Page 45 of Reuniting with Lucy

He shrugged. “It wasn’tbadnews…”

She’d planned to give him time and a chance to change his mind about marriage and kids, but the pregnancy robbed her of that luxury. She had to decide now, and his continued reluctance toward a family made the outcome seem inevitable.

“Is marriage really that important?” he asked. “I tried it once, and it didn’t go well. I swore I’d never do it again.”

Well, that sealed the deal. He didn’t want marriage, and she did. He didn’t want a baby, and, like it or not, one was on the way. Her spine stiffened. She knew what she had to do. And she felt like she could do it. No, she knew she could do it.

“So you’ve said. I’m in love with you, Jack. But sometimes love’s not enough. We seem to be on different paths.”

“Lucy—”

“For the record, I think you’d be a great father.” She blinked hard to make sure no tears fell. “Thank you for sharing your feelings with me. I wish I’d known them sooner. I think it would have saved us both some time and heartache.” She stood. “This will probably be harder for me than for you, so I’d appreciate it if we could minimize contact to only what’s necessary. I think we can do most of our business by email.”

“We don’t have to break up over this.”

“Jack, you didn’t even ask me what I wanted,” she said. It must have been the roller coaster pregnancy hormones, but she’d gone from sad to irritated in an instant. “You just threw out what you don’t want and what you refuse to do, like I’m supposed to just accept it. Well, I don’t. Thisisa deal breaker for me. Both marriage and kids. If you don’t want that stuff, that’s fine. But I do. So if you can’t give it to me, I need to move on and find someone who will.”

She dug deep, summoned the strength she needed, and walked to the door. “Please, just go,” she whispered, opening the door and standing next to it. She kept a death grip on the knob, trying to keep the tears at bay until he left.

“I’m sorry, Lucy.”

“Yeah, me too. Goodbye, Jack.”

As soon as he was over the threshold, she shut and locked the door.

She plopped down on the couch. Now what? Possibly pregnant and probably alone. She’d thought Jack coming back into her life was a sign. That they would fall madly in love and live happily ever after. So much for that fairytale.

“You in there?” she asked, rubbing her belly. “Don’t you worry. If your dad doesn’t want you, I’ll love you enough for both of us. Aunt Lizzie thinks I can’t be alone, but I can. I will. For you. I’ll take care of everything.”

With so much on her mind, sleep was hard to come by that night. The breakup had upset her, but the possibility of a baby had her shedding grateful tears on and off all night. She also worried that the pregnancy test had given her a false positive, or that even if it hadn’t, she still wouldn’t be able to carry the baby to term. What if the UNC doctor was wrong about her ability to get pregnant, but right about her inability to carry the child? While that weighed heavily on her mind, the Jack issue wasn’t far behind.

Imagining what he’d say and how he’d feel about being a dad stole another hour of sleep. She didn’tthinkhe’d walk away from a child, but then again, he’d walked away from her tonight. Clearly, she’d been viewing their relationship through rose-colored glasses. Well, she’d taken those off and would deal with the unveiled reality that Jack might not be her knight.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next morning, Lucy sat in the waiting room of the obstetrician’s office, impatiently drumming her fingers on her thighs. Where the hell was Lizzie? It was already five minutes past her appointment time, and they would no doubt call her back soon. She’d resigned herself to doing this without Jack but didn’t want to do it alone. The outside door opened, and Lucy glanced up hopefully, only to see thewrongsister entering. Kate glided in wearing a lip-slitting grin, followed by an equally exuberant Adam. Lucy grabbed the nearest magazine, opened it, and ducked behind it to cover her face. Holy crap. Was Kate pregnant too?

Kate and Adam sat, leaving one seat between them and her, too wrapped up in each other to notice her. They hadn’t been seated for more than a minute when Lizzie finally showed. Of course. Lucy peeked over the magazine just in time to watch Lizzie’s face as she saw Kate—confusion quickly replaced with horror.

Sometimes Lizzie and Lucy could communicate mentally. Or at least it seemed that way. Lucy closed her eyes and prayed Lizzie would hear her silent plea to cover for her. Make up an excuse. Something.

“Hi, Kate,” Lizzie said, slowing her pace. Even though Lucy was hiding, Lizzie would know exactly where she was. Another twin thing. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Lizzie?” Kate said. “What are you doing here?” She turned to Adam. “Did you tell anyone?”

“No,” Adam said, holding up a hand. “I swear.”

“Wait,” Lizzie said, putting two and two together. “Are you pregnant?”

Kate’s face broke out into the huge grin again. “Yes,” she said. “But no one knows yet. We were planning to announce it at Christmas. Can you keep the secret?”

“That’s a great idea,” Lizzie said. “Mom will be beside herself. Of course, I won’t tell anyone.”

There was an awkward pause as Lizzie made no move to sit. Kate finally asked, “What areyoudoing here?”

“Oh, um…,” Lizzie stammered. “I…um…you know, have a thing…” She cast a furtive glance at Adam, making it look like she didn’t want to say anything in front of him.

Lucy watched from the top of the magazine and had to stifle a laugh. Lizzie would make her pay for this. Big time. Just when she thought she might actually get away with not being found out, the nurse came out and called her name.

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