“No, he wasn’t. You’re more important than anything.” His tone is dire.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have married me under false pretenses! You wouldn’t have lied! You would have told me the truth!”
“I couldn’t!”
“Yes, you could!” Enraged, hurt, and deceived, I storm out of the house.
“Kayla!” Reese follows behind me so close he could be my damn shadow.
“Get away from me, Reese.” I escape into my truck.
“Where are you going?” he demands.
“Away from you! I need some space. Some time to think.” I slam the door and start the engine.
“Kayla!” Reese yanks on the handle, making a spectacle in my driveway. “You can’t leave!”
“Watch me.” I reverse, forcing him to step back or lose a toe.
I drive off, tears blurring my vision, my heart tearing in two.
“Stay with him and you’re condemning yourself to heartbreak.”
Dev was so fucking right. Why didn’t I listen? Reese is sick. He’s hiding his illness, and if the world finds out, he’ll lose everything. But if he keeps racing, I could lose him, and our child could lose their father.
The car steers itself as I pull up to the last place I ever thought I’d find myself. Dev’s black and green bike is parked out front, and the front door is open.
I rush out of my truck and pound on the screen’s metal frame, the tears still dripping from my eyes. Dev appears in the foyer, the look on his face saying it all. He swings the screen door open willingly. “He told you?”
“I found the pills.” I break down, retreating into his arms.
He pulls me inside and holds me close until the sobbing passes. I couldn’t comprehend how much I really missed him until this very second. Until the familiar warmth of his body engulfs mine.
“I am so sorry, Kayla.” He hugs me tighter.
“For what? Being right? For leaving me? Or not telling me?” I ask resentfully.
“All of it.”
“What’s wrong with him?” I look up at Dev, his warm blue pools bathing me in sympathy, regret, remorse.
“Dilated cardiomyopathy. His ventricles aren’t pumping blood the way they should.”
I nearly choke. Working in the cardiac wing of the hospital, I’m familiar with the term and the severity. “How bad is it?”
“It’s getting progressively worse. After years of pushing his body, his heart just can’t take the strain anymore. I try to monitor him as closely as possible, but it’s challenging with him always away.”
A somber realization hits. “That’s why you became a cardiologist, isn’t it? You changed your entire career for him. And that’s why he was here, in Maryland, wasn’t it? When he got into the accident? He came to see you so you could examine him?”
“It’s true. All of it.” He admits forthrightly. “We worked out a schedule in New York and then when I moved back.”
“Why is your name on his pills?”
“Discreetness,” is his simple reply.
“Who is Dr. Sanders?” I continue with my interrogation.
“A buddy of mine from medical school. He’s the only other person who knows. He prescribes the meds for Reese.”
“But you treat Reese as you?” My mind is boggled.
“Yes, on paper, as me. All the medication, and insurance and doctor visits are in my name. So there’s no trail.”
“And you’re okay with that? Lying for him?”
Dev shrugs, a guilty smile playing on his lips. “He’s my brother.”
“He’s suicidal,” I argue.
“It’s his life. His decision.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying? It’s insanity.” I gape.
“It’s something we agreed on a long time ago. Then you came along and changed everything.” He traps my chin.
“You both deceived me,” I whisper in anger.
“I know we did. We shouldn’t have lied. And I never should have walked away.” He tilts my face up. “I’m so sorry, Kayla. I can’t say it enough.”
“An apology doesn’t fix anything.”
“I know.” He presses his forehead to mine. “But I’m going try anyway . . . I’m sorry you got caught up in the middle of this. I’m sorry I turned my back on you. On us. I should have fought harder for you, but we can fix it.” He inches his mouth closer. “You don’t have to stay with him, butterfly.” He touches his lips to mine. Softly at first and then with more urgency. For a moment, I allow it because I’m upset and confused, and I miss him. But it isn’t right. Everything is different now. The whole situation, my life.
“Dev.” I break the kiss. “We can’t.” I fist his shirt.
