, “What makes you so sure?”
He runs his knuckles over my cheek and looks at me with all the sincerity in the world. “Moms are nature’s ultimate protectors. No one protects the people she cares about better than you. There are literally a million memes out there about you being a superhero protector. We’re going to make mistakes, all parents do, but we’re going to do a lot of things right too, because we’re going to love this baby. That’s all you have to do as a parent. Love the shit out of your kid. I know we can both do that. I don’t have any doubts.”
I’m silent. It’s like this guy has a handbook on how to handle this kind of situation perfectly, and he’s hitting every single mark. The man is a walking, talking green flag.
He sits back up and takes my hand in his. “Here’s what we’re going to do. First, I’m going to make food for my three best girls. I need to keep you all well fed.”
“Three?” Oh crap, are they twins? Triplets?
“You, baby prodigy, and BJ.”
I nod in understanding while simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief.
“Then we’re going to buy a test to confirm the pregnancy. If it’s as you think, we’ll make a doctor’s appointment to make sure baby prodigy is growing as she should be.”
“You’re so…level-headed. It’s freaking me out.”
He barks out a laugh. “Would you rather I freaked out? Did you think I’d freak out?”
“Honestly? Yes.”
