so far.”
“How about you?” Curt asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Annalise assured him. “My morning sickness has even gotten a little better in the past couple of days. The prenatal vitamins are helping. And my doctor told me to keep fresh lemons by my bed and smell them before I get up, and for some reason that’s making a difference.”
“That’s good,” Curt said. “I know you were having a hard time.”
She nodded. “I feel much better now.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Curt stared at the sonogram image.
These are my children, he thought, and suddenly his acting career seemed utterly unimportant.
How could he have considered sacrificing the chance to know them for the sake of being in movies? These babies were worth so much more. There was no comparison.
He looked up at Annalise. She was watching him, her expression inscrutable.
“I need you to know,” he said, “this isn’t just about the pregnancy.”
“What do you mean?” Annalise asked.
“I meant what I said before,” Curt said. “I’ve fallen in love with you. I never expected it to happen so quickly, but I can’t ignore it. And it changes everything.”
Annalise waited, saying nothing.
“I gave up my movie role and fired my agent because I wanted to be involved in our babies’ lives,” Curt went on. “And I’m praying you’ll let me. But I want more than that, Annalise. I want to be in your life. I want us to be together. You’ve made me feel things I… things I’ve only ever pretended to feel before. It’s like I finally understand the things I’ve been trying to portray on screen all these years. I always thought I knew what love was, but I didn’t. Not until I knew you.”
He gazed into her eyes. The anger and hostility had disappeared from her face, but he still couldn’t read her expression.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he begged. “I need to know.”
“I’m thinking…” She paused. “I’m thinking that for someone who didn’t know what love was, you portrayed it pretty masterfully.”
She was smiling. Curt let himself smile too.
“You’re a good actor,” she said. “I’ve always known that about you. But I guess I didn’t realize how good.”
“Neither did I,” Curt admitted. “I always thought I understood this feeling. I thought it was complex. But it’s not. It’s simple.”
Annalise nodded. “Which doesn’t make the situation it’s putting us in any simpler, unfortunately.”
“No,” Curt agreed. “But if you tell me you feel the same way I do, there’s a way forward for us.”
Annalise sighed. “You must know I do, Curt,” she said fondly.
“You do?”
“You didn’t know?”
“After the way I acted, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hated me.”
“I tried to hate you,” Annalise admitted. “I was angry at you. I wanted to write you off. I decided it would be just fine with me if you never called me back or spoke to me again.”
“I thought you might shut the door in my face when you saw me today,” Curt said.
“I thought about it,” Annalise said.
“But you didn’t.”
“I couldn’t,” she said. “Because the truth is… I couldn’t hate you. I love you too much to cultivate hatred for you. I love you too much to let you go, even though you were—”
“A jerk?”
“A huge jerk.” But she was laughing.
“Can you forgive me?” he asked her.
“Can you forgive me for not picking up the phone when you called from Costa Rica to find out how my doctor’s appointment had gone?”
“That’s not nearly as bad as what I did,” he protested.
“I still want your forgiveness,” she said.
“You have it. Of course.”
“And you have mine,” she told him.
Overcome with relief, he pulled her into an embrace.
The two of them held on for a long time. Curt was overwhelmed. He had truly believed, he realized, that he might never get the chance to hold Annalise in his arms again. He’d believed that their relationship was ruined.
“I don’t deserve you,” he said quietly.
She pulled back and looked up at him, confusion etched across her face.
“I don’t deserve someone so generous. So forgiving,” he explained.
“Yeah, you do,” Annalise said, taking his hand in hers. “You gave up so much for us, Curt. You gave up your dream.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe you did that. I never meant to make you lose so much.”
“I’m sure I’ll be able to find work,” Curt said. “My name is worth more than a little to directors. And it should be no problem to find myself a new agent.”
“I hope so,” Annalise said.