Page 32 of Branches of the Willow

“Oh, okay.” I turned back around and started heading toward my parents’ house. “Are you hungry, we’re going to have dinner?”

“Sure, I could eat. I thought I might take something over and keep Natalia company though.”

“Speaking of Natalia, I saw that look between the two of you earlier.”

“What look?” Evan was laughing at me as he asked.

“M-hmm, you know what look. The one that said, given the right place and time, that you would be marking her the same way you marked me on the dance floor of your club.”

“Technically, it wasn’t my club yet.”

“You still had that look.” I laughed at him for trying to change the subject.

“She’s been through a lot. I don’t want to push myself on her.” A worried crease in his brow told me exactly how much truth there was to his words.

“I don’t think she’d mind at all, but maybe it’s wise to take your time.” I elbowed him in the stomach playfully. “I think she could use a bit of a good thing in her life.”

“Oh, so now you think I’m a good thing!” Evan was teasing, but the words still stung a little too.

“I’ve always thought so. You were just meant to be someone else’s good thing.” I smiled up at him then and he responded by pulling me into a giant bear hug that reminded me of the ones Jack used to give me, which made me smile even more.

“I am so sorry for all the trouble I’ve brought into your life, Jess. First my family, and then I couldn’t even do right by you. You deserved far better than what I had to offer.”

“Don’t you dare apologize. You brought me Mikael.” My face lit up as I said his name.

“You’re glowing. Did you know?” He smiled down at me again. “I wonder, if my brother was smart enough to figure it out yet?”

“Figure what out?” I watched as Evan scrutinized every fiber of my being with those cobalt blue eyes of his.

“You’re pregnant. I can see it all over you.”

Shock colored my cheeks, and painted my lips into the shape of a giant O. “How?” It was all I could manage to get out before he pulled me into another giant hug.

“My brother is one lucky bastard!” He spun me around once, and then put me back down on my feet. “And if I have to tell you how, then maybe my brother wasn’t the best match for you. I’m quite sure you should have known how it happened.” Evan quirked up an eyebrow in a highly amused gesture.

“I know how it happened, you idiot!” I smacked Evan’s chest playfully. “I meant how did you know?”

“I told you, you’re glowing.” He took everything about me in once again. “He doesn’t know yet, does he?”

“No.” When disappointment flashed across Evan’s face, I figured I had to finish telling him why. “I just found out, myself. I wanted to wait. My body has been through a lot and, well, to be honest, I’m worried that something’s going to happen, and we’ll have had our hopes up for nothing.”

“But you feel okay, right?” Concern quickly overshadowed his earlier disappointment.

“Other than being tired, and a little nauseous once in a while, yeah.”

“Then, why the worry?” Evan stopped dead in his tracks when something seemed to occur to him. “You don’t think it’s someone else’s do you?”

“What? No! Why would you think that? I’ve never been with anyone else.”

“I didn’t know if anything had happened while you were, you know…”

“No. Nothing happened. It’s Mikael’s. I just worry that I will get his hopes up, get my hopes up, only to have it all pulled out from underneath us. I don’t have the best of luck with this happily ever after stuff everyone keeps going on about in the fairytales.”

“Jess, your time is now. You should tell him. He’s going to be angry if he finds out you’re keeping it from him.”

“I know. Just, give me a little time to tell him, please?”

“You got it, but seriously, the sooner the better. I’m not making up weird excuses about you swallowing a watermelon whole on a dare in a few months.” He held his hands out in front of his stomach, miming how it would look to be pregnant as he teased me.

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