now, and I don’t know what to do. She’s so upset, I don’t know what the right thing to do is. I go with my gut and hold my arms open and she steps into them.
I hoist her up in my arms and carry her into the living room, sitting in the big chair and holding her in my lap.
My mind is going a mile a minute, but almost instantly, I know what I need to do. Fuck, what I want to do.
She’s sobbing in my arms and I stroke her hair, waiting, begging her to calm down before she makes herself even more sick.
She curls into me and presses her nose into my neck. Even now, with her eyes swollen, her hair a matted mess and snot running down her nose, she’s still beautiful. She’s one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen. It’s then I know that what I want to do is the right thing. Hell, it’s the only thing.
When her sobbing slows, I keep rubbing her back. She tries to pull from my arms, but I only let her go so far. She doesn’t fight me; she just lifts her big blue eyes to mine. “What am I gonna do?”
I take a deep breath and hold on to her because I know her first instinct is going to be to run. “You’re going to marry me, April.”
Her deep intake of breath fills the room. “Marry you?”
I nod my head, still holding on to her. “Yes, we’re getting married.”
She shakes her head. “Maybe I didn’t explain this right. The baby is Allen’s.”
I just nod my head and try to hide my smirk. I am, after all, a fireman. I do know some health stuff and I know she wouldn’t find out she’s pregnant after only sleeping with me three days ago. “I know that, April. I know he will be the biological father.”
She jerks again and when I try to stop her, she asks me, “Please, let me up.”
I look into her eyes. “The last time I let you up, you kicked me out. I’m not leaving here like last time. I won’t be leaving here until you agree to marry me.”
I release her then and her eyes widen as she steps away from me.
She starts to stutter, takes a deep breath, and then very slowly says, “This isn’t the 1950s, Terry. A woman doesn’t get married because she’s pregnant.”
“I know that,” I start, but she holds her hand up for me to stop.
“That’s crazy for you to even think we should get married. We’re not together, we’re not dating. What is it? Do you have some weird loyalty to Allen that you feel you need to do this? Because I promise you, you don’t.”
My mind is working overtime. I’m barely listening to her because I’m thinking of ways I can convince her to marry me.
“Can we sit down?” I point to the couch, trying to buy some time.
She looks between the couch and me and finally nods her head.
I follow her and sit down and can’t help but notice that she sits on the other end of the couch, as far from me as possible.
I open my hands, palms up. “We would be helping each other out.”
She scoffs. “How can marrying me help you?”
With my most sincere look, I tell her, “I want to settle down. I’ve wanted to for some time now. You’re beautiful. We know each other, I know you’re a good woman and will make a good mother. We proved the other day that we’re compatible. Fuck, we’re on fire.”
She’s shaking her head. “No, what will people think? I can’t…”
“Fuck ‘em.” I slap my hand against my leg. “If they have a problem with us getting married, they’re not our friends anyway. C’mon, April. You can finish school. You have one semester left. I know you hated moving back in here with your mom, and I have a big house with plenty of room.”
Her hands twist together in front of her. “Those are not any reasons to get married, Terry.”
“They’re perfect reasons, and you know it. The rest will come to us,” I tell her, but only because I know she’s not ready to hear the truth. She’s all I’ve thought about and to think that she could be mine has my heart beating doubletime.
She’s breaking. I know she is, but then she starts to shake her head. “No. No. I can’t marry you. I’m sorry.”
I walk over to her and grab her