Authors: C.T. Nicholson
Maybe she'd feel differently when he left. He loa
ded the last bag and jumped into his truck. It took the last of his restraint not to pull up to her house when he drove by, and he hated every second of it.
He was coming back for her even if she didn't think he would. And it wou
ldn't be seven years this time.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"You did what?" Ryan just stood there with his mouth wide open. "After everything, you broke up with him. Did you happen to forget about the baby and the fact that you love him?"
She kept silent through the tears flowing down her cheeks and the ache in her throat from crying so much.
"I can't believe you just broke up with the guy when you were supposed to tell him you were pregnant. And you did it after he said that he loved you." He stared at her a moment longer, then hugged her close. "I'm sorry. Please explain to me what was going through your head. I think you're leaving out too many details."
"I went to tell him and had every intention of d
oing so until he told me his news."
"Oh. He had bad news or something?"
She shook her head. "No. He had great news. He's flying out today to record his first album and then, at the first of the year, he's going to be on tour with Lance Michaels."
"Wow! That
is
great news. Then what was the issue?"
"If I tell him he's going to be a father, he'll give up his dreams and I can't do that to him. He wanted me to go with him, but I can't exactly start traveling with a baby growing in my stomach." She’d waited until she knew Cooper left town before telling Ryan what happened. It was best in case Ryan decided to take matters into his own hands. "Please, promise me you won't call and tell him. It's my decision to let him go."
"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I know choosing what to do wasn't easy, but I don't think he'll give up just like that. And I also don't think you can keep from him that he has a child. Think about that."
She had. "I'll tell him, but not until I have the baby or he's finished with his tour, whichever comes first. I'm not selfish enough to keep a child from him. I just have to wait until he's already following his dreams. Once he's got a contract and is already well-known, he won't give it up. I love him too much and even if this hurts what I could've had with him, I'll do what's best for him."
"I understand. Let's head to your house and tell your brothers. They need to know before you go to the doctor." He picked up his keys and waited for her to follow. "Let's get it done."
"Okay." She knew how they'd react and the first que
stion they'd ask was, ‘Who’s the father?’—if they didn't assume it to be Cooper.
****
She couldn't do this. How could she tell her three, older and way over protective brothers she would be having a baby?
"I think I see an indentation forming in the floor." Ryan pointed to the floor where she stood.
Now that she was thinking about it, her feet ached from pacing. "This isn't going to go well."
All of her brothers would be home soon. As if her thoughts controlled the world, the front door swung open to reveal Mike. He wore the navy blue work pants with his fire station shirt. Her heart sped up and didn't slow down any as the door opened again to show Nick wearing his gym shorts and tank top.
"I know you need to talk, but can I take a shower or is this too important to wait?" Nick shook his sweat covered shirt.
"Yes, you can—"
"No," Ryan interrupted. "Your shower can wait."
Nick's blue eyes narrowed; then, his face dropped and she could see his sudden fear.
"Don't worry." She was worried herself but she couldn't let her brother think of something so much worse than the reality.
Jacob walked in and shut the door. His face was co
vered in dirt and sweat and his clothes didn't look any better. That usually didn't happen since he became the owner of the construction company. He did like to get the job done himself sometimes when others didn't do it up to his standards.
"Alright, we've all been anxious to know what you wanted to talk about." He sat on the couch.
"Then I guess I'll come out with it. You guys know I love living here with y’all." She had no clue where that came from. She was freaking out.
"Are you moving out?" Nick asked.
"I know you and Cooper are doing good, but I think that's a little soon to decide," Jacob said calmly.
"I'm not moving out. Not yet anyways, but we can't live together forever." No, and they wouldn't want to live with a crying baby with their busy lives.
"Well, I know that." Nick laughed.
"Let her speak." Ryan stood and grabbed her hand, giving it a good squeeze for reassurance.
"I'm pregnant." The words flew out of her mouth and she didn't even know what to do at that point. Running sounded pretty good.
"Say that once again." This time Mike spoke and he wasn't sitting anymore.
"I'm pregnant. I took the test today and it was positive. Before you even ask, tests don't usually give you a false positive." And her test was far from showing negative.
"I'm going to kill Cooper. We trusted him to take care of you." Jacob stomped to the door with Mike and Nick following.
"No! He's gone." As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake. All three of them stiffened.
Mike was the first to say something. "Did he leave b
ecause you're pregnant?"
"No. I broke up with him."
It didn't take long for each of them to come back into the living room.
"I don't understand." Nick threw his arms in the air.
"I do. It's not his. Is it Seth's baby?" Mike asked.
Ryan laughed. "No! That never happened, thank God."
"Well then, whose baby is it? Surely you wouldn't have broken up with Cooper if he's the father." Jacob shoved one hand through his dark hair.
"I can't tell you and it doesn't matter."
"The hell it doesn't matter! He's responsible for this and he'll do you right." Mike grabbed her free hand. "I promise we won't kill him. Even if you won't have anything to do with him, you've got to tell the father of your child."
Her cheeks heated under their stares. Sheesh! What kind of girl did they think she was? She nearly laughed aloud at her own thoughts. She was pregnant and denying the baby belonged to either guy she dated recently.
