Page 21 of Accidentally in Love

I tilted her chin up. “Hey, you’re gonna be a great mother.”

“Promise?”

I kissed her forehead. “Promise. Now go to sleep.”

She settled into my chest, and I felt her breathing getting steady as she fell back asleep.

Sleep was a challenge for me. I laid in bed with her curled around me and thought of my next step. I wanted to prove to her I could be worthy of her, but instead, I had given her an unplanned pregnancy and a lot of uncertainty.

I woke with a start to the sound of someone throwing up. Immediately, I rushed into the bathroom and found Avery once again hugging the toilet and crying.

Did pregnant people cry all the time?

I kneeled down beside her and rubbed her back. “Shush, it’s okay, get it all out.”

“It’s like this every morning. I hate this so much, Nol,” she sobbed over the porcelain bowl.

I hated that. I hated that she was feeling awful because of the growing baby inside her. I didn’t know how to help her, so I rubbed her back until she finished.

She wiped her mouth and took a swig of mouthwash.

“You get sick every morning?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Avery?”

“Yeah?” she asked while she walked back into my bedroom and started putting her clothes on.

I tried not to stare at her tits popping out of her bra while she attempted to put it on. She might not look that pregnant yet, but her tits had definitely gotten bigger.

“I have to ask you something, and I don’t want you to freak out.”

She raised an eyebrow at me in confusion. “Okay…”

“Move in here?”

She stared at me. “What?”

“Your apartment’s too small to raise a baby in. I have this house all to myself. We can raise the baby here, and it won’t feel cramped.”

She rubbed her fingers between the bridge of her nose. “I know you feel you need to do right by me, but I don’t have to move in here.”

“Why not?”

“We’re just friends who’re having a baby together. How would we explain it when they got older? That Mommy and Daddy live together but aren’t together?”

I sighed and went into my sock drawer and pulled out the ring. She was putting on her blouse and wasn’t paying attention until she looked down and saw me kneeling in front of her.

“Will you marry me?” I asked.

“Nolan…” she breathed.

“Come on, Avery. We’re gonna have a baby. Let’s become a family too.”

She shook her head. “We don’t have to get married because you got me pregnant.”

“Why not?”