AN: Just some nice DE before we head into the fall out of Little Embryo being on his way.
I've not forgotten about what happened the last time Erica was pregnant and staying at Wildwind...and she hasn't either. It's coming!
Chapter 14
"You're early," He motioned her inside. "You alright?"
Erica nodded back to him as she headed for the couch. "We made the cover and first page ls of the Exposer. Have you seen it?" She asked, Exposer in her hand as she turned to face him.
"It's a great photo," He laughed, closing the distance between them. "Are you alright? I know this isn't how you wanted it to get out."
She shrugged, not bothered by any of it. "It's just bits and pieces. I'm not bothered as long as they don't know about Alex and Olivia."
It was likely that Alex and Olivia would stay strangers to them for the rest of their lives. Never know the truth about their parentage. It was a hard truth to accept, but she would.
They didn't deserve any of this, and she would not let Greg Madden ruin the happy, successful lives they were building.
"Joe accosted me at the hospital."
She raised a curious eyebrow at him.
"Apparently no one told Jeff he wasn't Josh's father, and they had to find it out from the Exposer."
"Oh, I probably should have called him. Told Joe."
Jeff, Joe, and the rest of the Martin family hadn't even crossed her mind in the weeks since Josh's death.
Why should they have? Jeff couldn't even come to town for Josh's funeral. And Joe had acted like he had lost a son and not a grandson.
None of them had reached out to her or her family.
Did they really mourn his loss or the loss of another Martin?
David shrugged this time. "I'm sorry Jeff was hurt, but it doesn't really change anything whether you told him before or if he found out today."
She nodded, but the words stuck in her throat, and her eyes closed.
"Hey, hey, are you okay? Erica?" He asked, reaching out to steady her.
She nodded and flashed him with a soft smile. "Morning sickness."
"What?"
"I mean, I haven't tested yet, but I know my body."
"We have to wait two more days, and your beta draw will confirm it."
She probably was right. She knew herself and her body best.
He was dying to know himself, but he couldn't bear the thought of her being disappointed if she tested too early.
"Or," She started with a wide smile and a raised eyebrow, "I can take the home tests I picked up on my way here."
He knew that smile. Wide. Bright. Gorgeous and confident. The smile she reserved for those moments when she knew she was irresistible, and she would get her way.
And she would. He hadn't ever been able to deny her anything. "I don't want you to be disappointed."
"I won't be." She was moving away from him so she could remove the tests from her purse. "I know the transfer took."
"Alright. Alright. Go take the tests."
She was headed for the downstairs bathroom before he could even comprehend the reality of what was happening.
If she was right, if the transfer had taken, they were going to be parents.
Josh was an adult. Alex and Olivia were teenagers. They would never get to have their childhoods back. Never get to watch them grow, teach them, and protect them.
If the transfer took, this child would be theirs from the beginning.
Erica Kane was likely just minutes from finding out she was carrying his child, and his heart shouted finally, while his brain screamed at him not to pretend like the last nine years hadn't happened.
"Three minutes," She said suddenly back at his side, quickly setting the timer on her phone.
The tests were back in their packing and laid out on a paper towel on the coffee table.
"Distract me?" She asked, looking up at him. Her smile wavered for the first time, and her eyes reflected the nervousness she felt.
"I actually have something for you," He pushed it out in one hard breath.
This was a bad idea. The last thing either of needed was to further feed their draw to one another.
It made little sense considering where they were with one another just a few months before.
Barely co-existing. Negotiating and bartering when one of them needed something from one another.
Now, they were almost inseparable.
Nothing was happening. No lines had been crossed. No moments stolen.
This felt like something deeper than anything physical they could have.
"Oh?" She asked excitedly as he led her toward the stairs.
"I would rather you be able to sleep at night, but since you can't, I want you to feel comfortable coming here whenever you'd like."
They were at the top of the stairs headed just to the left.
She knew exactly where they were going and what he was doing.
She ended up here, at Wildwind most nights. Sleep eluding her. As it had many nights since Josh's death.
Sometimes, she lied awake thinking about what he was like a child. Was he sweet and funny? Or was he always a bit brooding?
Did his genius show right away, or did it slowly spill out as he aged?
Other nights, she dwelled on lost time. On her struggle to accept him and who he was, who they thought he was. If she'd tried hard, worked through her feelings faster, they would have had more time.
Perhaps if they had that time, she could have saved him from himself.
Since their time in New York, David had become her safe space, the person who calmed her and talked her through the pain.
When sleep would finally come for her, she'd fall asleep in the room they stood before.
He stopped them at the door to the bedroom, eyes meeting hers for a fleeting glance before pushing the door open. He held out his hand a key he'd taken from his pocket. "It's your room, your space whenever you need."
He'd taken the time to have fresh white bedding put on for her. The drab, soulless brown curtains that usually greeted her had been replaced by lavender ones.
Small pops of pink and lavender dotted the space in the form or throw pillows and blankets.
"You did this for me?"
"You were pretty clear how you feel about my choice of color palette."
"Dull, soulless, sad," She nodded through a knowing smile. "It's wonderful, thank you."
"Use your key whenever you want. Day or night."
Having a key to Wildwind was something she had long believed would never happen. A space in Wildwind where she could come when everyone and everything else wouldn't give her a moment to think.
She looked up at him, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Despite their past, despite their history, he still understood her on a level few others had.
David swallowed back a hard breath and stared down at her.
His head screamed not to do it. His heart screamed the opposite, daring him to step to her, close the space between them.
Her eyes drifted shut, and her body subconsciously leaned into his.
Her phone blared from downstairs, timer buzzing.
"Three minutes," She pushed out in a shaky breath, forcing them back to reality .
He nodded and forced out a hard breath. She was already past him, heading downstairs.
Saved by the timer.
She had already turned off her timer and set the phone back on the table by the time he got to her, but hadn't touched the tests. "Suddenly I'm doubting myself."
"We'll look together."
He was at her side in a second eyes darting between her and the table. "Even if they're negative, your beta draw could still be positive."
She nodded, but her attention was focused on a test she held in her hands. "I don't think I have ever wanted anything so much."
"You always get what you want," He reminded her, motioning for her to hurry up.
He'd never wanted something so much, either.
"Well?" She breathed quickly, holding the test out for him to read.
"You do always get what you want," His smile was bright, and his eyes fixed on her lips, and the gorgeous smile he was watching appear. "It's positive. You're pregnant. Congratulations."
"It worked?" She was half laughing half crying as they checked the other two tests.
"Three for three."
She was very clearly pregnant. But she knew that before she took the tests.
"We're having a baby." There were tears on cheeks, and her hand shook as she reached for his. She laid his palm against her stomach and looked up at him. "Can you believe it? We did it." Her hand covered his.
The things in life that had to align for this moment to be possible.
For them to even know one another, let alone have a history together.
For Josh to have found them.
For them to have found the three other embryos.
For this one to have been strong and healthy.
He or she was nothing short or a miracle, and his or her birth would prove that no matter how hard you tried, love always won.
TBC
