still ill • michael gray

Chapter 16

I awake immediately feeling dread about having to break the news to him. I catch him staring at me as my eyes flutter open.

"Stalker," I laugh softly.

"I only woke up a couple minutes ago," he strokes my hair, "What do you want to do today?"

I push a smile, "I think we should catch up, and then go from there."

He looks at me with innocent eyes, "Why don't we do it over brunch?"

I purse my lips, "There's something I need to tell you that might not be best to discuss over brunch."

He frowns, "Is it that thing you mentioned last night?"

"Yeah," I nod and squeeze his arm, "it is."

"What is it?" I can tell he's starting to get nervous. He has every right to be.

"A week ago, my mother came to visit," I sigh, "and she shared some information that she thought would be important for me to know. She explained to me that Jack and I were miracle babies because apparently she had some serious problems with getting pregnant," he frowns more and more as I speak, "She told me she had a few miscarriages too, and the worst part of it all is that she thinks she passed her issues down to me. It makes sense, you and I haven't exactly been careful, and I can think of a few occasions when something could've happened but never did."

He sits up quickly and I sit up with him. He looks mostly lost with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "How are you feeling about it all?"

"I'm terrified," I murmur, "I really want kids of my own, and I know this is stupid, but I didn't know how you'd react."

He furrows his eyebrows, "Did you think I'd leave you?"

"No—" I bite my lip, "I knew you wouldn't, but I couldn't help but be scared."

"Maybe adoption is the path for me," the corners of his lips upturn a tiny bit, "I should save a kid from having to face what I did. It would be the right thing to do."

"Well," I hug him tightly, "hopefully we have the opportunity to adopt babies and have babies of our own."

"Don't worry about it," he mumbles, "When the time comes, we'll figure it out. We always do." He pulls away with his hands placed firmly on my shoulders, "Now that we've discussed that, do you want to go get brunch now?"

I lean my forehead against his and take a deep breath, "I'd love to."

🌆🌆🌆

"So, the whole trip was really no danger at all," Michael explains happily, "Tommy just wanted to get me alone for a long amount of time to see if I was worthy of coming home."

"And I'm assuming you proved yourself worthy?" Seeing him this gleeful puts a grin on my face. He finally looks like he's at peace and isn't so wound up.

"I did," he nods, "it's all coming together."

"I can't wait for the future," I smile. "I can't wait until we have a real house and get out of the city and into the fresh air of the countryside."

"I can't wait either," he takes my hand and draws it to his lips. "This Christmas is going to be amazing."

I look down with a blush, "I have no idea what I'm going to get you."

"You'll find something perfect. I'm sure of it."

I take a small bite of my breakfast, "So anyway, I didn't see Tommy around this morning, where is he?"