Page 109 of Under Ground

I have to tell him about the baby before I start showing. And at the rate I’m procrastinating, he’ll find out when I’m giving birth.

He lies beside me, nuzzling my neck. His kisses start soft and grow in passion, and before we can get carried away …

“Alex, stop. There’s something I need to tell you.”

He raises his head, his gaze locked with mine. “What’s wrong?”

Tears well in my eyes. “Why would anything be wrong?”

“Your tone and the fact that you seem to be crying.”

I let out a sob. “I have something I need to tell you and I’m scared.”

He shakes his head, brushing a hand down my cheek. “There’s nothing you should be scared to tell me. Just think about it, babe. We’re about to move into our first home, and I’ve got job offers coming from all over the place. Things are happening for us.”

I sniff, licking my lips and tasting the salt of my tears. “I’m pregnant.”

Alex—my Alex doesn’t even skip a beat. “Then it’s just as well our house has four bedrooms.”

I’m not sure if it’s relief or something else, but I burst out laughing, and he shrugs.

“You and Casey are my whole world. And this little one will be just as loved.”

I draw in a deep breath and hiccough. “I thought you might have been angry. It’s not like we’ve been together that long.”

“You’ve met my mother. She raised me to take things in my stride. Do you really think a baby’s going to faze me?” His gaze sweeps over me. “You didn’t do this alone.”

I swallow hard. “I still didn’t know how you’d take it.”

“Well, now you do.” He wipes my tears away with this thumb and leans over to kiss me softly. “I’m not Gareth, Lana, and I’ll never treat you the way he did. I love you.”

“You’ve just had so much to cope with lately.”

He nods. “And I’ll deal with it. But none of it has anything to do with you and Casey. You’re my family. Fuck everyone else.”

At that, I laugh, and he laughs too.

And then he holds me tight and whispers words of love in my ear for me and our baby.

I always knew he was the right choice.

30

Lana

Before we move, there’s one thing left to do. And apparently, I’m the only one who can do it.

Pania’s exasperated by Reece not wanting to address the whole half-brother situation.

Alex pretends he’s okay but puts up a front to hide his sadness over Reece not wanting to talk about it.

Josh and Delaney are as wonderful as always, but they’re not getting anywhere.

I wait until Pania comes over to watch Grey’s Anatomy with Delaney—their weekly tradition—and then sneak across the road to Pania and Reece’s house. The kids are in bed, and Josh and Alex are deep in conversation. No one will miss me for a while.

While I know I’d have support in this, I don’t really want anyone to interfere with me tearing a strip off Reece. I’m so over this and I want this settled.

I’ve never been a confrontational person. The only person who brought that out in me was Gareth, and it was usually because he seemed to do his best to provoke me into fighting back.

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