“I’m good,” I glanced over at Nick.
“Sure,” he lifted his hand “thanks.”
“No problem,” Avery went to grab them and then came back into the room, and seated herself back on the floor. She handed the bottle to Nick as she demanded, “No more sex talk.”
“Fine,” he grumbled as if he was annoyed. “You suck the fun out of everything.”
“It’s part of my charm,” Avery chirped as she sipped her beer. She glanced at me as she asked, “You still feeling bad?”
“Feeling bad?” Nick perked up.
“I’m fine,” I rolled my eyes. “My stomach just felt a little off today. I don’t want to push it by getting drunk, that’s all.”
“Are you sure?” Nick pressed.
“I’m fine,” I blew out a breath as I wiped my mouth. “Don’t worry about me.”
“If you’re sure?” he narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized me.
“I’m sure. I think I’m just tired. I haven’t had a lot of sleep lately. I’ve been busy applying to school so I can start in January. We’ve had a lot going on. I think I probably just wore myself down, that’s all,” I shrugged.
“Well,” Nick cupped my cheek. “You’d tell me if it was something serious, right?”
I rolled my eyes again, “Yes…I’m sure it’s nothing. Stop worrying.”
He shook his head as he muttered under his breath, “Stubborn woman.”
“I am not!” I squealed. “I’ll show you how stubborn I can be.”
“I’m sure you will,” he chuckled as he picked up another piece of pizza. “Let’s go to bed early tonight. You can get more rest.”
“Sounds nice,” I sighed as I finished my pizza and went to change into my sleep shorts.
ooooooooo
Over the next, the several days, whatever was ailing me seemed to want to stick around. Avery had gone back home, and I’d been spending my mornings snuggled in bed. Every time I would convince myself that I should give in and just go to the doctor, I would start to feel better. But…my stomach would begin revolting the next morning. I didn’t know what to think. In the afternoons and evenings, I’d feel fine. I’d go shopping, I’d workout, hang out at the house…whatever I wanted. But the mornings? The mornings were an entirely different story.
Finally after dealing with this for two weeks, Nick insisted that I call the doctor. I had agreed, and that’s why I was now sitting here, half dressed in this thing they called a gown. I was cold from the drafts, and nervous that something could really be wrong with me.
“So,” Dr. Wright flipped through the chart in her hand. “How are you feeling today?”
“Fine now,” I mumbled. “I’m usually fine by this point in the day. What’s wrong with me? It’s not serious is it? My mom died of cancer.” I couldn’t help but worry that whatever was ailing me was something serious.
“No,” she continued to scan the file. “I’m looking at these test results, and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what it is?” she grinned at me.
I fidgeted under her gaze. She was teasing me. What was wrong with her? “So what is it?”
“When’s the last time you had a cycle?” she pulled the rolling stool over and sat down.
I began counting back in my head. I had never been regular especially when I was training. “Uh two months, maybe,” I shrugged.
“And you didn’t find that odd?” one side of her mouth quirked up.
“I’ve never had one every month. I’m on the pill for that reason,” I bit my lip. This direction her questions were taking hadn’t registered with me yet.
“What do you use as a second form of birth control?” she pulled a pen out of her lab coat and clicked the end.
“We were using condoms, but we’re in a monogamous relationship, so we stopped,” my eyes darted around the room.
“So you aren’t using any form of back up?” she began jotting something down.
“No,” I grumbled. “I just said that.”
“Well Miss Carmichael,” she continued to write before looking up at me. “You’re not sick, you’re pregnant.”
My mouth dropped open, “What?” I twisted my hands together in my lap, “No…I can’t be. I’m on the pill,” I insisted.
“The pill’s not one hundred percent effective,” she placed her hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to be fine,” she offered a sympathetic smile. “Go ahead and get dressed, and I’ll let the receptionist know you need another appointment in four weeks.”
