His father looked at him once more, nodding as he cleared his throat. “Lillian, Gavin and Emily have some… news they want to share.” His eyes locked on Gavin’s with such solemn seriousness, Gavin wanted to leave and take Emily as far away as possible to somewhere no one would ever find them. “Go ahead, son. Let your mother know what’s going on.”

Reaching for Emily’s hand, Gavin turned to her and placed a soft kiss on her quivering lips. “I love you.” His eyes traced over her face as he pulled away.

“I love you too,” she said softly.

“What’s going on, Gavin?” Lillian asked with a furrowed, wary brow of a probing mother.

After a moment’s hesitation, the confession. “Mom, Emily’s pregnant and… the baby may not be mine.”

Lillian’s face melted into pure astonishment, her shock clear in the bloodless paling of her white skin and flabbergasted, slacked jaw. Bewilderment shadowed her once vibrant green eyes like a cloak. Her gaze roamed over Emily suspiciously. “You’re with my son, yet you may be having a child with someone else?” Pushing her plate away, she leaned back, bringing her hand to her chest. “I guess my impression of you was incorrect, Emily. I mistook you for a woman who would stay faithful to my son.”

Emily opened her mouth, but she couldn’t sort through the thousands of words flying around in her scattered brain.

“Now, Lillian, wait a minute. She’s been faithful to Gavin. There’s more to the story than you know,” Chad pointed out with the shake of his head. “Hear them out for a minute.”

Lillian sucked in an indignant breath, her eyes battering her husband. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?” Her attention flew to Gavin. “Is there a reason I’ve been left in the dark?”

“Yeah, mom, there is.” Gavin leaned his elbow on the table. “I anticipated this exact reaction from you. Are you going to let us explain? If not, then we’ll go ahead and leave right now.”

Thick, tense silence coated the room before Lillian blinked her heavily mascara-painted lashes and nodded. As though she might turn into a statue if she accidentally met Emily’s gaze, her eyes avoided Emily’s path, focusing solely on Gavin. “What happened?” she asked, her voice softer while she raised both eyebrows at him.

Emily stared at her, stricken by the depth of anger and sadness clouding her face. She felt ill, and in that moment, she swore she wasn’t going to make it through the conversation without heaving. Lips parting without a word, Emily lifted her watery eyes to Gavin, waiting for him to respond.

“Emily and I were together after she and Dillon broke up the first time.”

“This is the same Dillon you’re friends with?” Lillian interrupted. “Your broker?”

“The same man I used to be friends with, yes. He’s no longer my broker.”

“Well how does something like that happen, Gavin? I’m just assuming here, but it doesn’t sound like any of this ended very well.” Lillian swung her eyes to Chad, her face dripping with mortification. “Did we raise our sons to just go off with their friends’ girlfriends?”

Chad lifted a brow, his tone resolute. “No. But we didn’t raise our sons to give up on something they believed in, either.”

“At what expense, Chad?” she asked, seeming astonished by his answer. “Since when did stealing a friend’s girlfriend become popular?”

“He didn’t steal me away,” Emily softly spoke up. She looked from Lillian to her hands, tangled nervously with Gavin’s, in her lap. As her thoughts tossed her back to the first second she saw Gavin, she was unable to keep the barest of smiles from her lips. She brought her eyes to his, her gaze stroking his beautiful face. “Well, he did steal my heart away from Dillon. But when that happened… your son wasn’t aware he did it.”

With a light smile that matched hers, Gavin palmed Emily’s cheek, his heart falling further in his chest. Holding his breath, he still couldn’t believe she was his. After a moment, he dropped his hand, inhaled deeply, and glanced at his mother. She seemed more confused than before. “The fact is, our love is so far past the point of return, it’s actually scary. It has been for a while. We just had a few kinks to work out. No, the way we got together wasn’t right in the opinions of some, but I couldn’t care less. I’m pretty sure the woman sitting next to me couldn’t either. We’re in love. A deep, sick, twisted love like they make movies about. We’re looking fear in the face together and telling it to take a hike. This baby might not be mine, but even if it’s not… it is. It’s a piece of Emily, mom, and there’s not a piece of your son that couldn’t love it. There’s not a piece of your son that couldn’t love her.”

As tears soaked Emily’s lashes, she noticed a tear fall from Lillian’s cheek and land with a plop onto the white linen tablecloth. Swallowing, Emily watched Lillian stand, her almond-shaped eyes flashing between her and Gavin.

“I don’t think I can support this relationship,” she choked out though a frown. “I just…” She brought her hand to her throat, stroking her long, delicate fingers across her flesh. She looked at Chad, who released a heavy, defeated sigh and reached for her hand. He squeezed it before she turned and walked out of the room, her sniffles echoing throughout the home until they disappeared into whispers of nothing with the closing of a door.

No longer able to witness the grief she’d brought to this once solid family, Emily scrambled out of her chair, her heart breaking a million times over as she swallowed back a sob.

Gavin surged to his feet, catching Emily’s arm as she headed for the front door. He stroked the hair away from her face. “Wait! Emily, listen to me—”

“No, you listen to me, Gavin.” She cradled his face in her palms, as she gulped for air. “Do you remember telling me you almost picked up the phone to call me when I left you, but you didn’t?”

With confused, worried eyes, Gavin searched her face. “Yes. What does that have to do with this?”

“I hated myself because every time I looked at my phone, I wanted to call you. I wanted so desperately to call and tell you how sorry I was for not believing you, but I couldn’t. Something held me back. You also told me you got in your car and almost drove to my apartment, but you didn’t. I did the same. I jumped in a taxi and had them drive me to your building. I stood outside looking up, wondering what you were doing and fearing who you were doing it with. I wanted so badly to see you. My heart was torn, broken into pieces, Gavin. I felt physical pain while we were apart. I didn’t believe that kind of pain existed. It was something so entirely different than what I felt when I lost my mother. It cut deeper. But I couldn’t bring myself to get in that elevator and go to you. I didn’t want Dillon. I wanted you.”

“Emily, stop.” Gavin gripped her waist, pulling her against his chest. “Why are you saying all of this?”

“I’m saying this because it’s said breaths are stolen during a passionate kiss. That’s not true, Gavin, because I literally can’t breathe before your lips even touch mine. I try, but I’m unable to. I can’t think when you look at me. You strip my mind bare. You always have, and it’s beautiful and consuming. It’s magical and everything a girl is supposed to feel. It’s said you’re truly in love with someone if your skin tingles from their touch. Mine tingles when I hear your voice; I don’t need you to touch me. I can feel you when you’re not near me. I feel you in my dreams. I felt you when you were a thousand miles away.