Chapter 87
AVA - TOMORROW
I didn’t want to hope.
Not again. Not after months of watching the test strip go blank, of circling dates on the calendar only to cross them out again with shaking hands. I hadn't had a late period... a sign of what I desperately wanted but always felt out of reach since that one time six months ago
I told myself it was stress. Timing. The universe not quite ready.
But this time… something felt different.
I was late... like late late.
I hadn’t said anything to Harlan yet. I didn’t want to get his hopes up only to watch them fall. Again.
So, I took some tests and almost fell off the toilet when I saw the result.
But I needed to be sure, so I went to the doctor, just in case.
And then I waited.
All day.
Through client sessions. Through staff check-ins. Through emails I couldn’t remember sending and a lunch I never actually ate.
I almost called Remi three times. I even typed out the message once, thumb hovering over the send button. But I knew she had plans tonight, real ones. She and Logan had something special lined up. Dinner somewhere outside of town, a night away from the noise.
A date night he had promised to plan.
They needed it.
Lately, something had shifted between them. The glowy honeymoon haze had faded into something heavier. She hadn’t said much, but I knew her well enough to see the cracks forming.
When I asked her this morning, she gave me a quiet shrug and a soft smile.
“We’re just going through something,” she’d said. “It’ll be okay. Tonight, will help.”
But her voice trembled, just a little. And her eyes were already glassy with the weight of whatever she wasn’t saying. There was something desperate in her tone, like she was gripping sand and trying to hold the shape of it. Like she could feel it slipping and didn’t know how to stop it.
I hated that feeling. That ache when love started to feel like loss.
So, I didn’t call. I let her have tonight.
I would tell her in the morning.
The phone rang just after six.
My heart stopped.
I answered in the kitchen, hand shaking around my cell.
“Hi Ava, its Dr. Mallory’s office calling. We got your results.”
I leaned against the counter, breath shallow. “Okay.”
There was a pause, a little too long. And then...
“You’re pregnant.”
I didn’t move.
Not for a second.
Then everything cracked open.
I laughed, sharp and breathless, tears burning hot in my eyes.
“Oh my God.”
“Congratulations,” the nurse added, voice warm. “We’ll book you in for a follow-up. But for now, take a breath. This is real.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, barely getting the words out before I hung up.
I spun on my heel and ran through the house. “Harlan!”
He came out of the back room, still pulling on his hoodie. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant.”
The words spilled out before I could even think.
He froze mid-step.
“Wait... what?”
I nodded, tears streaming down my cheeks now. “It’s real. I just got the call.”
For a second, he just stared at me, stunned into silence. And then, without warning, he dropped to his knees.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his face to my stomach, his shoulders shaking.
“I’m gonna be a daddy?” he asked, voice breaking.
I laughed through my tears. “Yeah, baby. You’re gonna be a daddy.”
He pulled me down into his lap, burying his face in my neck, and we clung to each other like we were anchoring the whole damn world.
We kissed. We cried. We kissed again.
It felt like magic. Like possibility. Like everything we’d fought for was finally coming together. He stood suddenly, swiping at his face with the back of his hand.
I blinked. “Where are you going?”
“To get my keys,” he said, already heading for the hook by the door.
“What?” I laughed. “Why?”
He grinned at me over his shoulder. “Don’t you want to tell Auntie Remi?”
I opened my mouth to say yes and then stopped.
His smile faded slightly. “Wait… does she already know?”
I laughed, heart still racing. “No. I told you first. You’re the first person I told.”
His whole body softened.
“And we’ll tell her in the morning,” I said, walking over to him and curling my fingers around his. “She’s got that date night with Logan tonight, remember? Something special.”
He nodded slowly, pulling me into his arms again.
“I just want her to be okay,” he murmured.
“Me too.”
We stood in the doorway together, watching the sun begin to slip behind the trees, casting the yard in gold and shadow.
Remi was out there somewhere. On the back of his bike. Her arms around him. Her heart on the line. And I couldn’t shake the feeling I should’ve said something more.
But she’d asked for the night.
So, I gave it to her.
We could be excited together tomorrow.
Harlan scooped me up in his arms, with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face. "Let's eat ice cream in bed and look up baby names."
I laughed and nodded, tucking my head into his neck as he navigated us through our home.
Breathing him in, I let myself dream of our future, of our tomorrow and every tomorrow after that. Because in this moment, in the arms of the man I loved everything in the world felt right.