Sam walked weakly into her kitchen in search for the box of Saltines she had been living on for the last two days. She never would understand why it was called morning sickness when it lasted all damn day. She wrapped her bathrobe tightly around her small frame as the thunder sounded loud enough for her to think the house shook. She grabbed the box of crackers and headed back towards the couch. She was flicking through the channels when she heard someone pounding frantically on her door. Maybe the house had been struck by lightning after all, or maybe a tree had fallen on her car. Either way, she was sure that something bad had happened because someone was here to warn her by the way they tried to break down her door.
She shoved her bare feet into her fuzzy slippers, in case she needed to evacuate and hurried to answer the door, pulling it open just as Nick was about to pound his fist against it again. She stared at him in shock for a moment. He was drenched from the rain his tailored suit clinging to him as he stared at her. Without taking notice of the pained expression he wore, she smiled and threw her arms around him.
“Nick! What’re you doing here? You said you wouldn’t be back until Saturday.” She said happily not caring that he was soaking wet, she clung to him.
He closed his eyes as her arms embraced him tightly. He had been dreaming of her touch for days and wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly. He wanted to kiss her senseless and tell her he loved her. He wanted to say all the things he had planned on and yet all he could do now was push her away.
She looked at him confused as he took a step back, wiping his hand down his face. His dark eyes met hers and for the first time she took him in. He wasn’t happy to see her. She swallowed as she wrapped her arms around her body, dread creeping up on her. This wasn’t the Nick she expected would come home to her.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” He whispered.
She blinked and wondered if she heard him right. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Answer me!” He demanded, his voice raised, but he didn’t shout. “When were you planning on telling me you were pregnant?” He clarified for her.
She was sure she heard him correctly, yet she couldn’t understand how he knew. He had been across the country. How could he have found out? She closed her eyes and felt tears sting the back of her eyelids. This wasn’t how she pictured it, then again, nothing usually went the way she pictured it. Her eyes shot open when another bout of thunder sounded.
“Come inside and we’ll talk.”
“So it’s true. You’re pregnant?”
“Yes.” She whispered and moved so he could step inside. He stood firmly planted in the rain outside the door not budging. “Nick I tried to tell you. I went to see you, but you had already left for Seattle.”
“So what you thought you could punish me?” He said his temper raging. “Nick left, so fuck him. Why bother telling him he was going to be a father? Is that it? Or maybe you thought I’d be a shitty father anyway, so what was the point? I could never be the stand-up guy your brother is, the poor kid didn’t have a shot with me as its father. Which is it?” He said as he angrily ran his hand down his head cupping the back of his neck in frustration.
“It was none of that. God, I didn’t want to tell you over the phone. That’s all. I planned on telling you when you came home.” She paused and tried to read him, to see if her words were sinking into him. “Nick you have to believe me. I never would’ve kept this from you. And none of those thoughts crossed my mind once. I may have been nervous because we didn’t plan this, but not once did I think you would be a bad father or to hell with you because you left.” Her voice strained against her emotions. She refused to cry because crying in her mind meant she was guilty. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She wanted him to tell in person, that was all.
“We spoke a bunch of times while I was in Seattle. You could’ve told me.” He said flatly. He believed her and was beginning to feel like an ass that he had accused her of keeping him in the dark for malicious reasons.
“I could’ve but I wanted it to be meaningful. I wanted to see your face when I told you that we were going to have a baby.” She said softly and looked down not wanting to see the hurt in his eyes anymore.