Page 29 of Never Left You

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling off the past couple of days…and then I put two and two together. I went and got a test yesterday.”

“How far along are you, do you think?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure? I’m only a week and a half late. I’m just so sick. Were you this sick with Stetson?” Her eyes widened as she placed her hand on her stomach.

“It’s different for everyone,” I replied. “I was sick with Stetson, up until my second trimester.”

She nodded a sigh, walking past me, straight to the kitchen to grab the mug Rhett left out for her every morning. “Wait.” She stopped. “Can I drink coffee?”

“Some, yes,” I followed her. “But you’re going to want to stay away from lunch meats, shellfish, and it’s a good thing you don’t keep any of the barn cats in the house.”

Kyla looked at her mug. “How much caffeine are we talking?”

“A cup maybe? And when are you telling Rhett?”

Kyla licked her lips nervously. “When did you tell Sylas? How did he take it? How far along were you?”

My heart always paused when I heard his name. I didn’t even pay attention to her other rapid questions. Here came those emotions I had to bottle up. I swallowed and inhaled, telling myself it was normal to talk about him, normal to think about him. She just asked me a question. I should be happy to relive the memory…right? It was a good one.

“What does it say? What does it say?!” Sylas basically bounced up and down as we waited three minutes to see if the test was positive or not. “Mi Alma, tell me.”

“Sy… it’s not ready yet, hold your horses.”

“You know Luna would be running around in circles right now if she were me. There is no holding her down.”

He bounced on his feet again.

The man may be seven years older than me, but he was definitely a child at heart. His smile radiated through the room as he moved, excitement flowing from his pores. I shook my head and just watched as he danced.

I glanced down at the test. One pink line…then…two. Tears welled before I even could form words.

“Abi, Mi Reina.” Sylas stopped moving, his expression changing once he saw the look on my face. His eyes were focused on me. Not on the test, but me. He was reading me. He used his fingers to move a strand of my hair behind my ear, and I finally met his gaze. The tears fell.

“We’re having a baby,” I cried.

Sylas screamed, squealed more like it. He bent, wrapping his arms around my waist to hoist me off the ground, spinning me in a circle in the small bathroom.

“We’re having a baby,” Sylas repeated, dropping me to the ground, his lips meeting mine.

I sniffed, and pushed that away. A good memory, yes, but not one I wanted to think about often. Any memory of him still hurt too much.

“We found out together,” I finally said. “We had been trying for a few months. He was ready.”

Kyla took a deep breath. “Rhett and I are ready…right?”

“It doesn’t really matter at this point does it? That baby is going to grace us with her presence whether we’re prepared or not.”

“Her?”

“I always called Stetson a boy, we never found out the gender, and yet we had a boy. I’ll manifest a baby girl. I need to see Rhett as a girl dad.” I raised my eyebrows at her and took a long drink of my coffee. “He’s ready. You’re ready. This is going to be amazing, and I won’t say a thing.” I reached for the empty mug in her hands. “Now, let’s get you a cup of coffee, a shower and over to see Josie.”

She smiled and let out a small laugh. “Sounds amazing. Help me plan a way to tell Rhett?”

“Brainstorming Abi, at your service.”

Ten

Cash

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