Children of Fire (Complete)

seventy-seven

Gideon

"No, please! Stop! Stop, please, I'm pregnant!"

My whole world seemed to stop spinning on its axis. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see anything other than the love of my life, doubled over in pain with fear radiating off of her. Did she really mean it? Was she pregnant? Or was it just a clever string of words to keep Callahan from beating her senseless? I stared into her eyes, confusion was evident on my face. But, as I watched her face, I could tell she wasn't lying. I felt my eyes prickling with tears, yet I still couldn't make out what emotions I was feeling at this moment.

"Well, well, well! This is a surprise!" Callahan's voice held mock amusement as he looked between me and Emerson. I couldn't look away from her. From my fiancé. The woman I loved more than life itself. The woman carrying my child.

My child.

I was going to be a father.

"Judging from the look on your face, Mr. Walker, you didn't know?" Callahan asked, breaking me out of my trance. I reluctantly tore my eyes away from Emerson and looked at Callahan, a sickly sweet smile plastered on his aged face. I hated this man more than anyone, even more than my father. He was going to rot in hell for all of eternity for possibly endangering my child. Shit. Was the baby okay? Oh shit, we had to take care of him quickly, I needed to get Emerson to the hospital. We had to make sure the baby was okay. I looked back at Emerson, her face still contorted with fear.

"You're... you're pregnant?" I choked out. I was shocked beyond all belief, I was more excited than I ever thought possible, but most of all... I was hurt. I was hurt that she hadn't told me yet. I was hurt that I had to find out this way. I was hurt that Callahan knew I was having a child at the same time I found out. Why didn't she trust me enough to tell me? Had I been so self absorbed in my own club that she felt like she couldn't tell me something this important? I had been trying my best to show her how much I loved her, despite how busy I had been the past few weeks. Did she think I was neglecting her? Had I hurt her feelings? I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Not now. Especially not now. Her eyes bore into my own, and I saw the corners of her mouth tug upwards into a small smile.

"Yeah. I, I didn't want you to find out like this. I was waiting until things died down before I told you... I didn't want you to worry any more than you already had to..." She said, her voice barely loud enough for me to hear. She didn't want to tell me because I was stressed? What about her? It had to be scary for her to go through this alone, and I couldn't imagine how stressed she must have been, keeping this secret from me. How long had she known? How long had she been going through this on her own? Guilt was practically eating me alive, she had been going through this on her own. My thoughts were consumed with our conversation from last night. Shit, I had told her I didn't want kids right now. It all made sense, now. The reason for her abrupt conversation about children, and the hurt on her face when I explained I wasn't ready.

I hadn't been ready last night. Hell, I hadn't even been ready ten minutes ago. But I was ready now. I would do anything and everything to protect Emerson. To protect our child. My child. The child I didn't even know I wanted until now, but now that I knew... I didn't want anything more out of this life than to see my own child. That was all that mattered now.

I smiled at her, a genuine smile in the midst of all the chaos surrounding us. She was pregnant, with my baby. "We're having a baby?" I asked, sounding like an idiot. She smiled back at me and nodded slowly, and all I wanted to do was close the space between us and take her in my arms. But reality dawned on me. I couldn't embrace her right now, because Callahan had raised his leg and was about to kick her in the stomach again. He was about to kick my baby. I froze. Damnit, why couldn't I move? I was literally frozen with fear, but thank God I had a best friend like Killian, because before I even came back to my senses, he was rushing forward.