Page 75 of Between the Stars

Jace tucks my hair behind my ear again. “You are.”

“I’m pregnant,” I blurt, unable to keep it from him. If he’s scared of being enough now, what will he think of being a dad? “It’s yours.”

His face pales. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yes. I went to the doctor last week to confirm it. I’m twelve weeks.”

“Could be his,” he points out, and I hate the sadness in his eyes.

“No, because I know the exact date. And I hadn’t been with Griff in a while, and my conception date is roughly December twenty-sixth.”

He’s quiet, staring at me in disbelief. “And you were going to marryhimknowing you were pregnant with my kid?”

“No, I don’t think I would have.” I fidget with my dress nervously. “Josie said she’d stop the wedding if you didn’t.”

“Why couldn’t you stand up for yourself? The feisty redhead I fell in love with always stood up for what she wanted. Jesus Christ, Abbi. Do you realize what could have happened?”

“Yes, I’m aware of the mistake I almost made, Jace.” Anger flushes my cheeks. “I tried to say something, but somewhere over the last four years of never being good enough for you, I lost myself and my ability to say what I wanted.”

He nods. “I deserve that. I wasn’t fair to you.”

A couple walks by on the trail nearby and stares at us. I bet this looks crazy. A woman, barefoot in a wedding dress, a man wearing a tux and we’re fighting.

Jace doesn’t even acknowledge them. “Were you going to tell me?”

“About the baby?”

He nods.

“Yes, of course I would have told you, but forgive me for being hesitant. You weren’t exactly the nicest guy the last time I saw you. And I reached out a few times and you never replied.”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, the fading sunlight peeking over the trees and lighting up his face. His green eyes hold steady. “I… can’t give you what he can.”

I laugh at the irony of his statement. “You just came and broke up my wedding, and now you’re saying this?”

He smiles too, but it’s forced. “I’m being honest.”

“I don’t care what he can give me. I want you. Always.” I reach for his hand that’s not in the splint. “I want us.”

Jace smiles, but it fades easily. He’s scared of what this means. He came to get me, and now our futures are changing rapidly with two words. I’m pregnant. Okay, technically three words, right? Regardless, this changes everything between us whether we knew it would or not.

He holds me close, his arm around my waist and repeats the words he said to me at seventeen. “You’re not doing this alone.”

“What are we going to do?” I ask into his shoulder, staring out at the horizon painted with blues and purples and bursts of green.

His lips press to my temple. “I have no fucking clue.” He draws back, smiling. “But I know I don’t want to do it without you.” A chuckle leaves his lips. “And that’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever said.”

I stare into his eyes knowing my future is with him. It might not be easy, or what I had planned, but this man is where my heart belongs.

CHAPTER32

Tin-Man

ABBI

I should have known.

I wantedto be enough for Griff. But in truth, nobody would be, and it took Jace coming back into my life before I realized I was the problem. I couldn’t mold myself to be what others wanted. As my mama said, you can’t fit a square inside a circle. And Griff, he made me hate myself. He made me feel dependent on him loving me, meant my happiness.

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