I nodded numbly as she turned to leave the room. Pregnant? Nick was gonna freak. What had I done?
Chapter 18
Nick
As I sat at my desk staring at my playbook, I couldn’t help but worry. Leah had been feeling so bad lately. She had assured me that she was fine, but I knew something was wrong. There were days that she didn’t even want to get out of bed. She’d curl her knees up to her chest and whimper as if she was in pain. Some days she’d bolt to the bathroom, slam the door, and lock me out. She had insisted that it was just a stomach bug, but after dealing with it for two weeks I’d finally insisted that she go to the doctor.
Now, here I sat waiting. Waiting for her to call me and tell me what the doctor had told her. I knew that whatever it was, we’d face it together. I only hoped I wasn’t dealing with something like what her mother had. Mrs. Carmichael had passed away from breast cancer, and Leah was terrified of succumbing to the same fate. She’d become obsessed with appointments and checkups to guarantee her health. The longer I sat and stared at the notebook in front of me, the more impatient I was getting. Surely Leah would call as soon as she knew something.
I glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall, it was almost four o’clock. Her appointment had been at noon. What could be taking so long and why hadn’t she called me? I shook my head to clear it. This was crazy…I should just go. The team had a bye week, so I didn’t need to be here. We had one more game until the playoffs, and then hopefully a bowl. I was so ready for this season to be over so I could marry my girl, and spend my days with her.
I grabbed my things, turned the lights off in my office, and made my way out to my truck. I checked my watch one more time, noticing that it had only been mere minutes since I looked the last time, and growled as I tossed my things in.
As I made my way home, I checked my phone for messages, none. No voicemails, no texts, no missed calls. I beat my fist against the steering wheel. Where the hell was she, and why was she not more concerned with how I was feeling?
ooooooooo
When I pulled into the driveway, I stalked up to the front door, shoved it open, and tossed my things on the counter. It was dark in the house as if no one was home. My eyes darted around looking for her. She said she wasn’t going anywhere other than the doctor today. I scrubbed my hands over my eyes as anxiety began to seep in and override my anger. After flicking on several lights, I grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge and made my way out onto the back deck.
When I leaned forward to place my elbows on the railing, I noticed a shadow on the sand. The sun was setting, and caused the shadow to stretch. I scanned the beach as I placed my hand on my forehead shielding my eyes from the sun, and that’s when I saw her. She was sitting in the sand right in front of where the waves slid up onto the beach. Her knees were bent, her arms wrapped around them, with her head down. She shook slightly as if she were crying.
Fear of what she’d found out at her appointment propelled me to her. All anger forgotten as I stumbled through the sand, trying to get to her as fast as possible. As I approached her, I slowed and fought to catch my breath. She didn’t even look up.
Now that I was closer, I could hear her sobs. She was trying so hard to control herself that she shook violently. I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around her. She recoiled, and pushed me away almost immediately.
“Shhhh,” I tried again. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I…I can’t,” she hiccupped. “You…�
�� she looked away and wiped at her eyes.
“What did the doctor say?” I reached up and grabbed her chin as I tried to get her to look at me. “Are you ok?”
She nodded slowly as she squeezed her eyes shut, and bit her lip.
“You’re not sick?” I reached for her wanting the reassurance that she didn’t have anything seriously wrong with her.
She nodded again as she turned away from me. “I…” she released a shuttering breath.
“You what?” I slid closer and tugged her into my embrace. “What’s wrong? You can tell me anything?”
She peered up at me, and wiped her eyes once more, “I don’t think I can.”
“Yes…yes you can. You’re killing me here. How can I help you, if you won’t tell me what’s wrong?” I begged.
“You can’t fix this Nick,” she mumbled as she dropped her head into her hands.
“I can try,” I implored. I turned her, and placed her in my lap as I wrapped my arms around her cocooning her in my embrace. “Just tell me. It’ll be ok. I promise,” I whispered as she buried her face in my chest.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered against me.
