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"Forgive what? You didn’t do anything wrong"

"I stopped believing in you I believed that horrible bitch over your word, and I threw you away"

"No You didn’t throw anything away, baby" I touched her heart "Don’t you know that you have ht there with you You never really lost me, not for a second, and you never will"

"I love you so much"

"Nina, look me in the eyes "I love you too I will always love you There isn’t anything you could ever do or say to change that"

"Do you remember when you asked me to make you a blind promise? That I wouldn’t leave you…before you toldyou to do the sa I need to tell you"

"Okay Yes I pro"

She cried harder "I can’t"

I wiped her tears withher beautiful face inon You’re scaring the shit out ofbreath "Ryan was there…the night that you were drunk and that whore was at the apart really happened between you two, but he never told htened "What?"

"He was in his room When he heard her come to the door, he watched you fro He saw that she ca her to leave"

I looked up at the ceiling in disbelief and then back at Nina "I told you"

"I know I a how devastated I was He only told ht"

I would deal with hied?"

"Here is the part I aether and kissed them softly "Baby, co anywhere"

"I confided in Ryan about so, and he had no choice but to co you"

"When I caot sick Do you remember that?"

"Yeah"

"And then I disappeared for a while…"

"Yes…how could I forget? You explained that in your voice withterm because of my responsibilities with Ivy, and I understand"

"No…you don’t It wasn’t just about Ivy That factored into it, but--"

I eating "Just tellbreak I was voht"

"So, I took a pregnancy test" She breathed in and out deeply "It was positive, Jake"

My body jolted backward in a sharp intake of breath as she said those words My hands began to shake as it started to dawn on me why she was here

Why there was blood

Why everyone was looking at each other suspiciously in the waiting rooht

"Is the baby…" I couldn’t even say it, couldn’t even fathoan to cry harder, squeezed her eyes shut and was barely audible "I don’t know"

"What do youa blood test and co soon"

I coveredinto my hand "No"

Once the initial shock faded, I closed

Dear God, please let our baby be okay

My hand ently over her stolass "You’ve been going through this all alone Why didn’t you tell oing through so much How could I possibly tell you that you were about to be a father on top of that? So, I put it off I lied to you that first night back from my parents’ I told you I hadwell, but it was reallyhoas going to continue school and take care of a baby when you were leaving every weekend to visit Ivy That’s why I woke up in a sweat that night After that, I knew I had to stay away from you, because I couldn’t look into your eyes and keep it from you, but I wasn’t ready to tell you, because that would have ry "Jesus…were you ever going to tell me?"

"Yes…of course The more days that passed, the more I realized how much I missed you, that I couldn’t ever live without you or with the thought of not going through with having our baby I’, but each day, I became more certain that this was justinside of me I knew I loved my baby…our baby So, I kneas time to tell you That’s when I left you that voiceht you saw Lexie there," I said under oing to tell you if this hadn’t happened I just didn’t kno to approach it since eren’t together any for the three-oing to be viable, before turning your world upside down"

"Tell ht"

"I canancy I needed to tell soh I kne he felt about you, he really is like a brother to me I wasn’t ready to tell my parents Of course, he knew the baby was yours He broke down in guilt and told oing to ever tell ht you were good for ot so upset at hi it from me that I hit him I truly hated him for what he did But I wasin you I cried the entire night I was so overco to die fro that Jimmy and your Dad loved, Crimson and Clover, caet some sleep, but all I could think about was how I had kept so to break down again

"Please don’t cry I love you so much Come here" I held her in my arms for minutes until the tears stopped, and then she continued the story

"After Ryan left, I was in bed and started feeling some wetness When I looked down, there was blood all overthe baby It wasso upset I--"