Page 95 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

"No, don't be. Come here." I wrapped him in a hug and kissed his head. "Don't ever be sorry for wanting to be around your dad, okay? It's an unfair world, and that's why we have to do this, because it's the only way for you to be safe, but that doesn't make it easy. One day, my brave Ollie, one day when you're old enough, you'll know that sometimes, the things we must do are the hardest."

I hated that he was learning such heavy things at such an early age.

Ollie looked up at me curiously. "But I liked learning this, Mom."

I gave him a surprised little smile. "Really? Why?"

"Because it means you're not doing everything alone."

My eyes misted, and I lowered my head to his tuft of hair, willing myself to not sob like a buffoon. "I love you."

"I love you too."

After dropping Ollie to school, I headed to the shop. I still wasn't sure about what I wanted to tell them or how the conversation would go.

All I knew was this surprise pregnancy had been a secret for far too long—and I'd rather be the one breaking the news to them before the media did it.

While at the shop, Chloe and I worked through our new menu for the fall season. I was very deep in a conversation about mini pumpkin pies when I got a phone call from my therapist. I went outside to take it.

"Selene, I’m confirming your appointment for this Saturday."

"Yeah. I–I wanted to say something. I called the boys to the shop today."

"Are you going to tell them about your pregnancy?"

My voice grew a little high-pitched, as it always did when I was nervous or excited. "I don't know, Evans. I'm going back and forth all the time."

"Take a deep breath. What's stopping you most of all?"

"I think they're going to look at my pregnancy as a huge burden, and it's going to ruin every happy feeling I have about it."

"What did you just say?"

I was standing just outside the shop, my phone connected to the AirPods in my ears. I wheeled around as the question cut through the din of traffic and the thumping of my own heart.

The boys were here.

And they heard everything I had just said.

"Evans, I'll call you back." I focused my attention on Aiden, Dom, and Niall. I wasn't sure which of them looked more stricken by the news.

Oh, correction. Aiden. Definitely Aiden, because he looked like he was a tree caught in the heart of a cyclone.

"Selene," he whispered, his eyes darting over my body. "Did we hear that right? Are you...?"

He couldn't even say the fucking word.

"Yeah," I answered what he could not ask. "I'm pregnant ... with triplets. That's why I had asked you how you felt about us the last evening we were together."

I stopped for a second and dug my nails into the skin of my palms, pushing in deep.Do not cry. No matter what happens, don't you dare cry.

"You can be as involved as you'd like," I continued, keeping my throat dry. "I just—"

"Selene, what the fuck?" Dom moved forward. "You kept this from us for more than two months! Why didn't you just tell us?"

"Why?" I snapped back, realizing full well that there were eyes on me. People had stopped on the road. I ground my teeth. "I'm not doing this out here. Either you guys can come in, or I’ll just..." I shrugged. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think this was a burden on your single, free,non-exclusivelives. Sorry about that."

"Selene." Dom sounded miserable. "I know how terrible that was of us, okay? I know we said all the wrong shit at that moment, but listen, you have to understand this. We—"

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