“Yes, we can.” He moves in to embrace me again, but I turn my head, aching inside. “Kayla,” he begs, keeping me close. “I’m the one you’re supposed to be with. Reese will never love you the way I do. Deep down, you know I’m right.”
I die a little inside. Dev is right. Reese will never love me the way he does, but Reese does love me, and I do love him.
We made a commitment. And I can’t turn a blind eye to that.
“I can’t just walk away from him.”
“Yes, you can.” He grabs my face, turning it so I’m forced to look straight into his searing blue gaze. “Get an annulment.”
“I’m pregnant.” I deliver the devastating blow.
All the hope in Dev’s eyes extinguishes. “It’s definitely his?”
“It is,” I confirm.
“Shit, Kayla.” Dev stumbles back placing an ocean between us. He leans against the wall, immediately withdrawn and suddenly a stranger. “I guess the ball is in your court, baby.”
That statement does nothing to make me feel better. What does he even mean? It’s my decision to choose between him and Reese? If there ever was a choice, there isn’t now. Reese is my husband, and the only thing that is going to change that is ‘till death do us part.’
“I’m sorry I came.” I retreat to the door in turmoil.
“I’m not. I love you no matter what.” His heartbreak evident.
His words are like a goddamn knife twisting in my gut.
I glance at Dev one last time. The image of him leaning against the wall with soul-crushing despair will forever be branded into my brain.
I slink out the door, clutching my abdomen. How did I get here? This morning, I woke up happy, and now, everything is falling apart.
I climb into my truck and rest my head on the steering wheel, tired, hungry, and emotionally spent.
And I have no idea what to do next.
I drive home mindlessly thinking about both Reese and Dev. Why did one have to end up my past and one my future? Why couldn’t I have them both? I guess the answer doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is the child growing inside me and the fate of his or her parents.
I don’t want to do this alone.
This baby needs its father.
And so do I.
I pace Kayla’s condo, crumbling one tiny piece at a time.
I have called and texted until my fingers bled with no reply. All I keep seeing is that devastated look in her eyes. The betrayal and the hurt. She’s right; I married her under false pretenses because I was afraid. I’m always afraid. Afraid of losing everything and becoming nothing. Without Kayla, I’m nothing. I feel the deterioration already setting in from just our brief separation.
I breathe her the way I breathe racing. The two have become one. A single entity.
A provisional piece of perfection.
But I know better than anyone, perfection doesn’t last. It’s a passing moment, a heartbeat in time.
A knock on the front door has me sprinting to answer it. “Kayla?”
“No, not Kayla.” Sam is standing on the other side. Arms crossed, a perturbed look on her face. “She didn’t show for lunch.”
She pushes past me into the condo. “Have any idea where she might be?”
“I don’t. But I wish I did.” I follow her into the kitchen.
“Trouble in paradise already?” she asks affronted.
I grind my teeth. “A bit of a lover’s quarrel,” I extend. The last thing I want is to get anyone else involved in my personal matters. At least until Kayla and I can smooth things over. If she ever comes back. I boot the niggling thought away.
“Isn’t this supposed to be the honeymoon phase?” It’s clear Sam isn’t happy about our shotgun wedding.
“We’re human. We fight.”
“Uh-huh,” she replies unconvinced. Sam’s resemblance to Kayla is uncanny. It’s like looking twenty years into the future.
“Do you have an opinion? Or are you just going to stand there and make passive-aggressive comments?”
Sam’s dark eyes sharpen. “Kayla is my niece, and this is her house, so I can do whatever the hell I want. And if I feel like making passive-aggressive comments at the man she just up and married, I will.”
“Well, Kayla is my wife, which means I have all the same liberties. So if you don’t want to play nice, leave a note and get the hell out. Because I’m not going anywhere.” Look, I get she’s pissed. Sam’s animosity is warranted. She was never a fan of Kayla being in a relationship with me and Dev. But she has no idea what transpired between the three of us. No idea about the love we shared or the heartbreak Kayla endured. Sam raised her, and she feels entitled. I empathize. Now that I’m going to become a father, the responsibility is all I can think about. The protection and my duty to keep that child safe. And its mother.