Fate at Work: A Love Compelled

The words hung between us. Time passed and the silence kept stretching, it's weight threatening to crush me. I stood in his living room, my words hanging in the air like a challenge.

"I'm pregnant, and the baby is yours." I said assuming he hadn't heard it the first time. I had expected shock, anger, or maybe even denial, but what I got was a mix of emotions that left me bewildered. His eyes widened, and his face paled, as if the news had sucked the life out of him. He then took a step back, his hands rising as if to ward off the truth.

For a moment, we just stared at each other, the silence between us so thick with tension. I could imagine the things running through his mind, the calculations, the questions, the doubts. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched, as if he was trying to process the information to find a way to make it fit into his reality.

"Did........ did you hear what I said?" I asked, my voice shaky. Don gave no response. Doesn't even move. His face drained of any colour as he stared at me blankly. I gave him a little shove and he blinked.

"You're......... you're pregnant? With my child?" He said after a very long uncomfortable silence. His voice was barely above a whisper and I could only manage a small nod. My throat felt dry. I guess it was out of guilt and maybe the other things surrounding our current situation. I have never seen him like that. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. Shock and anguish clearly visible on his face. I could clearly understand how he was feeling and I felt more than that.

"Oh my God! What............ what are we going to do?" He asked staring at me as if answers will just pop out of my face. Maybe it was because I've had a little time to wrap my head around the whole pregnancy discovery today, but I seemed calmer than I expected to be when I told him. I clearly thought he would be the one calm about the whole situation but it seemed that took a bigger blow on him than I expected. He ran a hand through his hair while pacing back and forth in front of me. His face contorted in pain and regret.

"How could this happen?" He asked as if I had an answer to that.

"We should have told him earlier. We should have told him......"

"But we didn't" I said cutting him off. We should be thinking ahead not behind. Everything had

already happened and there was nothing we could do to change it.

"And whose fault is it?" He asked tipping his head downwards to meet my eyes. I couldn't even read his expression.

“Oh, so now it's my fault right. Just because I said to wait before telling him. It's not like I knew it was going to become complicated" I said, my voice mirroring everything I was feeling at that moment, 'hurt'.

He turned, his back facing me with his hands still holding unto his head. He looked helpless."I didn't mean it that way Jess. I'm just......... I.. don't know what to do." He said turning back to me. Then, something in his expression shifted and he looked at me with a mixture of sadness and something else.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. I felt a pang in my chest, a sense of guilt and regret, knowing that I had put him in this position, knowing that our secret was now a reality that couldn't be ignored.

I stepped closer to him, my heart pounding in my chest. "Look, I know this is a mess. Believe me, I never intended for any of this to happen." I took a deep breath. I tried very hard to steady my nerves. "But we're in this together now, whether we like it or not." I continued. I took a deep breath and tried to reassure him "We'll figure it out." I added but my words seemed to have fallen flat as he continued to stare at me with a hint of panic before looking away. He met my gaze again, his eyes filled with so many emotions at once, fear, regret, but there was also a glimmer of determination.

"You're right. We made this mistake together, and now we have to figure out how to deal with the consequences." He said as he ran a hand through his hair again, a nervous habit of his. "What are we going to tell Ray? He's going to be devastated when he finds out. So devastated... God, this is terrible." He added as he sighed heavily.

A lump formed in my throat at the thought of how much we were going to hurt Ray. Most especially me. He would be disappointed. Ray is a good guy, he didn't deserve that betrayal. "I don't know," I admitted quietly not knowing what more to say. "We can't keep lying to him forever. The truth will come out eventually." He said in a firm tone and I could only nod slowly. "You're pregnant with my child. That makes this...so much more complicated." He added as he laughed bitterly. "What a fucking mess.

"I felt tears stinging my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Don. I never meant to put you in this position. If you want me to...to take care of it on my own, I'll understand." I heard myself say, not knowing when it even came out, until his eyes widened. I was becoming very emotional.

"What? No! Jess, no." He said as he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. Holding me as if he could protect me from the consequences of our actions. "We're in this together, okay? I'm not going anywhere. We'll figure this out. I promise." He added with a very determined voice that tells me he has already made up his mind. Whatever that meant for us, I had no idea then.

Don's determination was something that had always intrigued me. If he sets his mind on something, he saw it through, no matter what the obstacles were. And the knowledge of that made me sigh in relief. I knew he'd find a way, somehow. It'd still be terrible but at least I was not alone in that. It was the only positive thing I could think about right there. The only glimmer of hope I had in that dark situation. I clung to him, letting the tears fall as waves of relief washed over me. His embrace was a safe haven for me. My shelter from the storm brewing outside. Whatever happened next, I believed we would face it together. After all, we brought that on ourselves.

But my mind had different thoughts the next few hours. I couldn't even head home.