Page 40 of Choosing Happily Ever After

“No.” She shook her head and looked down at the table.

“You need to give him more credit,” Faith said. “He can handle it.”

“No, I—”

“I can, you know.”

Hope jumped at the sound of his voice and spun in her chair to see Levi in the doorway.How much had he heard?Enough, obviously.

Dammit.

“Levi.”

“What’s going on, Hope?” He crossed the room, took her hands in his, and dropped to his knees in front of her chair. “Talk to me.”

She shook her head and glanced to her sister, who only gave her a knowing look and nodded curtly before walking out of the room and leaving them alone.

She could kill her sister, but part of her knew she was right. And that was the part that pissed her off the most. Hope looked back at Levi, and steeled herself against the look of concern and—love—in his eyes.

Double dammit.

She closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath and decided to just rip the Band-Aid off. “I have cancer.” It was the first time she’d said the word aloud and it took her off guard for a moment. “It’s not a terribly big deal,” she added quickly. “The doctor said we caught it early, but I’ve made a decision to have a baby before I get the surgery and I decided not to tell you because it wouldn’t be fair to you but I couldn’t stay with you either because that’s really not fair and Faith doesn’t agree with my choice and thinks I’m being stupid but it doesn’t matter what Faith thinks because it’s not her body and it’s not her life and I’ve made my decision and it’s final and I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way, but I need to be true to myself.”

She finished in a rush and closed her eyes again, unable to look at Levi and his reaction.

It took a minute, but finally, Levi spoke. “Are you done?”

She nodded before opening her eyes.

“You have cancer?”

She nodded again.

“And you’re having a baby?”

She nodded and then shrugged and nodded again.

“And that’s your final decision?”

This time she spoke. “It is. And I meant what I said, Levi. It’s my final decision.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not—okay?” Hope stopped and looked at him curiously.

“Of course it’s okay,” he said. “I’m not going to try to influence your decision, Hope. I mean, I obviously don’t understand everything since I just found out about it, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the wholecancerthing, but you’re a smart woman and you don’t need me to tell you what to do with your body.”

She hadn’t expected that from him. Hope sat up a little straighter and blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. His support helped, but it didn’t change her other decision.

“Did you really think I’d try to change your mind? Is that why you pushed me away?”

It broke her heart to look in his eyes, but Faith was right; he deserved the truth. “I pushed you away, Levi, because I’m having a child on my own.” She pulled her hands out of his and tucked them into her lap. “This is my decision and mine alone. I’m not going to involve anyone else. And I’m not going to let anyone change my mind either.”

Levi got to his feet and took a step back from her, which gave Hope the chance to stand and move across the room from him. She needed space.

“Hope, this doesn’t make any—”

“No.” She held her hand up to stop him. “I won’t change my mind, Levi. I can’t.”

---