Page 108 of Wood Riddance
Chapter36
Finn
“This is the best news,” I shouted, picking her up and spinning her around.
A baby? Unbelievable. When she had called me crying, my stomach had sunk and all my anxieties had rushed back. Then I’d dropped everything and rushed over, desperately worried about her.
I’d spent the past couple of weeks on pins and needles. She was working up the courage to tell her family, and I was waiting for the day I could love her publicly. The day I could tell this town and all the nasty gossips to fuck all the way off.
But now, my face hurt from smiling too widely. And I was pretty sure I’d have to get used to it. I hadn’t been this happy in years, so this expression was unlikely to fade.
She punched my shoulder. “Are you out of your mind? This is a disaster!”
I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “Of course it’s not. Babies are fucking awesome. And we made one together.”
“I was on birth control,” she yelled, planting her hands on my chest and pushing me away.
I flexed a bicep. “Oh, She-Ra, your birth control pills are no match for my super Viking sperm. I think we both could have predicted that.”
“Maybe you should have told me you had superhuman sperm, asshole. ‘By the way, Adele, we should wrap it up because my semen is impervious to pharmaceutical intervention.’ The heads-up would have been nice.”
I shrugged. “Sorry. I guess I was too busy making you come a million times to give you fair warning.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Speaking of which. You wanna sit on my face? My baby mama seems tense. I can help with that.”
“Jesus Christ, Finn. This is serious.”
“Adele.” I put my hands on her shoulders and dipped my head so she was forced to look at me. She was distraught, and I wanted to soothe away all her worry and assure her that everything would be okay. That this was a good thing for us. “Of course you’re scared. That’s natural. I’m scared too.”
She bit her lip and searched my face as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Damn it. Maybe she didn’t want this. Shit. I was being totally insensitive.
“Let me be clear,” I added. “It’s your body. I support whatever choice you want to make. But I’m here with you. We’re in this together.”
She buried her head in my chest and shuddered out a breath. “Thank you,” she said after a few moments. She squeezed me tight around the waist and sucked in a few deep breaths, but then her body shook against mine. “I want this baby.”
I released the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. I meant what I said. I would support her choice, but in the five minutes since I learned of this child’s existence, I’d already fallen desperately in love with it. And Merry. This would be amazing for her. She’d been asking for a sibling since she was old enough to talk.
I hugged Adele tighter. I already knew I was madly in love with her, but now? Now my heart was truly full. Details didn’t matter. Our last names didn’t matter. My father and all that shit in the past were of no consequence. This little person was our future.
So I was shocked when she pulled back, blinked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, and walked away. I followed her into the living room, where she scooped He-Man up off the couch and held him close.
“Talk to me.”
There was nothing we couldn’t figure out together. She was in shock, of course, but at some point, she had to let me in, let me help.
I crossed my arms. “I’ll wait all day, all week, all month for you to talk to me. Eventually, you have to learn to lean on me. I know you’ve been let down before. But I promise, I’m here and there is nothing I won’t do for you.”
She paced the length of the room, burying her face in He-Man’s fur, then abruptly stopped. “What are we bringing this child into, Finn? Feuds? Murder? A family that will hate it?” She choked back another sob.
I closed my eyes, praying for the strength to do this right. To say the right things. “Your brothers might be stubborn, but they could never hate an innocent child. It’s time to be honest. No more sneaking around. No more secrets. We’ll sit them down and tell them. We’re together. We’re having a baby and we’re gonna get married and they’ll have to deal with it.”
“Who said anything about getting married?” she shouted. She set He-Man on the floor, crossed her arms over her chest, and hit me with a glare.
“I did! We’re getting married, Adele. Deal with it.”
“No! You can’t decree it. I’m not your property.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Dammit, I was definitely screwing this up. “Don’t worry. I’ll ask properly and everything.”
