Page 41 of Beautiful Storm

“No. I haven’t slept with him for almost a year. It has to be Luke’s.”

“You didn’t sleep with him that night you went over to collect the last of your things?”

“No. God, no. I would have told you that.”

“Shit. But how can it be Luke's? Weren’t you already on the pill by then?”

I cringe and turn away. “I didn’t take it the first month I got it. I started a week or so before sleeping with Luke. And the condom broke.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

“But also…maybe fate intervened. I mean how often does a condom break at the same time someone messes up their pill?”

“What?”Is she serious?

Hayley grimaces before shaking her head.“Never mind. We’ve got this.” She clasps my hand as we begin walking again, giving it a squeeze. “What happens next?”

“Next…” I let out a long sigh.

I wish I knew. For years I tried hard not to get pregnant. Preston and I first had sex when we were seventeen. And while we didn’t have sex often, I’d still panic every month, worried we’d somehow mess up. Then after we got married and while my career was stalled, the idea of getting pregnant lost the fear it once had. I got excited by the idea. Preston got excited by the idea, and we started trying. Or at least, letting it come naturally if it happened. Our sex life never changed, but we both knew there was a possibility of it becoming something.

Though, after a year, it still hadn’t happened.

How can I have been having regular sex with someone, with my husband, and never have so much as a late period? But after one night with Luke… everything changes.

A pit forms in my stomach until I make the decision to look at this in a practical sense. To keep emotions out of it for now. “Next…” I say, my eyes meeting Hayley’s. “Next, I have to arrange an ultrasound, then I have to sort out my life and try not to let this affect the Storm project.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Hayley lies, making me smile.

“Oh…and I have to tell Luke.”Smile gone.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Amelia

How do you tell a guy who only does one-night stands that he’s going to be a dad? And more to the point, how do you deal with said guy being that dad when you want nothing to do with him. What did I do?

Three days after my life-changing appointment, I’m in my car in the stadium parking lot, feeling nauseous and staring at Luke like a stalker. I’m watching him go about his day while I sit here with a baby growing inside me and the power to change his world.

I work hard, trying to break my stare, but when his loud laugh filters through the air, it hits me in the chest.I’m having a baby with Luke.

My heart picks up speed and I find myself studying his every expression as he speaks, picturing a little boy with the samestriking features, wondering if he’ll be a little heartbreaker like his dad or go his own way, praying like hell that he’s nothing like my own father.

A sharp pang settles in my stomach, and for a second I panic, until I remember it’s the same feeling I get whenever I dwell on my dad abandoning us. His lies.For years, I blamed myself, thinking I wasn’t good enough for him. And then Luke… my nausea intensifies and despite that being one of the symptoms of pregnancy, I know it’s not that. I’m nauseous because my emotions are wreaking havoc on my stomach. I’m nervous to talk to Luke, anxious about my future, terrified of how my bosses will react, and annoyed that I’m giving Jake all the ammunition he needs to say, “I told you so.” This industry is hard enough to crack, but at the same time…I’m having a baby. I need to get my shit together.

My eyes water but I smile through it. No matter what happens, at the end of this I’m going to have a baby. A baby. My world is about to change and that’s a good thing. No matter how scary.

The vibration of my phone cuts into my thoughts as Luke walks inside, severing my trance. I take a deep breath before moving to answer, but when my gaze drops to the device locked in my hand, I freeze.Damien. My absent father. As though his ears were burning from my thoughts.

I stare down at his moniker while an image of his smile works its way to the forefront of my mind, the same smile I find staring back at me every time I look in the mirror. I may have my Mom’s thick, wavy brown hair and small frame, but I’ve got my dad’s coloring and facial features.

I used to think I was lucky. I had the greatest father. While my mom and I always fought, my dad was my hero. Right up until my elementary school graduation, when I learned the truth.

On what was supposed to be a happy day, I lost the two most important males in my life.

Luke being the second one.

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