Page 33 of Romance Reset
Lincoln carried the bags into the kitchen.
“I’m going out on the balcony. Okay?” Breanne asked, sounding urgent and looking a little pale.
“Sure,” Amelia said. “Lincoln, thank you. I’ll put everything away later. There’s nothing perishable. Just leave it.”
“Okay. But we can’t forget the chocolate,” he said, opening the bag most likely to contain it. His lungs seized at what he found inside, and he couldn’t get air in or out.
Amelia’s body suddenly slammed against his chest, trapping his arm between them. She pressed her hand over his mouth, hard.
“Take a breath and don’t say a word until you can do so without yelling.”
His gaze locked on hers and his nostrils flared as he inhaled. After a long moment, she slowly removed her hand but didn’t move away. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “As much as I can’t stand the thought of you with another man, please tell me this test is for you,” he begged, his voice emerging husky and low.
“I wish it was but no,” she said. “It’s not.”
The ground under his feet shifted, and he found himself shoved backward into a hastily pulled out chair. Breanne was— Amelia wanted— “You wantkids?”
Amelia blinked at him, her expression one of hurt and disappointment.
“This is not the time for that discussion, but yes, I do. Now, Breanne is going to come out of that bathroom soon, and when she does, you need to be ready.”
“How did this… I’m going to kill him.”
“No, you’re not. They used protection. It didn’t work,” she informed him.
Yeah, that was way more information than he ever wanted to know about his daughter’s sex life.
“I found her sobbing in the middle of a store because she’s terrified her life is over. Lincoln?Lincoln.”
“What?”
“You have to be here for Breanne no matter how much you want to shout at the world right now. Okay?”
He wiped a shaking hand over his face and stared up at her, trying to process her words and make them make sense. “You can’t want kids, Amelia. This is what they do to you. They make you fall in love with them, and then they grow up and rip your heart out.” He pressed a hand to his chest and rubbed the tightness there. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
Standing beside the chair, Amelia wrapped her arms around him with a soft laugh and cradled his head against her. He felt her kiss his head, and he nuzzled against the softness she offered, well aware of the way she shivered at his touch.
“I think you’re having an anxiety attack. Breathe, Lincoln. It’ll be okay, because whether she is or isn’t, you love her. Right?”
He wrapped his arms around her frame and squeezed, wishing he could dive into her warmth and love and not surface for days, weeks. He had to talk to Amelia about her thoughts on children, but she was right about one thing—now wasn’t the time.
“Dad?”
Lincoln opened his eyes to find Breanne standing six feet away eyeing him like a cobra about to strike. “Hey, kiddo.”
Breanne’s gaze shifted to the test lying out in the open on the counter.
“Daddy, I’m sorry,” she said, unable to make eye contact.
Lincoln released Amelia and stood, up and out of the chair in a second flat. He drew Breanne into his arms and held her while she cried, head buried in his chest like she had her whole life. “I know. It’ll be okay. How about we take that test and know for sure, eh?”
Amelia grabbed the box from atop the bag and held it out to Breanne.
“You know what to do?”
Bree nodded.
“I bought a twin pack, so if you don’t believe it the first time, you can do it again. Or take them both at the same time to compare.”
