Page 104 of Shattered Oaths

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I ask in a rush as I stride towards her.

“I…” she stutters, her chin wobbling with the threat of more tears. “I’m fine.”

She shakes her head, the first tear falling. “I’m fine,” she repeats, her chest heaving with a sob. Her hands come up, wiping at her face frantically.

“Bells,” I whisper, stepping closer as my worry kicks up a notch.

She repeats herself again, this time her voice breaking. “I’m fine.”

Within seconds, I’m reaching for her and pulling her against my chest as she collapses into me and breaks down.

I lift her small body from the ground and carry her toward the couch, sinking down into the cushions with her on my lap before tightening my arms around her.

Running my hands through her long blonde hair, I tuck her chin into my neck and just hold her for however long it takes for her cries to quieten, her body to relax and her breaths to slow.

Only then, do I pull back slightly and look down at her. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

She keeps her eyes closed for a minute, and I stay silent, our individual breaths the only sounds between us.

Just when I think she’s not going to answer my question, she speaks, the words so quiet I almost feel as though I’ve imagined them.

“I’m late on my period.”

Every single muscle in my body tenses.

My lungs squeeze.

The room around me blurs.

And the whooshing sound of my heartbeat triples in volume in my ears as the meaning of her words settle in my brain.

“You’re pregnant?” I croak the question out, needing to be sure I heard her correctly.

Bella’s head moves against my chest, her hair brushing against my chin. “No.” It’s a whisper, so small and so quiet yet full of so many emotions that I feel my own begin to bubble out of control.

“The test was negative.”

I can’t explain the feelings that those four words ignite in me.

The first is relief. Because there are so many reasons why now would be the worst time for this to happen. Because I don’t want her to resent me more than she already does by making her feel forced to forgive me for the sake of our child.

But that relief is quickly replaced by something else.

Disappointment.

Sadness.

Loss.

Because in those split seconds between me thinkingshe was pregnant and her clarifying that she isn’t, a whole future flashed before my eyes.

A future with her in it.

Of a tiny human, the perfect mix of the two of us.

Of birthdays and Christmases, nurseries and cribs. Tiny clothes and even tinier shoes.

I saw it all in those short moments and that was all it took to solidify what I already knew. That Bella is it for me.She’sthe woman I’ve always pictured spending the rest of my life with. The person I want to sit and watch the sunrise with every morning and the body I want to hold against me every single night.