Chapter 175 You Deserve This Savannah My hands were shaking as I stared at the pregnancy tests for what had to be the millionth time. Two red lines. Pregnant I blinked, as if maybe the result would change if I looked long enough. But it didn’t. It stayed the same—bold, clear, impossible to misread. “I’m pregnant,” I whispered, the words barely leaving my lips. It still sounded strange out loud. Beautiful and terrifying all at once. My heart beat hard against my ribs. I pressed a trembling palm to my stomach, still flat beneath my loose shirt. There was a tiny life growing inside me—a human being who would have Roman’s eyes, his smile, maybe even his stubbornness. The thought made my eyes sting. Roman was going to be a dad. It felt unreal, like a dream I was afraid to wake up from. Then came Lizzie’s voice, loud enough to rattle the foundation of the entire house. “Hey, Sav! Guess the water’s pregnant too!”I frowned. “What?” “Come here, you’ve got to see this!” I followed her voice into the other side of the living room, still holding one of the tests like if I put it down it'd cease to be real. Reese was on the couch, his arm sprawled lazily along the backrest, phone in hand, looking like he’d seen too much of our chaos already. Lizzie was standing by the coffee table, grinning like a maniac and holding up one of the test sticks I’d tossed earlier. “What are you doing?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “She tried to kill them,” Reese said without looking up. Lizzie whipped her head toward him. “Don’t make it sound psychotic! I was avenging your pain, Sav! These stupid things made you cry last time, remember?” I blinked. “So you… avenged me?” “Exactly! I executed these little traitors.” She raised the stick proudly. “Boiled them. But now, look—this one’s got two lines again. Even the water thinks it’s pregnant.” I walked closer, squinting. Two lines. “That can’t be right.”“Maybe it’s possessed,” Lizzie said, dead serious. “You’ve been cursed by the pregnancy gods.” I snorted. “Or maybe you just boiled the ink.” Reese sighed, finally putting down his phone with a look that screamed ‘you two are hopeless’. “Or maybe the damn thing’s just expired.” Lizzie’s mouth fell open. “Expired? What do you mean expired?” He picked up the test box from the table, turning it in his hand. “See this date? Two years past due. Who the hell sells expired pregnancy tests? Whoever sold this to you deserves jail time.” My jaw dropped. “Wait—what?” “You got this from where?” he asked. “The drugstore in New Hope. I didn’t—” “Of course you didn’t.” His voice softened slightly. “That’s beyond negligent. We should report them.” Lizzie slammed her hands dramatically on her hips. “Report them? No. Sue them. Take all their money. Drag them. Burn their reputation to ashes. That’s what they deserve for messing with my cousin’s emotions!” Reese chuckled under his breath. “You sound like your movies when you say stuff like that.” She shot him a glare. “Good.” Their eyes met for a moment too long, a charged, heavy silence stretching between them. I caught my breath. That same hot tension again—like I’d interrupted something intimate. The image of what I’d walked in on earlier flashed through my mind—Lizzie practically grinding against him, reaching for the remote, his hands dangerously gripping her hips. It had felt too intimate, too personal to pretend I hadn’t seen. Reese stood abruptly, brushing off invisible lint from his jeans. “Anyway, I’ve got to go see Penny.” Lizzie blinked. “Who’s Penny?” “The blonde lawyer who came to the hospital to deliver documents,” I said quietly. “You remember her.” Lizzie’s expression twisted. “Oh. Her. That bitch.” Reese smirked. “Guess she left quite the impression.” Lizzie crossed her arms. “Yeah, a negative one. Why are you going to see her, anyway? You don’t strike me as the ‘let’s hang out with arrogant blondes’ type.”I tugged on her sleeve, whispering, “Don’t ask. I’ll explain later.” But Reese didn’t need prompting. Reese had no filter. He just said it as it was. He shrugged. “We’re sleeping together. I’m going over there to have sex with her.” Silence. Absolute silence. None of us made a sound. Not even a squeak. Lizzie’s jaw fell open. My heart nearly stopped. And I—deciding I had absorbed enough awkwardness for one morning—coughed lightly. “I’ll just, uh… go upstairs. Roman’s coming home soon. I should… prepare.” Neither of them moved or spoke as I made my quiet escape. Once upstairs, I exhaled a long breath and shut the door behind me. “That was officially too much secondhand embarrassment for one day,” I muttered. I placed the pregnancy tests neatly on the nightstand—in case I was still in the shower when he