"I just need some space. To think. To process." I wrap my arms around myself. "Today was a lot."
He looks like he wants to argue. Like he wants to stay and keep trying to convince me that everything's fine.
But it's not fine. His daughter hates me. His ex-wife will hate me now, too. My father is going to explode when he finds out. And I'm standing in my tiny apartment, pregnant withtwins, trying to just hold my life together while navigating a relationship that's moving at warp speed.
Nothing about this is fine.
"Okay," Grant says finally. "But Emma—this doesn't change anything. What Samantha said, how she reacted—it doesn't change how I feel about you. It doesn't change the fact that we're in this together."
Together. The word that felt so comforting earlier now feels weighted with complications I didn't fully understand.
Because together doesn't just mean Grant and me. It means Samantha. Victoria. My parents. All the people in our lives who are going to have opinions about us, judgments about our relationship.
It means stepping into a family I might be tearing apart.
"I know," I whisper.
He kisses my forehead and then he's gone. The door clicks shut behind him, and I'm alone in my apartment with the afternoon sun streaming through the windows.
I sink onto my couch and press my hands against my stomach.
Two babies. Growing inside me right now. Half Grant, half me.
Samantha's future siblings.
The thought makes me feel sick. How is she ever going to accept these babies? How is she going to handle having siblings closer in age to her than their father is to their mother?
My phone buzzes. A text from Grant.
Grant:I love you. I know I haven't said it yet, and this is a terrible way to say it for the first time, but I do. I love you. And we're going to get through this.
I stare at the words.
I love you.
He loves me.
I should feel relief. Joy. Something warm and hopeful.
Instead, all I feel is the weight of everything those words mean. The complications they bring. The family dynamics they'll disrupt.
The life I might be stepping into that I'm not sure I'm equipped to handle.
I set the phone down without responding.
Outside my window, the city moves on. People living their normal lives, unaware that mine just got infinitely more complicated.
Samantha's voice echoes in my head.Closer to my age than yours. I hope the money's worth it.
And for the first time since seeing those two heartbeats, I wonder if Grant and I are making a terrible mistake.
Chapter 12
Emma
I've been staring at the same beaker for twenty minutes, inhaling the earthy, grassy notes that should be grounding my base formula, but it’s just not right. Too sharp. Too green. Or maybe it's fine and my nose just isn’t working.
I set down the beaker and press my palms against my worktable, closing my eyes. Yesterday's disaster with Samantha keeps replaying in my head—her nasty words, the way she looked at me like I was something dirty her father had tracked in on his shoe.
