Read Online Forever and Always by E. L. Todd - Free Book Online Page B

to be with him as soon as
possible. Sean remained stationary as I tugged on his arm. The
forlorn expression on Sean’s face suddenly became apparent now that
Ryan was gone. “What’s wrong?”
    Sean sighed as he took a seat on the
couch. I sat beside him. Sean stared at me for a moment and I saw
his eyes become coated with tears. Whatever had made Sean so upset
was starting to frighten me. I didn’t know what he was going to
say.
    He grabbed my face and kissed me
gently. “I want you to know that I love you very much, Scarlet, and
there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You are everything to me—I
mean it.” He kissed me again and pulled away.
    “ You’re scaring me,” I
whispered.
    Sean grabbed my hand. “I have
something to tell you.”
    My lungs took an involuntary breath,
preparing for the battle about to be waged on my heart.
Conversations that started with this phrase were always
bad.
    “ Penelope came over last
night and we started talking,” he said quietly. I felt my heart
race in my chest. I couldn’t believe what was happening. “Penelope
is pregnant with my baby, Scarlet.”
    I stared at him for a moment.
“What?”
    Sean nodded. “It’s true.”
    “ How do you know it’s even
yours?”
    “ Well, the sonogram said
the conception was before the other guy. Plus, the guy left her
when he found out it wasn’t his. I think she’s telling the
truth.”
    I took a deep breath and sighed in
relief. That wasn’t what I was expecting Sean to say at all. I
grabbed his hand and smiled at him. “I don’t care, Sean. You should
be in the baby’s life if you want to be. This doesn’t affect our
relationship. I will love the baby like it was my own.”
    Sean closed his eyes and a tear fell
down his cheek. He was completely moved by my words and I knew that
he was frightened that I would end the relationship because of his
child. I wanted to be with Sean—even if I was a
stepmother.
    “ Scarlet.” He
breathed.
    I grabbed his face and kissed his
tears away then ran my hands through his hair, trying to calm him.
“It’s okay.” I whispered.
    Sean sighed before he continued. “I—I
want to be in the child’s life—of course I do. I wouldn’t even
consider anything else, but—but I want to be a family, Scarlet. I—I
can’t do that to my kid, not at least try to be a family. I don’t
want to be two separate parents.”
    I stared at him. “You don’t have to be
with Penelope to raise this kid, Sean. Don’t let her tell you
otherwise. You can be a great father without being with
her.”
    “ But I don’t want to do
that to my child,” he whispered. “I want to be a
family.”
    My chest started rising and falling
with my heightened fear. “What are you saying?” I asked.
    Sean dropped his gaze. “I want to be a
family, Scarlet. I don’t want my kid to have a stepdad. I—I don’t
want that.”
    “ Are you telling me that
you want to be with Penelope?”
    Sean was crying at this point. He
wiped his tears away, but they continued to fall. “Yes.”
    I stood up and started pacing the
room. “You came here to breakup with me,” I whispered. “You’d
already decided that you’re going back to Penelope?”
    Sean stood up and faced me. “I know
you will understand, Scarlet. There is a child in this now. If she
came to me without being pregnant, I would have thrown her out on
her ass. I don’t want her, Scar. I want you and no one else. But I
have to try and make this work now. This is my responsibility. What
kind of father would I be if I didn’t try to make it work with
Penelope? I don’t want my kid to have to go back and forth between
houses, spend the holidays at different places every year, or have
step parents. If my parents divorced when I was little, it would
have killed me, and I know kids often have emotional problems when
their parents separate. I can’t do that to my son or daughter. I
know this ends our relationship, but now that I have a kid, that
kid is my number