got home so he’d see them instantly. That thought made my heart skip. He’d come home, tired from work, loosen his tie, glance over and see the proof of the tiny life we created growing inside me. He’s going to be so happy. I can already imagine that stunned grin of his… The image made me smile so hard my cheeks hurt. I undressed and stepped into the bathroom, the steam curling around me instantly. The mirror fogged up blurring my reflection, but I still caught the faint outline of my hand as I placed it over my stomach. “You’re really in there,” I whispered. “This is crazy.” A laugh bubbled out of me before I could stop it. “I’m finally going to be a mom.” I squealed, covering my mouth. Then I did the only reasonable thing a newly pregnant, overly emotional fiancée could do—I pampered myself senseless. I shaved, waxed, exfoliated—every inch of me was smooth and soft. My skin glowed by the time I was done, scented faintly of vanilla and lily of the valley. Roman always said I smelled good and I wanted him to say that again tonight. When I finally turned off the shower, a pleasant exhaustion washed over me. I wrapped a towel around myself and smiled at my reflection. “He’s going to lose his mind when he finds out,” I whispered.Maybe he’d lift me up and spin me around like in those cheesy romance movies. Maybe he’d be too stunned to react. Or maybe he’d just kiss me so deeply I’d forget how to breathe. I laughed softly at the thought. “God, I love that man.” But as soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I paused. Roman was already there. He stood in the middle of our bedroom, still in his work clothes, tie gone, sleeves rolled up. The light caught his eyes. And in his hands—the pregnancy tests. “Roman…” I breathed, my heart skipping. He looked up at me slowly, eyes glassy, lips parted like he’d forgotten how to speak. For a moment, I couldn’t move. I’d never seen him like this before—his emotions so raw like his entire composure was cracked wide open. “Hey,” I said softly, a nervous laugh escaping. “You saw them.” His voice trembled a little when he finally spoke. “You’re truly pregnant?” I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. “Yes. But I’m still getting another one tomorrow at the hospital to know how far along I am. Still, I wanted you to know.” He took a step closer, still holding the tests. “Savannah…” His voice broke, and he laughed through it. “We’re actually having a baby.” The tears spilled over then. I saw the first one drop. “Yes.” I whispered, smiling through my own. “We are.” Before I could say another word, he crossed the room in two strides and wrapped me in his arms, pulling me tight against his chest. The tests fell from his hands onto the floor with a small clatter, forgotten. “I can't believe this.” He whispered. His shoulders shook. For a heartbeat, I didn’t realize what was happening—then I felt it, hot and wet against my neck. Roman was crying. I froze, stunned. Roman never cried. Not when things fell apart. Not when he was broken. Not when life threw every storm at him. But now, here he was—my unshakable, stoic Roman—crying in my arms over two pink lines and the confirmation that in a few months he would be holding his own child in his arms. Something inside me cracked wide open. I cupped his face, brushing away the tears with shaking hands. “Hey, hey… it’s okay.” He laughed again. “I’m sorry. I just… I can’t believe this. You—us—this.” He pulled back just enough to look at me, eyes shining. “You’ve given me everything I never thought I’d want and now I feel like I don't deserve it. None of it, Sav.” The words hit me like a punch straight to the chest. “Roman,” I whispered, tears blurring my vision. “You deserve this. You deserve all of it.” He kissed me then—slow, deep, reverent. Like I was something precious. And in that moment, nothing else existed. Not the fear, not the past, not the chaos outside this room. Just us—two people standing in the middle of a tiny miracle, crying and laughing all at once. When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine and whispered, “We’re going to be parents, Sav.” I nodded, smiling through tears. “Yeah. We are.” He pressed his palm gently against my stomach, his thumb tracing soft circles. “Hi, little one,” he murmured, voice thick with emotion. “It’s your dad.”A sob tore from my throat before I could stop it. I buried my face in his chest, laughing and crying at the same time. He held me tighter. “I love you, Savannah.” “I love you more.” Outside, the world kept spinning. But inside our little cocoon of joy, time stood still. And as he kissed the top of my head and whispered, “We’re going to be okay,” I believed him. For once, I truly did.