We sit at the counter, food untouched. The silence feels heavy. She’s fidgeting, fingers tracing the edge of a napkin, eyes on anything but me.
“Charlie,” I say softly. “Talk to me.”
She swallows, shoulders rising with a shaky breath. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
My pulse kicks. “Okay.”
She nods, eyes still down. “I found out today that I’m pregnant.”
For a second, I just stare, the words hitting like a body check I never saw coming.
Then everything in me floods at once. Shock, sure. But mostly this surge of warmth, disbelief, joy.
“You’re—” I start, then stop, grinning before I can stop myself. “You’re serious?”
She looks up, blinking fast. “Yeah. I took a test this morning.”
“Jesus—” I huff out a breath that turns into a shocked laugh. “You’re pregnant.”
For a heartbeat, she just stares at me in disbelief and confusion.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” she says quickly, voice trembling. “I know the timing’s awful. And I know what happened before with Vanessa. You don’t owe me anything, Declan. I don’t ever want you to feel trapped again because of me.”
That wordtrappedlands like a knife. I’m at her side before I even think about it, taking her face in my hands.
“Hey. Don’t make this sound like something bad.”
Her breath shakes. “I just—”
“Charlie.” My voice drops, low and certain. “I love you. I already saw a future with you. With Sophie. This just… adds to it.”
She stares at me, searching for any crack, any sign I don’t mean it. There isn’t one.
Because somehow, the second she said it, I could already picture it: her, Sophie, and me, and now this tiny life in the middle of it all.
Her tears spill over, and I kiss her forehead, her cheek, the corner of her mouth.
“We’re okay. Better than okay.”
She lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, shaking her head. “You can’t just… take this in stride like it’s nothing. You really want this? You’re not scared?”
“Sure I am.” I smile faintly. “But I’m not running from it.”
For a second, neither of us moves. Then I press my forehead to hers, voice low. “Move in with me.”
Her breath catches. “Declan—”
“I mean it.” I keep my hands at her waist, steady. “I love you, so does Sophie, and I—” I pause, smiling. “I’d like to wake up next to you for the rest of my life.”
She lets out a quiet, disbelieving laugh. “You’re serious.”
“Dead serious.”
Her hand slides over mine, her voice a whisper. “Okay.”
Relief, gratitude, and certainty hit like air after the longest penalty kill of my life.
The last time I heard the wordpregnant,it came with obligation and panic, an uncertain, shaky future.