She sat down on the couch and her brothers moved in, towering above her, as they kept interrogating her. She couldn't handle it and the tears streamed down. "Please, just leave it alone."
"I'm the father."
She froze. What the hell was he doing?
"Are you joking? This is not the damn time to joke." Mike turned back around to her.
"I'm not joking. Is there some reason you would think I was joking?" Ryan stepped past her brothers and sat beside her on the couch.
"When?"
Jacob would be the last one to believe what Ryan said. Whatever he was trying to pull, he better have a good reason.
At first she was just going to deny it; then he gave her the look so she just went with it. "He's telling the truth."
"Damn it, Sophia. What do you think Dad's going to do?" Mike had apparently taken over the interrogation.
"I—I don't know. It's done and I'll handle it." She curled closer to Ryan but never looked away, no matter how bad she wanted to.
"Maybe everyone should leave it alone for the moment and let it sink in." He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "Do you want to go get something to eat? Or watch a movie to clear your head?"
Nothing was going to clear the issue from her head and food and a movie wasn't going to ease the pain in her chest. She hated lying to her brothers and especially to Cooper. She let Ryan take the lead on this, though. Luckily, her brothers let her leave without saying anything. "It'll be okay."
She didn't know why she felt the need to tell them that when she didn't believe her own words. Now she just had to find out what Ryan was up to. Once they were both in his car and down the road a bit, she let loose.
"What were you thinking? I'm truly grateful to you for stopping their interrogation, but how do we explain this when I tell Cooper the truth? And you're gay!" It was like a time-bomb just ticking away for the perfect moment to explode in her face.
"I'm not coming out anytime soon. This way we can keep it quiet from Cooper until you're ready." He pulled his truck over on the long dirt road. "I'm telling you now, if you don't tell him once the baby is here, then I will. You know I love you so much, but I won't keep that from him either. He deserves to know."
She understood that and was lucky to have som
eone like him in her life. "I'm going to tell him. I swear."
"Alright then. We've got the perfect plan to keep ev
eryone from being suspicious of the father."
"I'm not sure about that, but I guess it's worth a try." She started to giggle uncontrollably. "I can't believe I'm having a baby with my closeted gay best friend."
"Hey! It could be Seth." He pulled back onto the road with a satisfied smirk when her laughter died.
Cooper finished up with the last song and sat there listening to it. Since he’d left town, he couldn't concentrate on anything but Sophia and the last thing she’d said to him. No one else seemed to notice except his agent.
"What is wrong?" Krys crossed her arms over her chest.
He refused to talk to her about it. "Nothing. It's just been a long two weeks, but I can't believe we're finishing up this quick."
"I know. Everything sounds so great though!" She squeezed his shoulder. "They want you to take the next three weeks to get yourself ready for going on tour."
That meant three weeks had to be enough time to figure out what had changed Sophia's mind about being with him. "I can do that. Is my flight already set up?"
"All ready to go in the morning." She stepped away to speak with the technician.
He grabbed his jacket and guitar, then said his goodbyes. Two weeks and he hadn't talked to anyone from home. Calling her brothers just didn't feel right and Ryan seemed to be ignoring his phone calls.
When he got to the hotel and was nearly finished pac
king, his phone rang. Just like all the other times it rang, he scrambled for it, hoping to see Sophia's name or even Ryan's. At least then he might get some kind of answer. Instead it was Jacob.
"Hello?"
"Hey, man. I'm sorry to call so late. I know you've been busy. Sophia told me about your news." The tone of his voice didn't sound congratulatory.
"What's wrong?"
"Sophia hasn't said much about the break-up or how much about her situation that you know. We've all been a little confused and shocked."
Didn't that fit how he felt, too? "She broke up with me and I'd say I was pretty damn shocked and confused also. I have no clue what happened. Everything was going great or at least I thought so."
"Hmmm. She didn't tell you then." Jacob grew quiet and didn't elaborate.
"What didn't she tell me?"
"It's really not my news to tell, but I don't believe everything she told me. There's something I really need to hear from you first."
Cooper fell back on the bed. Whatever it was, it sounded a little more serious than how she felt about him. He couldn't bring himself to ask, hoping Jacob would come out with it on his own.
"The day you left, Sophia dropped a huge bomb on us. I have to ask you first—did you sleep with my sister?"
Not at all what he expected. It couldn't be easy for J
acob to ask that question about his sister. "No. We were taking things slow."
He wasn't going to mention they’d gotten close and nearly had sex until she ended up sick.
"She's pregnant"
It felt as though Jacob had just told him he was an a
lien. Nothing would've led Cooper to believe the news would be that Sophia was pregnant. "You can't be right."
"I am. She told us she's pregnant and has been to the doctor since then. The whole town nearly knows now." The last words came out clipped—understandable, since small towns had a way of sprea
ding gossip and never letting anyone go without knowing the latest news. No matter how personal the news.
"Who's the father?"
"See, that's the thing that is really not making any sense. Ryan announced that he was and she's saying the same thing. I don't believe either of them and thought they were keeping the secret that it was actually yours. I didn't want to believe you'd leave her after she told you, but like I said, it's all been confusing."
"If it's not Ryan or me, then who else is there?" He was going to be sick.
"I guess Seth. I understand why she wouldn't want anyone or him to know."