19.

Loren went to her room, she had a lot to think about. She loved Eddie so much. How can happiness be so fleeting? She thought to herself. Was this the way life was suppose to be for her? To never reach the pinnacle of happiness. She thought she finally had it all and once again left her in pieces. She lay down on her bed when she heard the knock on her door.

"Mom, please don't worry, I just need to think." she yelled out.

She heard the door open and looked up.

"Hi." he said to her softly.

"Eddie."

"I needed to see you Loren. I want to make sure you are okay."
"I should be asking you that." she said with a nervous chuckle.

"Loren, this doesn't change anything between you and I."
"How can you say that?" she asked tears starting to form in her eyes.

He pulled her into his arms. "I say this because I love you Loren. You and only you."
"But the baby?"

"If Chloe is indeed pregnant and it's mine we can figure it all out. I just know that I'm not letting you go Loren. I can't."

"Do you think she may be lying?"

"This is Chloe we are talking about."

"Oh Eddie." she said holding him tighter. They lay there in each others arms and eventually fell asleep.

They heard knocking and they both woke up.

"Hey you." he said kissing her on the lips.

"Hi."

"I think someone is at the door."

"Loren, can you and Eddie come out here. Max has something to tell Eddie." Nora said on the other side of the door.

"We will be right out mom."

They got off the bed and once again Eddie pulled her into his arms. "I love you Loren and we will figure this all out."

"I trust you Eddie and I love you too. So very much." she said.

They walked out into the living room and saw both Nora and Max quietly talking.

"You wanted to tell me something pops?"

"Yeah, I think we need to all sit down."

"Okay."

"I'm going to get us some coffee. Would you all like some?" Nora said.

"Yeah, that sounds great." Max said smiling at her.

After Nora made the coffee and served it she sat down along with Loren and Eddie.

"What I'm going to tell you Eddie, you have to remember to stay calm okay?"

"Pops you are starting to scare me."

"I'm sorry. I was going to wait to talk to you about this but Chloe made that impossible. I can't let her destroy your life anymore then she already has."
"Pops, Chloe and I are done. She didn't destroy anything. Loren and I are going to handle this together."

"That's great. I'm so glad you and Loren found each other. You deserve to have someone that is going to love you the way you should be." Max said smiling.

"So just tell me."

"Okay, well you know how I had Joe investigating into Chloe right?"

"Yeah, that's how you found out so much and again I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time about hiring him."

"No, I understand, but Eddie he found out something else."

"I thought you were going to have him stop his investigation."

"I did but he had already found this information out."

"Okay, what else did Chloe lie about?" Eddie asked sounding bored.

Max took a deep breath and looked over at Nora. Eddie watched as Nora nodded to my dad.

"What is it already?" Eddie asked getting impatient.

"I'm trying to find the way to tell you this."

Loren could hear the pain in Max's voice and grabbed Eddie's hand.

"Just say it pops."

"Eddie, he found out who it was that ran mom and me off the road that night and just left us there."
Eddie looked at his dad as he was beginning to realize what his dad was saying. He started shaking his head slowly. "No, please." whispered out.

"Eddie it was Chloe and Tyler. Chloe was the driver."

Eddie couldn't take the pain that almost doubled him over. He stood up and ran out of the house. Loren got up to follow.

"No, give him a moment. He needs to let this all sink in." Max said to Loren.

"But he needs me."
"Yeah, he does. But right now he needs to think about this on his own."

Loren didn't know what to do. She looked at her mom for guidance and Noras look told her to sit back down.

Eddie paced back and forth at his and Loren's spot. He kept reliving his whole relationship with Chloe and felt disgusted with himself to ever think he was in love with her. It made him physically sick. After releaving himself of everything in his stomach he finally sat down by the tree. He put his head in his hands and cried. Really cried for the first time in a very long time. He could picture the last time he talked to his mom. The night she died. She was so proud of him and now he has spent the last two years with the woman who killed her. The anger and guilt he was feeling was starting to overwhelm him and all he wanted to do was to unleash that anger on both Chloe and Tyler. He stood up to go find them when he heard the sweetest voice.

"Eddie, I'm here for you."

"Oh Loren." he said as she wrapped her arms around him and held him as he cried some more.