Page 187 of Redeeming 6

“Tell me.”

“About three and a half months.”

“Three and a half months!” My eyes widened and the panic I was feeling multiplied by about three and a half months’ worth. “Three and a half fucking months and I’m only hearing about it now?”

“I was scared, okay?” she cried out defensively. “And I didn’t know myself until a few weeks ago. I tried to tell you a million times, I swear, but I was just so fucking scared, Joe. I was terrified of sending you off the deep end again. You were doing so well, and I just… I didn’t want to risk that. But then everything with your father happened, and you went off the deep end anyway—”

“Oh, my fucking god.” My stomach heaved and I had to press a hand to my chest to steady myself. “He did that to you while you were pregnant with my baby?”

“Joe, it’s—”

“He did that to you.” Heart hammering wildly in my chest, I squeezed out, “He hurt you when you were…are. Jesus Christ, you are.”

“When I finally did work up the courage to tell you, you weren’t even present.”

“What?” I demanded, hoarse. “When?”

“The other day,” she admitted brokenly. “But you were strung out.”

Heart gunning in my chest, I tried to wrangle in my raging fucking panic, as words from a conversation I couldn’t fucking remember flashed through my mind.

“We’re having a baby.”

“Where’s the baby?”

“In here.”

“In you? What’s it doing in there?”

“You put it there, Joe.”

“And you’re sure there’s no mistake?” I asked, out of sheer desperation. “You’re definitely pregnant?”

“I’ve taken a ton of tests and they’ve all come back positive,” she replied, eyes wide and full of uncertainty. “And Mam took me to the GP last week to confirm it.”

“Your mam?” Her words were like a slap across the face. “Hold the fuck up.” Shaking my head in my desperate attempt to make sense of the madness, I held a hand up and said, “You told your mam before you told me?”

Grimacing, she offered me a small nod. “I’m sorry.”

“Who else?”

“Joe.”

“Who else did you tell before me, Aoife?”

“Casey knows,” she admitted quietly. “But only because she guessed. I swear, I wouldn’t have told her if she hadn’t figured it out.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, so, let me get this straight.” Pressing my fingers to my temples, I strived for calm while my entire fucking world shattered around me. “You, Casey, and Trish have been walking around for the past few weeks, knowing that we’re going to have a baby when I didn’t?”

“It wasn’t like that, Joe.”

“Does your old man know?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I swear.”

“What about Ricey and Danielle?” I demanded, voice torn. “I’m guessing those two are also in the loop, considering the shade they were throwing in class. Did you tell your ex before me, too?”

“No,” she snapped. “Of course I didn’t. Don’t be so ridiculous.”

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