“Yeah… and what I didn’t realize is that Connor was picking up Vaughn at the airport, and when I phoned him to come to the hospital… Vaughn was in the car.”
“What!” I shriek, and the monitor that I’m attached to makes a spike on the graph. “He’s here?”
She nods once. “Outside that door.”
“Oh fuck.” I touch my forehead, as I’m about to have a meltdown. I knew this day would come, but does it have to be right now?
Hadley touches my leg. “He doesn’t know why you are here. I gave Connor a pleading look, and I think it registered in his head a connection with Vaughn, and he got the hint not to tell him about your current state. But that will only hold out for so long.”
I feel as though I’m levitating away from earth. There is no way around this. Vaughn is going to find out today. I’ve had a thousand scenarios in my head of how this could go, but him showing up to my hospital room is not one of them.
“This is not… how today was supposed to go.”
“Maybe it’s for the best. You’ve been lucky that you only started to show after you saw him last, but with Vaughn now in Lake Spark, I’m confident that hewouldnotice that your stomach is harboring a baby, and saying you ate too many cookies isn’t going to fly. You’re glowing during this pregnancy too, plus, well, about to push out a baby,” she explains.
I rub my belly and quickly glance at the screen that’s now zigzagging in lines. “Hadley, I appreciate your stellar positivity, but my baby daddy is about to find out that I haven’t told him about the baby… and I’m wearing a sweatshirt with a bar of chocolate printed on it that literally says, ‘I have issues.’”
She shrugs. “Helps explain your reasoning?”
I bring my hands to my face to rub as tears begin to build behind my eyes. “How do I do this? I’m attached to a machine, I can’t run away.”
Her lips roll in, and a sympathetic look is fixed on her face. “Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t think you should escape right now… You weren’t really never going to tell him, were you? You had a plan.”
A long heaving sigh leaves me. “No, I don’t know, yes, I mean no.” I shake my head. “I’m just scared. He made his views on kids so clear and…”
“You didn’t give him a chance to walk away,” she highlights.
That just unlocks the quiver on my mouth to upgrade to a tear that’s been begging to fall.
As much as I’m scared, she’s right. He hasn’t been given the chance, and I want the information on his medical history to ensure that we can get ahead of anything we might need to worry about for the baby’s health.
Fuck, I’m saying “we” in my head. Maybe it is we. Since the entire town found out my current status a little while back, it’s been an outpouring of support. At work, we’re preparing for my maternity leave that starts in a week. Ford is even giving me extra paid leave. Hadley has attended appointments with me. Her mom, along with Brielle and Violet, is planning a baby shower coming up. And Briggs? He has slowly been stockpiling toys that are far too noisy. It takes a village to raise a baby, they say.
But Vaughn has a right to choose if he wants to be part of that village.
What the hell do I do if he doesn’t want to be involved? This town is only so big, and my emotional wound already runs deep.
Blowing out another breath, I decide that maybe…
The sound of the door opening breaks my thought.
“Are you okay? What’s happening?” Briggs stalks into the room and quickly lands next to me to squeeze my arm.
I wave him off. “It’s nothing. An active, kicking baby scaring the hell out of me. I totally overreacted.”
“Of course not. If my nephew or niece needs medical attention, then we go all out.” He glances at the monitor.
“Hey, Briggs, where is Connor?” Hadley inquires.
“He’s here? Didn’t see him in the hall. Must have gone to the vending machine or something,” Briggs answers, and my eyes shoot to Hadley.
Oh crap, Briggs is here and Vaughn.
No, no, no.
The door opens again. “Heard we can start a party here, so we’re letting ourselves in,” Connor announces, with Vaughn in tow.
Then it happens.
