Broken Hearts (Light in the Dark 5)

“Are you sure?” He hesitates.

I nod.

He lets go of me and steps around me to grab the test. He squints at it, and then looks at the box to confirm.

“What’s it say?” I beg, my emotions torn. On one hand, I’m scared to death for it to be positive, on the other I’m afraid it’s going to be negative and I know I’d be crushed.

He smiles slowly. “It’s positive.”

“It’s positive?” I ask, tears rushing to my eyes.

“It’s positive,” he confirms.

“Oh, my God,” I cry, throwing my arms around him.

He squeezes me back, burying his head into the crook of my neck.

He lets go and takes my face between his hands. “I know this journey is going to be hard after what we’ve been through, so fucking hard, but don’t keep your worries and doubts and fears to yourself. I’m going to have them too, you know, and we need to talk about it.”

I nod. He’s right. I bite my lip and pause. “D-Do you think this is an insult to Beckett? This happening so soon?”

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t. If anything, I think he’s trying to tell us it’s okay to begin our lives again. He’s not going anywhere, he’s always with us. This doesn’t change that.”

I hug him, and he hugs me back, I don’t know how long we stand there but eventually both our cellphones start ringing incessantly and we have to let go.

I answer mine first. “Xander?”

“Hey—so, um, Thea’s water broke in the middle of the grocery store and we’re on the way to the hospital now. She wants everyone to be there to see the baby.”

“Sure,” I reply.

In the background, I hear Thea scream and then curse, “I hate you, Xander Kincaid! I hate you so fucking much! You knock me up again and I swear to God I’m going to kill you!”

I can’t help but laugh. “I can tell the contractions are in full force already.”

He sighs. “You have no idea.”

“We’ll meet you guys at the hospital,” I promise. “See you soon.”

I hang up and turn to Jace. “Is everything okay?” he asks.

I smile. “Looks like the baby is coming today.”

He whispers, “I don’t think the baby comes that fast, Nova.”

I smack his shoulder and he laughs. “Xander and Thea. The baby is coming.”

“I knew that.” He chuckles.

It doesn’t take us long to leave, and Sasha

glares at us as we go. She doesn’t like to be alone. She’s a pretty unusual cat.

We arrive at the hospital and dash into the waiting room. Cade and Rae are already there.

“Do you know anything?” I ask.

Rae shakes her head. “Nothing yet.”