Page 21 of Through the Storm

And God help me, I love every second of it. I didn’t realize how badly I needed someone to act like this baby was good news.

“Oh honey! You’re glowing!” his mom gushes.

For once, my pregnancy isn’t whispered about. For once, I don’t feel like a problem to be managed. When I glance up, Ben is hovering just behind them, watching like he’s waiting his turn. Like he’s proud. Like this ishismoment too.

I roll my eyes, but my mouth curves into a smile anyway.

Ella and Rebecca pull me in next. After yesterday, any nerves and jealousy I had about Rebecca have completely vanished. It was hard at first. She’s wild and free and wears giant golden hoop earrings, and she’s everything I was never allowed to be. But she’s also sharp and funny and fiercely loyal in a way that makes total sense beside Ella’s softness. I get it now. I getthem. And I know, without question, that she’d throw down for Ella.

And for me too, after only a day.

“So.” Rebecca turns my way once Ella runs after my brother. “What’s it like to have a personal butler?”

I snort. “I do not have a personal butler.”

She hums thoughtfully, while stretching to grab her lemonade. “Whatever you tell yourself.” Her eyes flick past me to Ben. “Is he always like this, then?”

“Always,” I admit. “It’s exhausting.”

Ben mutters from behind us, “I can hear you.”

Rebecca smiles, unbothered. “Good.”

Lily chooses that moment to run over to us and gets completely captivated by my stomach, just like she was yesterday. She holds full conversations with my belly like she expects answers. Mostly about ice cream.

Her mom, Ali, introduces herself. She tells me she had Wyatt atsixteen and what her experience was like. She doesn’t look at me with pity or judgement, and I appreciate that more than she knows.

From what I’ve seen so far, Wyatt seems like a great guy. If she could do it at sixteen and all alone, I can do it at twenty. It helps more than I want to admit. Proof that one hard beginning doesn’t ruin everything after it.

By the time the sun starts to dip, the noise blurs into something pleasant. Rebecca and I laugh until my ribs ache. Ben sneaks me pie when he thinks Ella isn’t looking. He gets caught and doesn’t even pretend to be sorry.

He stays close all evening. Never crowding. Just near enough that I stop noticing when I started relying on it.

When the first firework cracks across the sky, everyone migrates toward the beach. Declan’s arm is around Ella, his attention entirely claimed.

Which leaves me alone at the edge of the deck.

Ben steps up beside me. “You okay?” he asks quietly.

I nod, eyes on the sky. “Yeah. Today’s been… nice.”

The fireworks light up his face when he turns to look at me. He studies me like he’s memorizing this version of me. “You deserve nice,” he says. “You deserve everything.”

My throat tightens. I don’t trust myself or my hormones enough to answer.

Another firework blooms, loud and bright. His hand brushes mine where it rests on the railing. Accidental. Maybe.

My pinky moves before I can stop it.

When it touches his hand, he turns again. Our eyes meet. No words. Just something heavy and unspoken sitting between us.

His shoulder brushes mine. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me too.”

I stand there beside Ben, wishing, just for a minute, that my life was simple enough to reach for what’s right beside me.

Wishing I could trust him like I used to.