Thirty-Three | Lyric
Thirty-Three
Lyric
Five weeks flew by, and I was more exhausted than I had ever been in my life.
I quit my job at Laroque after several serious conversations with Cole and the kids.
While I had been nervous to walk away from a steady paycheck and start over on my own, it was comforting to know that we would be okay after Clay’s life insurance was paid out.
It far exceeded the cost of what I needed to provide for the kids, while allowing me to put a large chunk of it away in savings for them.
I had been reluctant to quit my job because it didn’t feel right to use money meant for them when I was able to work and support myself.
After a very heated discussion with Cole, it came down to either using some of the life insurance money for myself or allowing Cole to support me.
Both options sucked, but I wasn’t going to allow him to take care of me financially, even if he was still my husband.
Things had been busy around the house as the kids neared the end of the school year.
They still had a few weeks left, but the weather was hotter than usual, giving all of us summer fever.
We had talked about trying to take a family vacation, but that wasn’t as doable as I thought, given how expensive things were across the board.
So, we settled on getting an above-ground pool for the kids and had already put it up.
The girls and I spent most of our weekends outside, floating in the pool while the guys fixed up the barn.
When Ben told me he wanted to convert it into office space for me, I cried so hard I scared Chloe.
But in all fairness, it had been a lot for me to process all of the love and support they had given me in the time I’d been there.
Most of the time, I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t worthy of it because I hadn’t been there when they needed me.
When I wasn’t working on the fashion stuff, I was knee deep in taking care of Chloe, Rufus, Magnolia, and Squirtle—the one-eyed beta fish Chloe had convinced Cole to buy for her at the pet store. They had gone in for stuff for the goats and came out with something new I had to try to keep alive.
I closed my sketchbook and put it away, feeling a wave of nausea wash over me.
I’d been feeling sick all morning and hadn’t been able to eat breakfast or lunch.
I knew I would need to eat something soon to avoid a migraine, but nothing sounded good.
Cole was planning to grill for dinner, but even hot dogs and hamburgers made me want to barf.
Just thinking about it had me rushing to the bathroom, not having time to close the door behind me as I knelt in front of the toilet and threw up.
“Aunt Lyric?” Kara called as she walked into the bathroom.
I couldn’t answer her as I threw up again, surprising myself that there was anything left to throw up, given I hadn’t eaten much.
“In here,” I answered, wiping my mouth with a tissue as I flushed the toilet and stood up.
Kara walked in, her eyebrows immediately narrowing in concern.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I replied, leaning over the sink as I splashed cold water on my face. “I think I caught some sort of stomach bug.”
“Oh no. Do you want me to get Uncle Cole?”
“No, but thank you. I’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll pass soon.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding her head as she listened. “He wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready.”
“Thanks. I’ll be out in a few. You guys can get started without me. I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat anything and hold it down.”
Kara offered me a soft smile before leaving.
I brushed my teeth and was rinsing my mouth when Cole walked in, knocking on the bathroom door that was still open.
“Hey, Kara said you’re not feeling well. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh as I placed my hands over my stomach.
I watched his eyes as they drifted down, catching the motion.
Then I caught the look on his face, the smile that immediately floated across his lips before he forced it away because I was sick—not pregn—.
The blood drained from my face as I felt a new wave of nausea come over me. I looked away from him and stared at my stomach in the mirror. I could feel Cole watching me, but I couldn’t focus on it because my mind was going a mile a minute as I did the math as quickly as possible in my head.
“Lyric?”
I could hear the worry in his voice, but I ignored it because I was freaking out enough for both of us.
How long had it been since the night we had sex? Four weeks? Five weeks?
Shit. Why couldn’t I remember how long it had been? Days seemed to blur together, and now I was stuck, not able to recall how long it had been since I’d had unprotected sex with my husband.
“Lyric,” Cole repeated, his voice firmer as he stood beside me and placed a hand on my lower back.
I looked up, meeting his eyes in the mirror as the words sat on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say them.
Seconds felt like hours as I watched Cole’s expressions change on his face as he went through the same thought process I had, finally coming to the same conclusion.
“You’re pregnant,” he said, his voice lacking any emotion.