CHAPTER 16 LINCOLN

I glance away from her, my eyes turning to the window for just a beat before her words register.

I do a double take.

Wait.

What?

"You're…" I begin.

"Pregnant," she finishes with an emphatic nod.

I try to comprehend what she's telling me, but it's like the words won't compute.

It also sort of feels like my legs are about to give out, and that's when a rush of emotions hit me.

It feels like every emotion in the book plowing into me all at once.

"I'm going to be…" I try and fail to complete another sentence.

"A daddy." She nods.

"Holy shit. I need to sit down. No, wait, you need to sit down."

She laughs as I scramble to reconcile her words with my thought process. Normally I'm a little quicker on the uptake, but Jesus, this news is from so far out in left field that I'm not even sure I'm playing baseball right now.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Are you?" I counter, and that's when it hits me.

She's pregnant.

It's mine.

I'm going to be a dad.

I rush toward her and pull her into my arms before she gets the chance to answer. "Please say you'll take me back," I beg as my eyes fall onto hers. I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. "I will do anything to get you back in my life," a kiss on her cheek, "by my side," a kiss on her other cheek, "in my bed," a kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Move in with me. Marry me. Have more babies with me. You and me and Jonah and our baby. Say yes." I'm desperate by the end, begging as I hold onto her and she clings to me and we somehow hold each other up as I pray our baby will have the same gold flecks in her eyes that her beautiful mother has.

It"s symbolic, I think—us holding each other up. We'll continue to do that as we move into this next segment of life…the one I hope I'll get to call the happy one.

"Whoa, boy. Slow down," she says, putting a halting hand on my chest, and reality plows into me that maybe I'm reading this whole thing wrong and it's not what she wants at all.

My chest cracks clean in half at her slow down.

She didn't say she wanted to get back together with me. She just said she's pregnant.

"I want to be with you, and I want to trust you, and I think you went a long way in earning that back by fighting for Jonah and me. This whole time, we've kept saying we'd figure things out, but I think we're past the point of needing to figure it out and fuck what anybody else thinks because it's you and me, okay?" She's talking through her tears, and it's making me emotional, too. "You and me and Jonah and our baby, and maybe more if it's what the future holds for us. The rest…I guess we'll figure it out."

I laugh a little deliriously at the end of her speech that we'll figure it out when she just said we're past the point of needing to figure it out, but she's right. It's all anybody can do in this life, isn't it? We take what we're dealt and…we figure it out. Somehow, some way. And as long as we can do that together, hand-in-hand, then we can fight our way through anything.

I lower my lips to hers, and she kisses me back with a ferocity that's both healing and unexpected.

I'm about to pick her up and carry her into her bedroom when the front door opens.

"Oh thank heavens," Sam practically yells, breaking up our intimate moment with her own brand of sassiness.

We break apart, and Jolene looks a little sheepish. Meanwhile, I can't really seem to hide my raging boner that's aching to be inside the woman I love, and I turn away and subtly adjust myself.

Okay, fine. So maybe it's not so subtle by the way Sam snickers.

"Do I need to give you two a moment?" she asks.

"Oh, we'll be needing more than a moment," Jolene says, and she grins at me.

"So we kissed and made up, I take it?" Sam asks.

I nod. "Well, we made up, and then our kiss was interrupted."

She laughs. "Why don't I hang out here and wait for the boys if you want to head over to Linc's place for a bit?"

"Thank you," I mouth to her.

Jolene gives her a hug. "Love you. Thanks for being the best friend a girl could ask for."

I feel like there's more to her words than being thankful we have a bit of time while Sam waits here for her kid, but I don't ask.

She nods with a smile. "You kids have fun."

And then we hop in my car and head for my place.

"Can you tell me more about the baby?" I ask on the way there.

"I found out the night of the accident," she admits.

"The night of the accident? You've known for over two weeks?" More facts my brain is having a hard time comprehending.

She nods. "I knew I was going to tell you at some point. I mean, obviously. I couldn't hide it forever. But I was just so damn angry."

"How far along are you?" I ask.

"Twelve weeks now. We're due at the end of March."

We're due. That means me, too. She wants me to be part of this, and nothing in the world could make me happier. "Is that what made you decide to tell me? Because you're twelve weeks already?" I act like I know what the fuck that means, but lucky for me, she's been through this once. I'm sure it's scary as hell any time a woman goes through it, but she's got a little more experience in this department than me. I've never changed a diaper. Hell, I think I've held maybe one or two babies in my entire life. That sort of thing happens when nobody in your immediate family has children.

"It's not like I'm going to be able to hide it much longer. And last night, after our podcast call, Sam pointed out that if I didn't tell you, I was being a total hypocrite for being mad that you didn't tell me something."

"I always liked that friend of yours," I say, grinning as I look out over the road. I reach over and grab her hand, and I pull it to my lips.

"She asked me what I needed from you, and when I really thought about it, the answer was simple. I wanted you to put me first. I wanted you to choose Jonah and me. I wanted you to fight for me. And then you show up today ready to fight, already waging a war I didn't even know about against Jeremy, winning battles for me right under my nose, and I guess…it was everything I needed."

"I will always fight to be everything you need, Jo. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just couldn't see how picking at an old wound would ever heal it," I say.

She glances over at me. "How are you handling what's going on with your dad?"

I shrug. "It's fine. It is what it is, and as much as I wish things could be different, they just aren't. And you know what? That's okay. I've got the love of my life. I've got Jonah. I've got this little one on the way. I've got my mom and my brothers. I have a job I love. I think all in all, I'm doing pretty damn good."

She squeezes my hand. "I know it won't always be easy. I know we still have a major battle to fight when it comes to our families, and I know my father will never be on board with us being together. But I got to thinking…maybe this little bun was given to us for a reason. I was on birth control, Lincoln. I was not expecting this. But she's a little fighter, and—"

"She?" I repeat as emotion clogs my throat. "She's…a girl?"

"Well, I mean, I don't officially know, but mother's instinct and all." She lifts a shoulder. "I guess I just feel like maybe it's a girl frolicking around in there."

Whoa. I wasn't expecting to feel pressure behind my eyes at the thought of having a little girl. But girl or boy, this baby is a miracle, and I think I know exactly where Jolene was going with that train of thought.

She or he just might be the reason our families mend what was broken all those years ago.