Page 1 of The Paths We Cross
PROLOGUE
EVERLY
I roll onto my side with a groan, finding the opposite side of my bed empty. I frown and drag myself to a sitting position.Where the hell is Travis?I wipe the sleep from my eyes and grab my phone from the nightstand to check the time. It’s ten, which means I slept for twelve hours.
I can’t believe how tired I’ve been lately. Travis has been so understanding, though. I’ve been going to bed early every night this week and haven’t been up to send him off to work every morning, which I usually do. Apparently, today was no different. Thankfully, it’s the weekend, so I didn’t have to be up for school.
Travis is my fiancé. He’s a lawyer at his dad’s law firm, Gibson Legal, in Charlotte. We live in a town forty minutes south. Silver Springs, North Carolina is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen. The rolling hills in the area give the town an old time feel and we’re close to the South Carolina border. Silver Springs is a small town with only ten thousand residents. We moved here a couple of weeks ago to escape the city. We plan on raising a family and building a life here. I lucked out in getting a job teaching at the Silver Springs Elementary School, otherwise we might not have found such a nice town to move to.
We’re due to be married in a couple of months after being engaged for two years and being together for five. We met when we were in college and hit it off instantly. At the time, my best friend Nicole was dating his best friend, Keith. They set us up and I couldn’t be more thankful to them for that. They’re no longer together, though, which is for the best because Keith ended up being a royal asshole.
I drag myself from the bed and walk into our bathroom, making my way to the toilet. I halt in my tracks when I see the box of tampons waiting for me.When is my cycle supposed to start?I immediately go to my vanity and find my birth control packet. I gasp at the sight. I’m already on the last day of my inactive pills. How did I miss that? My period never showed up.
I wrack my brain, trying to figure out if I’ve ever missed my cycle on birth control before, but can’t remember a time where that has happened. I rip open another drawer and find an old pregnancy test. We’re not trying to get pregnant, but I’m an anxious person and have convinced myself I was pregnant before.
I open up the test and rush to the toilet, my bladder about to burst. I quickly pee on the test and put it back in the packet, setting a timer on my phone. What the hell is Travis going to think if I’m pregnant? Will he think I planned it? Will he think I lied about being on birth control?Ugh, this is not what we need right now.
I wash my hands and brush my teeth to kill some time. Before I know it, the timer goes off, so I rush back to the vanity and fumble with the test. I take a deep breath and flip it over, reading the results.Positive.
My eyes go wide. I’m pregnant? Fuck me. I quickly get dressed and rush out the door, grabbing my keys from the hookas I go. I get in my car and back out of the garage, heading to the local drug store for some more tests. That test was old. It was probably a false negative.Yeah, it had to be a false negative.Right?
There’s no way I’m pregnant. I take my birth control at the same time every day and I never miss a pill. This can’t be happening.
My trip to the store and back is a blur with my nerves at an all-time high. I scramble out of my car and back inside, setting out multiple tests to take and then guzzle a couple of bottles of water.
Thirty minutes later, five positive pregnancy tests stare back at me, along with the old test that apparently didn’t give me a false positive. I’m pregnant and I think I’m in shock.
I don’t know how long I stand there, but when I hear Travis call out for me, I panic. I start to try to hide the tests, not wanting this to be the way he finds out, but I’m too late. Travis enters our bathroom, his eyes going wide as he takes in the tests in my hands. He opens and closes his mouth, trying to find words.
“You’re pregnant,” he whispers.
“I can explain,” I rush out.
He doesn’t let me, though. His large frame rushes me, swooping me up into his arms and swirling me around. “We’re going to be parents!” He cheers as he squeezes me tight. Tears spring to my eyes at his excitement.
I should have known that Travis wouldn’t have been upset with me, it’s not in his nature. We already have a future ahead of us and starting a family was always going to be a part of that.
“Hey,” he murmurs as he places me back on my feet and pulls back, his dark blonde eyebrows furrowing. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t know how you were going to react,” I tell him honestly. “This changes things for us.”
“The only thing it might change is our wedding date, we can either push it back or move it forward, but kids were always in the cards for us, sweetheart. It’s just happening for us sooner than we thought it would,” he smiles down at me as he pushes the black hair away from my face.
“We’re going to be parents,” I whisper.
“We’re going to be parents,” he says with a big smile. “I can’t wait.”
“What are we going to tell our parents?” I ask with a wince.
Both of our parents are super religious and weren’t very fond of us moving in together before we got married. Having a baby out of wedlock is going to throw them for a loop.
“I think they’ll handle it better than you think they will,” he says with a laugh. “My parents asked if we could get together for dinner tonight, why don’t you invite your parents to tag along, and we’ll tell them?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little soon for that? We don’t even know how far along I am.”
“I think that the sooner we tell them, the sooner you’ll be at ease. I don’t want you or the baby to be stressed right now,” he says as his hand reaches out and splays over my stomach.
I bite my lip and nod. “Okay. I’ll text my parents. Let yours know that they’re joining us. I’m going to take a shower and get ready.”
