Chapter 60
Emily’s POV
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Keith stood in the doorway, his face a mixture of concern and unease. I crossed my arms, the tension between us hanging heavy in the air. “Why are you here, Keith?”
He hesitated before answering, his voice quieter than usual. “Lily saw you at the store. She told me you bought a pregnancy test. Is it true? Have you… taken it?”
I stared at him for a moment, my mouth suddenly dry. I hadn’t told anyone. I hadn’t even fully processed it myself. I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. I just sat there, my gaze fixed on the floor, feeling the weight of everything closing in on me.
Keith, sensing my silence as confirmation, sighed. He walked over to the bathroom and, without a word, picked up the test. When he came back, he sat next to me on the bed, the test still in his hand.
“Emily,” he began quietly, “you’re going to be a great mother.”
The words hung in the air between us, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly. A great mother? After everything that had happened? I shook my head, disbelief settling deep within me.
Chapter 60
“Keith, how can you say that? You didn’t even want more children with me. You thought I was an incompetent mother, remember?”
Keith turned to me, his eyes full of sincerity. “That’s not true. Emily. You‘ re an incredible mother. Look at your relationship with Zane. He adores you. I was wrong before… I couldn’t see it.”
I stared at him, my heart caught between disbelief and hope. The old Keith, the one I knew before all the lies and heartbreak, would never have said something like that.
Was this the same man sitting beside me now? Had he really changed? And if he had, did it even matter at this point?
Keith’s voice softened, and he smiled, though there was a hint of sadness in it. “I’ll admit it, Emily. I’m jealous of your relationship with Zane. He’s so close to you, and I know I’ve never been able to give him that. You’ve been the best parent, and you’re going to be an amazing mother to this new child, too.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The walls I had built around myself began to crumble, and I felt the exhaustion of it all crash over me. Without realizing it, I leaned back on the bed, the emotional strain. overwhelming me, and before I knew it, I was drifting off to sleep.
I woke up sometime later, feeling an odd weightlessness. I blinked, realizing Keith had carried me to bed. His arms wrapped around me in a protective hold, his warmth a strange comfort I hadn’t felt in years.
For a moment, I let myself sink into it, into the brief illusion that
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everything was okay, that the world hadn’t fallen apart. But the reality of my situation was too much to ignore.
The next morning, I made an appointment with a gynecologist, my heart pounding as I sat in the waiting room, trying to calm the storm of emotions raging inside me. When the nurse called my name, I could barely stand, my legs shaky as I followed her to the exam room.
The doctor entered, her expression kind but professional. “Emily, let’s take a look and see how everything is progressing,” she said gently, as if sensing the heaviness in my heart.
The room was eerily quiet as she performed the ultrasound. I kept my eyes. fixed on the ceiling, unable to look at the screen, unable to face what was happening. Finally, she broke the silence, her voice soft but clear.
“You’re three months pregnant,” she confirmed, her tone matter–of–fact but sympathetic. “Everything seems healthy so far. Do you have any questions, Emily?”
My heart clenched at her words. Three months. I felt a lump rise in my throat, but I shook my head, not trusting my voice to speak.
I had missed one birth control pill, just one, and here I was, carrying at child that I didn’t know how to raise, didn’t want to raise. A child of lies and betrayal.
I left the doctor’s office, my legs feeling like lead, my mind a swirling mess of emotions I couldn’t untangle. Tears stung the corners of my eyes, but I held them back, walking in a daze to my car.
Chapter 60
It was all too much, the weight of it, the responsibility I wasn’t ready to bear. I drove aimlessly, not knowing where to go or what to do. Before I realized it, I found myself at the edge of the cliff, staring out over the abyss.
The wind whipped through my hair, the sound of the crashing waves below muffled by the pounding of my heart. This was it. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t raise this child, couldn’t live with the lies that had brought me to this point. I thought of ending it all, letting the cliff take me, letting the pain finally stop.
But then I heard a voice, distant at first but growing louder. “Emily!” Keith’s voice echoed from behind me, panic lacing his words. “Emily, don’t do this!”
I closed my eyes, the tears finally spilling over as I took one step closer to the edge. It would be so easy, so quick. But Keith’s footsteps were getting closer, and then he was right behind me, grabbing my arm and pulling me back from the brink.
“Zane cannot lose his mother,” he said, his voice firm but filled with desperation. “This unborn child is innocent, Emily. Don’t let the pain take you away from them.”
His arms wrapped around me tightly, and I collapsed into his chest, the sobs wracking my body. I had been so close to giving up, to letting it all. end, but Keith… Keith had saved me, had reminded me that there was still something to live for, even in the midst of the chaos.
I clung to him as the tears finally stopped, my breath coming in shaky
Chapter 60
gasps. “I don’t know how to do this,” I whispered, my voice broken. “I don’t know how to be a mother to this child.”
Keith pulled back slightly, looking down at me with a mixture of sadness and determination. “You don’t have to do it alone, Emily. We’ll figure it out. But don’t give up. Not on yourself, not on this child.”
I nodded, though the uncertainty still gnawed at me. But for the first time in a long while, I felt a glimmer of hope. I wasn’t alone, not entirely.
As we stood there, the wind whipping around us, I made a decision. I was going to keep this child. I would let go of the hatred, the anger, the pain. I was going to be the mother of two children, and somehow, I would find a way to make it work.
But there was one more thing I needed to do. Frank needed to know. He needed to understand the consequences of what he had done. He needed to know that he was going to be a father.
That meant I needed to go to the jail.
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