I heard the words, but I didn’t believe them. My entire body stiffened as they sunk in. Pregnant? No way was that what she said.
ooooooooo
Leah
“I’m pregnant,” I let the words fall from my lips so quietly that they were barely above a whisper. “Nick?” I peeked up at him as I prepared for what was coming.
He stiffened, and his face went from concerned to impassive. He slowly released me from his arms and pushed me from his lap. Fear, anger, and hurt surged as I watched him scramble to his feet.
“What?” he gasped as he started pacing on the sand beside me. “How the hell did that happen?” He began tugging on his hair as he refused to look at me, “I thought you said you were on the pill?”
“I am,” I yelled at him. “It doesn’t always work.”
“What the fuck Leah? I’m not ready for a kid,” he threw his head back and bellowed to the sky, “Fuuuucccck!!!”
I jumped at his reaction and began backing away from him. I knew he didn’t want a family right now. I knew this was how he would react. I only hoped that he would accept this. I’d been playing this conversation over on repeat in my head since I’d come down here earlier in the day.
He turned and narrowed his eyes on me, “How long? How long have you known about this? Have you been planning this?”
My mouth dropped open as the look of hate and disgust morphed his beautiful face into one I’d never seen before. “I…”
“You what? Didn’t plan this? Did you use this to try and trap me?” he sneered.
My face began to flame with anger, “I didn’t know, Nick. I didn’t plan this. I would never use a child to try and trap you. You’re an asshole!” I screamed at him as I turned to stomp away.
I began walking down the beach as fast as my legs would allow as my anger slowly began to turn to rage. I could hear Nick coming after me, but I had no intention of stopping to listen to any more from him.
“Stop!” he yelled.
I spun, marched right up to him, and began shoving my finger into his chest, “I love you, Nick! I would never try to trap you! The fact that you think I could makes me want to leave. I don’t know why I’m still here if that’s the way you feel.”
“I want to know how long you’ve known about this,” he waved his hand in front of my abdomen.
“Today!” I screamed. “I found out today,” I lowered my voice. “I didn’t have any idea about this until I went to the doctor. She confirmed it.”
“When did it happen?” his voice softened.
I squeezed my eyes shut, “My best guess is it happened that night in the pool. I can’t be sure though.”
Nick’s head nodded in acceptance, “I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough,” I growled as I turned and began stomping away.
He chased after me, and grabbed my elbow, “No, no more running. We’re going to fix this.”
“You just treated me like a gold digging whore, and you want me to give you a chance? I don’t think so,” I yanked my arm from his grasp as I began walking away from him again.
“I’m not going away until we fix this,” he panted as he caught up to me again. “We’re going to talk about it, and we’re going to fix it.”
I turned my eyes on him and glared, “You can’t fix this. You’re an asshole!”
“I know that,” he grumbled. “You caught me by surprise,” he grabbed my arm and turned me to face him, “just listen for a minute.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and kicked at the sand below my feet, “Go ahead.”
“I’ve been worried about you all day. All I’ve thought about is the fact that you were at the doctor today. I kept thinking that I was going to come home, and have you tell me something that the doctor said, and it would be earth shattering. I kept picturing your mom, and something similar happening to you,” he reached up and grabbed his neck. “The idea of something like that happening scares the shit out of me,” he sighed. “Then I come home, and you spring this on me. I just…I didn’t know how to take it all in.”
I dropped my chin to my chest as I inhaled a deep breath, “You hurt me Nick. You made me feel as if I was trapping you. I didn’t plan this baby,” I reached down and caressed my still flat belly, “but I love it already. I’m prepared to do this without you.”
“What? No!’ he gasped. “We’re doing this together,” he stepped closer to me and attempted to wrap me in his arms. “I really am sorry. It’s just going to take me a while to get used to this.”
I nodded silently as I moved to let him hug me. I laughed humorlessly, “I’m going to be fat on my wedding day.”
