Page 102 of My Brother's Best Men
The air between us is thick as the unsaid truth hangs in the midst.
Five months. That’s…
“It’s estimated I probably conceived somewhere between June twentieth and the twenty-third.”
We don’t have to ask about the significance of those dates. We all know what we were doing on June twenty-second.
Watching our best friend get married.
“So you’ve been pregnant for five months, and you didn’t think to tell us,” Benny says. “Knowing one of us is the father.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she says carefully. “I needed to figure things out first, and then…I needed to get to a point where I knew I was safe.”
“You mean where you were less likely to miscarry,” Elijah says carefully.
Sophie chokes back a sob. “Yeah.”
“And you’re…healthy?” I ask. “Our baby is healthy?”
I mean to sayyour baby. I really do, but…
She isours.
She’s always been ours.
And I know this baby is ours too.
I’m well aware that I might be the one who got her pregnant. I know it’s not impossible for it to happen, even if it was the first time I’d ever come inside a woman.
I know it was a small window, but I also know the chances aren’t zero, considering I did come inside her a handful of times in that weekend. Five to be exact. So, the chances are pretty high.
But even if I’mnotthe one who knocked her up, it doesn’t change how I feel about her. How I’ve always felt about her.
It only magnifies it, because I know there will be more of Sophie to love.
More of my friends to love too.
And a tiny human to love who’s a part of her and us, no matter who the father is.
“Yes, Matthew,” she says, reaching for my face.
I settle my hand on her belly. “That’s great news.” I smile and she sets her hand on mine. “You’re going to have a baby.”
I squeeze her hand and she sniffles, squeezing my hand back. “Yeah, I am.”
Benny has gone quiet.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” she says, looking at him, then at Eli. “And the last thing I deserve is your forgiveness. I’ve caused you all so much pain.”
“Sophie…” Elijah sighs.
Sophie chokes out a sob. “But over these last few months, as I traveled and wrote, and suffered through the worst morning sickness—” She sighs. “I realized that all I wanted was to come home.”
She looks up at Benny, and the tears fall from her eyes.
“All I wanted was my best men. The ones who loved me even when I didn’t deserve it.”
I don’t want to leave her, but I get up because I know Benny needs her right now, just as bad as she needs him.
