He nodded, grateful for the distraction. I filled a glass from the tap and handed it to him. His hands were shaking so badly water slopped over the rim.
“Sorry,” he muttered, setting the glass on the counter. “I’m such a mess.”
“You’re not a mess,” I said, brushing his hair back from his forehead. “You’re the strongest person I know.”
He looked up at that, eyes meeting mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. “Burke,” he said, voice breaking. “I think—“ He stopped, swallowed hard. “When was the last time I had my heat?”
The question landed like a physical blow. I blinked, brain scrambling to do the math. Danny’s heats had been irregular since he’d arrived—stress, the doctor said, plus the trauma of the beating. His last one had been...
“A week ago,” I said slowly.
He nodded, face paling further. “And we’ve been...” He trailed off, not needing to finish.
My stomach dropped. “You think you’re—“
“I don’t know,” he cut in. “Maybe? I’ve been feeling off for days, and the sickness, and...” His hands came to rest on his flat stomach, trembling. “I should have realized sooner, but with everything else...”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The world narrowed to Danny’s face, the fear and wonder warring there, and the impossible, terrifying possibility growing between us.
“Burke,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “What if I’m pregnant?”
The question hung in the air between us, huge and irreversible. I reached for him, hands finding his, and held on tight.
“Then we figure it out,” I said, the words coming from somewhere deeper than thought. “Together.”
He nodded, a single tear tracking down his cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb, then leaned forward to press my forehead to his.
“Whatever happens,” I said, “I’m not going anywhere. You hear me? Not now, not ever.”
He closed his eyes, a shaky breath escaping him. “I hear you,” he whispered.
I pulled him into my arms, holding him close. His heart hammered against my chest, rapid and sure. Outside, the world kept turning—Dennis’s hearing tomorrow, the security system half-installed, a hundred problems waiting for solutions. But in this moment, with Danny solid in my arms and the future stretching before us, I knew, with bone-deep certainty, that we’d face it all together.
Whatever came next, we’d be ready.
Chapter Ten
~ Danny ~
My stomach turned again as I walked down the hallway toward Carter’s office. The new farmhouse creaked and settled around me, but all I could focus on was the churning in my gut and the way my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
This wasn’t like the morning sickness I’d read about in health class—this was something that clawed at my insides and left me cold with sweat whenever I thought about what it might mean.
I paused outside his door, fist raised to knock, but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. What would I even say? Hey Carter, I think I’m knocked up, can you tell me if this is how it feels?
I’d never talked to anyone about this stuff before—not heat cycles, not hormones, nothing. And Carter was... well, Carter was Rawley’s brother, a trust fund baby, someone who’d grown up with everything I’d never had.
My palm was slick with sweat. I wiped it on my jeans and took a deep breath. The morning sickness—if that’s what this was—had hit three times this week already. The first time had been two weeks after that night with Burke, when everything had been perfect. The second was yesterday, right in the middle of lunch. And now, this morning, just thinking about it had me rushing to the bathroom.
I needed to tell someone. Burke first, I knew that. But I needed to know I wasn’t crazy first. I needed to hear from someone who’d been there.
So I knocked, three quick raps that sounded way too loud in the quiet hallway.
“Come in,” Carter called, voice muffled through the wood.
I pushed the door open and poked my head in. Carter’s office was nothing like I’d expected—no mahogany desk or leather chairs. Just a big wooden table covered in papers and alaptop with schematics on the screen. Afternoon light streamed through the window, catching the dust motes in the air.
Carter looked up from whatever he was working on, wire-rimmed glasses slipping down his nose. He pushed them up with one finger and smiled. “Hey, Danny. What’s up?”
