Page 8 of A Mafia Christmas

He was starting to look concerned. “Yes, my Beth, I do. I also love you. Now, tell me what this is about.”

She swallowed and looked him in the eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

“You’re what?” he asked.

“I’m pregnant.”

She watched the shock hit him, and then several other emotions crossed his face. He started to pace.

“When did you know?”

“A week or so ago.”

“And you’re just now telling me?” he asked roughly.

“I was afraid.”

He started pacing again. “Okay, we can deal with this. I’ll ask Ben where we can go to get rid of it.”

Her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe that this man who had made such sweet love to her the night before could be this cold.

“Y-you want me to abort the baby?” she asked.

He stopped pacing to frown at her. “Of course. You know how I feel about having kids.”

This was her worst nightmare come true. She shook her head. “I can’t kill a baby that we both made together.”

“I didn’t want to have a baby!” he yelled.

She nodded and inhaled. “I know. Accidents happen.”

His eyes narrowed. “Did you plan this?”

Her mouth dropped open again. “God, no. How can you even ask that?”

“You’re on birth control. How did you get pregnant?” Every word out of his mouth was sharp and cold.

“I don’t know. A doctor could tell us. I was on antibiotics, and that sometimes messes with their effectiveness.”

“And you didn’t tell me this?”

Beth held out her hand. “I didn’t think about it. I’d been on the medicine before, and nothing happened. I just found out, too.”

He rested his hands on his hips. “Listen, love. I’ll take you myself. I’ll be there the whole time and hold your hand.”

She shook her head. “I can’t abort this child.”

“Can’t or won’t?” he asked.

She swallowed. “Both.”

He started pacing again. “We can’t keep the baby.”

“Yes, we can.”

He spun toward her and yelled. “No, the fuck we can’t.”

She sighed and looked down at the carpet. “Then what are we going to do?”

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