Page 106 of Fault Lines
“I messed up,” he said finally, voice muffled. “I need you to listen and try not to overreact. I know I messed up, but this could still turn out to be good for us.”
Something twisted deep inside me.
“What did you do?” I asked, barely breathing. I dropped into the nearby chair, heart pounding.
“I was at the hospital tonight. One of the women I slept with… She’s pregnant. There was some bleeding today and a scare, but…” He looked up at me then, eyes wet.
“Pregnant?” I choked out, icy dread crawling up my spine. “You mean, by you?”
He nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m so sorry, Livi. I didn’t plan this.”
“You were sleeping with her without protection?” My voice came out loud, wild. I couldn’t control it. Tears pressed at the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill.
“No! I always used protection. One time, the condom broke—I didn’t realize until after. I swear.”
“Oh my God, Cam.” I bent over, pressing my head between my knees, desperate to keep from sobbing. He was going to be a father. With someone else. A living, breathing reminder of every way I’d failed.
Then I remembered the hospital and looked up. “So… did she lose it?”
He shook his head. “No, thank God. The baby’s fine. Strong heartbeat.”
His baby. With someone else. My stomach dropped out from under me.
Cam kept talking, almost excited. “This could be the answer for us. I’ve been thinking about it since I found out. I want her to sign over her parental rights. We could take the baby from the hospital. You’d adopt as soon as we can. We’d be parents,right away. No clinics, no strangers, no mess.” He even laughed a little, giddy.
I stared at him, stunned.
“You thought I’d want this?” My voice was flat. “That I’d want to raise the baby of one of your affairs? What does she say about it?”
He shrugged, almost dismissive. “She thinks I’ll leave you and marry her. She doesn’t even want kids; she’s just trying to get a reaction. In the end, she’ll realize this isn’t her path. She’ll hand over the baby and walk away. I know she will.”
He moved to kneel in front of me, searching my face.
“I know it’s a lot, but we can finally have the family we always dreamed of.”
“You should,” I said quietly.
He blinked, confused. “What?”
“You should leave me and marry her. You could have everything you want.”
“Don’t say that, baby. Think about it from my side.”
But I couldn’t. I just wanted it all to stop. I wanted to turn back time and plug my ears and never hear it. But here we were.
I pushed past him and raced to the bathroom, hitting my knees just in time to retch into the toilet. The wine came up in bitter waves, tinged red, and the tears followed, fast and hot.
Everything inside me felt shattered. Cam’s dream was happening, but it wasn’t mine. How could I raise the child of someone who’d taken what I most wanted? Surrogacy would have been one thing; that was cold, straightforward, medical. This was raw and messy and personal—a wound that would never close.
I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to let go, for everyone—for Cam, for that innocent baby, and for myself, because if I kept holding on, I was going to lose what was left of me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cam knelt beside me as I retched, his steady palms gathering my hair away from my face. He waited, silent as old stone, until the final wave passed. My legs trembled as I stood, and I reached for the toothbrush, letting the tears slip down my cheeks. I didn’t look in the mirror; I didn’t want to see the ruin there.
He stood behind me, eyes troubled. “I’m sorry this hurts you, baby. You have to believe me—it was an accident. I’m just trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”
I rinsed my mouth, braced myself, and met Cam’s gaze in the mirror. “Is it Lacey’s?”