“No,” he shook his head. “We’ll move the wedding up if we need to. Nothing big. We’ll go back to Pittsford where your dad is, and do something small. I don’t care about anything fancy. I just want to marry you,” he kissed my forehead.
“We’ll see. I kinda like the plans we have now. Maybe they can alter the dress I bought,” I shrugged.
Nick turned us and began walking back toward the house as I glanced out at the sunset. We’d had a lot of eventful moments in front of the sunsets. I smiled as they began replaying in my head.
“What?” he grinned down at me. “You’ve got that look.”
“I want to get married at sunset. Whatever time that is on our wedding day,” I smiled up at him.
“Fine by me. Let’s go home. I want to do this over,” he chuckled.
“Do what over?” I wrinkled my forehead.
“You telling me I’m gonna be a dad,” he squeezed me tighter to his side. “I’m gonna be a dad,” he mumbled to himself.
“Yes you are, and you’re going to be great,” I grabbed his hand that was on my hip, and slid it around to rest on my belly. “Yes you are,” I whispered.
Chapter 19
Nick
As the days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, time seemed to fly by. Leah had been busy making wedding preparations, and football season had come to an end. We’d had a great year, but I was happy for things to finally slowdown. I had been guaranteed a renewal in my contract, and I was able to find some pretty promising recruits for next season. All in all, things were looking up.
Leah had spent most of the previous week in Pittsford with Avery. She had wanted to finish meeting with everyone that was helping with the wedding. Her dad had begged her to scrap our plans of a beach wedding in lieu of a church wedding, and Leah had caved. She felt bad being her father’s only child and denying him his wishes, or so she told me. So, here I was packing my things as my best friend harassed me in the background.
“I can’t believe you’re going marry her,” Logan grumbled from my bedroom doorway.
“Why’s that?” I called as I folded another shirt to stuff into my suitcase. I was planning on heading out to Pittsford this
afternoon to join Leah at her dad’s house. “We’ve been together forever, we love each other, and we’re going to have a baby together…why wouldn’t I marry her? It’s the right thing to do.”
“Dude, you sound like my mom when she lectures me about Avery. Why do you want to be tied down to one woman for the rest of your life?” he gripped the back of his neck as he made his way into the room.
“What’s up with you two by the way? Are you still with her?” I cocked my head to the side and stared at him.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled. “She’s…I don’t know,” he sighed and sat down in the chair in the corner of the room.
“Bro…you either want to be with her, or you don’t. Don’t string her along if it’s not going anywhere…that’s not right,” I glanced over at him and then back to my bag. “You know she’s Leah’s maid of honor, right? You’re going to see her at the wedding.”
He released a deep breath, “Yeah…I know.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, “I like her, but I don’t want anything serious. I’m just not ready for that. I don’t think I ever will be.”
“You need to end it then,” I nodded as I turned to face him. “If you think you’re protecting her by not telling her how you feel, you’re not. The only person you’re protecting is yourself. Do the right thing…let her go. Let her find someone who wants the same things she wants.”
“Like your brother?” Logan snapped as he narrowed his eyes at me.
“What?” my forehead crinkled as I zipped my bag and moved it to the floor.
“You heard me. Cam likes her. I’ve seen the way he looks at her when we all go out. He’s trying to move in on me,” he growled as he leaned back and placed his palms on his knees.
“Yes…my brother likes her, but…he would never step on your toes. He respects you. He’s been patiently waiting for you to decide what you want,” I shook my head. “I don’t want to be in the middle of this. I warned him when he told me he liked her that I wasn’t going to protect him from you,” I stood and grabbed my bag. “Do what you need to do, but do it quick. You’re only hurting the both of you in the long run,” I walked over to the bedroom door before turning to look back at him. “Let’s get out of here. I want to get to Pittsford before dark. I haven’t seen my girl in four days.”
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