Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“The bump is definitely bigger,” he said, rubbing it.
“I know. My jean skirt wouldn’t button this morning. This one has elastic, so it fits.”
He moved his hand to the gear stick to shift. “Do we find out what it is yet?” he asked.
“No. A few more weeks still. So, does that mean you want to know before it’s born?”
I had been debating on this already. I wanted to know, but then a surprise seemed fun too. If there was a nursery I could decorate, then finding out before would make sense. But I didn’t know where we would live. Eventually, we had to address that. I needed a plan. It was just that, although things had been really good with Liam and it’d felt different with him the past couple of weeks, he hadn’t brought up anything changing.
“You don’t want to know?” he asked, glancing at me.
“I haven’t decided. But if you want to, then that would help make up my mind.” I wanted to mention the nursery and needing to know where I’d be taking our baby when I left the hospital. There were things it would need. I would have to get those and have a place to put it.
“I’d like to know, but I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to do. If you want to wait, I can too.”
I shook my head. This wasn’t a big deal. I had much bigger things I had to worry about. “I think I want to know too.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yep! It’s settled.” Unlike our future.
“Do we need to go shopping for some new clothes for you?”
I thought about that for a moment. He would be the one buying them, and I didn’t like that. I already lived at his house. I needed to contribute financially. Getting a job was a topic I hadn’t wanted to push since things were going so well. But I had been looking online.
“I think I’ve got plenty of things that stretch right now,” I told him.
He glanced over at my chest. “No bra again,” he said. “We need to go buy you bigger ones.”
“I can handle that this week if my not wearing one is bothering you,” I said.
“Your tits draw attention. I don’t like men looking.”
That was why I hadn’t gone and bought one already. When he acted jealous, it gave me hope. I kept thinking he’d realize why he was jealous or admit he had feelings for me.
“Men have always looked at my boobs,” I pointed out.
“You weren’t carrying my baby then.”
The fear that that could truly be what it was, just that I was pregnant with his child and not jealousy was what kept me from trying to force him to say more. It was possible I had built all this up in my head. Because he was more than a friend to me. I was falling in love with him, and I couldn’t stop. The Liam he’d been the past two weeks was a much different one. That side of Liam was impossible to protect my heart from.
I wanted to ask, And after the baby is born, will you care if men look at me then? but I wasn’t brave enough to face that answer.
Time. We needed more time. This couldn’t just be one-sided, the way I was feeling. He had to feel something too.
“I’ll go get a new bra,” I told him.
“I’ll come with you. I need to be sure it covers you appropriately,” he said.
I laughed and turned to look out the window as we drove. My eyes began to get heavy, and just before I drifted off, I felt Liam’s hand brush hair from my face. The back of his fingers caressed my cheek. The words I love you were so close to spilling from my lips, but I held tight to them. He wasn’t ready to hear that, but I had to believe that he would be one day soon.
33
Liberty
My pace picked up, the closer I got to the red door, as the noise on the other side grew louder.
The doctor’s appointment had gone smoothly. We listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a Doppler this time, and it remained strong. I had gained one pound, and everything else had appeared to be fine.
“You trying to get away from me?” Liam asked.
I glanced back over my shoulder at him and realized how much faster I’d been walking than him. “No, but I am anxious to see Nina and Goldie,” I told him as I reached the door.
His mouth twitched with amusement, and for a moment, I was distracted by him. I had been doing that more often lately. Being struck by how handsome he was.
The nurse today had once again basically drooled all over him. However, he was different. He seemed not to even notice her interest. His eyes had remained on me the entire time, making me feel important to him.