Page 24 of Broken

“How do you feel about being pregnant by Jose? Knowing he was such a bad guy.”

“I just look at it as a life is growing inside me. And part of me is part of this baby. He might not have a birth dad, but I know if I raise him or her right, they can be a good person even if they are part of Jose Macias. Jose was bad because he chose to be. Surely he wasn’t born bad.”

I smiled at her analogy. She was so right.

“You never have to worry about Jose, because Damon killed him the night he rescued me.”

“Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”

“Me, too.”

“Maybe our kids will be besties,” she told me.

“I hope so. They will only be three months apart. Are you hoping for a girl or a boy?”

She placed a hand on her belly. “Is it wrong that I kind of hope for a little girl?”

“Of course not.”

“Just because I want to play dress up and do all the girly things if they want. But, honestly, I don’t care, just as long as it is healthy.”

We continued our binge watch and it wasn’t long before I was falling asleep and felt Olivia cover me with my blanket. I felt her kiss me on the forehead while moving my hair back.

***

The sun filtered in my room, causing me to blink a few times before I stretched my body. I followed the smell of coffee wafting through the apartment. But then I wasn’t sure if I could have coffee while pregnant so I did what anyone else would do. I googled it. And apparently two cups were the limit for pregnancies.

I was glad I didn’t have to give up coffee completely. Looking at the time, I had to hurry to get ready for work. Which meant showering quickly, eating some cereal, and taking my coffee to go.

“I’ll see you later,” I told Olivia as I rushed out to the SUV.

“Are you feeling okay?”

I looked up to meet Matteo’s gaze. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just overslept. I would appreciate if you didn’t mention me being sick yesterday to Damon. It was just a stomach bug or I ate something bad,” I lied.

“Okay.”

There was something in his tone that told me he wouldn’t say anything. I could only avoid telling Damon for so long before he would notice. But I would never wait that long to tell him. We were just dating and finding out more about one another, and then bam I was pregnant.

In school, I rushed to the class room. This was not a good impression so early in my employment. “Sorry. I’m late,” I huffed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Miss Bailey said.

“Thank you. What can I do to help?”

“The kids are just practicing the alphabet.”

I walked around the room and helped a little girl that was struggling. She was quiet, and I felt like maybe she didn’t have a good home life. Her name was Rose and she was precious.

I walked back over toward the front of the room and talked to Miss Bailey. “It’s hard knowing some of these kids come from a bad home life,” I told her. “It breaks my heart.”

“It is sad. I wish there was more we could do with the kids. But the district is strict with budgeting.”

“What could we do?”

“Well, we could take them to the zoo, or they can learn about the local fire department.”

“Can you do a fundraiser for the money?”

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