She was right. Not only had we been good friends since we were kids, but I’d been there when she’d gotten together with Jude, and when he left and she found out she was pregnant. I’d been by her side when he came back and she was uncertain as to what to tell him about Maya. If anyone could help me navigate an unplanned pregnancy with an absent baby daddy, it was her.
“I want to confide in you,” I admitted.
She set her coffee down and moved to sit closer to me. “Then do it. You can trust me. I don’t know why you think you can’t.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just…”
“You’re worried because Cy is a friend of ours too?”
I nodded. I suppose it wasn’t strange that she figured out it involved Cy.
“You’re in love with him, is that it?” she asked.
“That’s part of it,” I admitted, looking down at my tea but having no interest in drinking it.
“He doesn’t feel the same? I guess he doesn’t since he left.” She wrapped an arm around me.
“I think he cares, but he has to choose his mom. I get that.”
“You always think of everyone else first, Petal. If you love him, you can fight for him.”
I let out a small laugh. “I’d lose. I can’t come between him and his mom…and…his fiancé.”
April frowned as she jerked back and stared at me like I’d spoken in tongues or something. “Fiancé?”
I nodded. “I called him a few days after Thanksgiving and his mom said he was out with his fiancé.”
April sat back on the couch, staring off like she was processing that. Then she looked at me. “Why didn’t he say anything to Jude? That doesn’t make sense. They’re like brothers. That’s something he’d tell
Jude.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But it does make sense. He was engaged to her before. Now that he’s home—”
“She fell for another guy while he was serving his country. Why would he take her back?”
“I don’t know, April. I just know she’s been helping with his mom and maybe they worked things out.”
“Oh honey, I’m sorry.” She pulled me close.
“There’s more.”
“More?” She leaned back and looked at me.
I blew out a breath, terrified to tell her what was going on. I wasn’t sure why. I knew she’d support me. I guess I worried what she’d do to Cy.
“I’m pregnant.”
Both her brows shot up to her hairline. “Pregnant.” She studied me. “What reaction should I give you? The one where I’m happy for you and that we’ll have kids close in age or the one where I’m concerned because it’s unplanned.”
I dropped my head to her shoulder. “Both I guess. I don’t know.”
“What did Cy say?” She leaned her head against mine and took my hand.
“He doesn’t know.”
She was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said, “He needs to know, Petal. I know he’s gone and moved on, but…he doesn’t just have rights, he has a responsibility too.”
“I know. I just don’t want to add more to his plate. His mom is sick. He’s just gotten his fiancé back. He’s having to navigate working away from the business he started with Jude.”