Annie pursed her lips in an attempt to stifle the gasp that rose in her throat. “Lauren was like, really regular. I mean, every 29 days you could pretty much set your watch by her. I think we both already knew she was pregnant even before the five positive tests. She was scared shitless.”

“And you?”

Nick sighed and fell to his knees in defeat. “I was scared, too. But, I was also...” He paused. “Excited. Maybe this was my chance to be the dad my dad wasn’t, you know?” She gave him a silent nod. “Of course, I couldn’t propose to her because then she would think I was just doing it because of the baby. So, I just let it sit for a couple weeks, and I got online and bought this tiny little Bucs jersey, since they don’t sell Tampa Bay gear in LA, and decided I was going to give it to her when I finally proposed. But one day I was at the gym and she’d stayed home because she had wicked morning sickness, and she called me because she was bleeding. It wasn’t anything like....” Annie’s eyes darted downwards and she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly. “Sorry,” Nick lamented.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

Nick sighed and inched closer to her. “It wasn’t all that bad, you know? I’d read in that What You’re Expecting book that a little bleeding in the first trimester can be normal, so I just figured that’s what it was, and everything would be fine.” Annie raised an eyebrow, a little surprised to hear that he’d been reading “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Nick furrowed his brows and looked away. “But everything wasn’t fine. I took her to her doctor’s office, and when they did an ultrasound, there was no heartbeat.”

Annie placed her hand gingerly on his knee and gave it a little squeeze. It was a gesture that said “I’m here. It’s okay. Keep talking if you want to.”

Nick looked up at her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, and she blinked back a few tears of her own. “I was devastated, of course, but I felt like I had to be strong for Lauren.” He hesitated and bit his bottom lip. “Just like I feel like I have to be strong for you.” Annie gazed down at her lap and fumbled with the fringe of her beloved throw, ashamed to look him in the eye. “But Lauren didn’t need me to be strong for her. She was…relieved. Relieved that she wasn’t going to have to keep that appointment at the abortion clinic she’d made without telling me.”

“Oh, Nick...” Annie gave him an anguished sigh.

“I decided to go ahead and propose to her. I thought that maybe if the circumstances were different the next time.....” He trailed off and let out a bitter laugh. “I thought there would be a next time!” He took a minute compose himself before he went on. “I thought maybe the next time she’d want to keep it-- That she’d actually want to have a family with me if I showed her how serious I was about it.” He drew in a shaky breath and looked up at the overcast sky, then pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes in an attempt to quell the onslaught of tears that threatened to fall. “How stupid could I be?”

“You’re not stupid, Nick.” Annie brushed away a single tear that had managed to escape his left eye and cascade down his cheek.

“She laughed at me,” he said abruptly. “When I tried to give her the ring, she laughed at me.”

Annie didn’t know what to say. All these months she’d considered herself the victim- the one with all the emotional wounds in need of healing. Yet Nick had been hiding something so devastating for months. “We of course had this big fight, and I ended up packing a bag and heading to the airport. When I left, I had no idea where I was going, but somehow I ended up on a plane headed for Atlanta, getting sloppy drunk, and going to Brian’s. Then, there you were. You were...” He cleared his throat and swatted at the tears that were now coursing freely down his face. “Are everything I needed to start over. To have something-- someone better than I could have ever imagined. We were together one time and we made a baby! Now, there’s your irony. I managed to get two different women pregnant in four months’ time, and God took both of those babies away. Maybe Lauren’s right. I probably would be a terrible father.” He hung his head in defeat and sniffled.

“I wasn’t relieved,” Annie told him firmly. She tilted her head towards Nick’s and placed her hands on either side of his face, making him turn to face her. “When I found out that I was pregnant, and that I was miscarrying on the same day-- in the same minute-- I wasn’t relieved. I was devastated. Yes, I felt guilty because of Andrew, and yes, I wanted to push you away because of it, but when I thought of the possibility of what might have been-- that I could have ended up having a baby with you, I was not relieved that it was over. I’ve seen you with Drew, and with Baylee, and I happen to think you’d make a great dad. I was not relieved. And for the record, one out of every two pregnancies ends in miscarriage, so yeah, it totally sucks that this happened to you, but please don’t go blaming God and saying He did this because he thinks you’ll be a terrible father. I believe that’s the furthest thing from the truth. These things happen. Please don’t go getting down on yourself because of it.”

Nick raised his eyebrow and gave her a weak smile. “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?”

Annie returned the smile with a little silent laugh. “I guess so.”

“So....” He brought his hand up to her cheek and palmed it warmly, then turned to kiss her fingers that rested on his own cheek.

“So?”

“What do you say we try again?”

Her eyes widened in surprise and she quickly jerked her hands away from his face. “Try again? Now?!”

Nick shrugged. “Well, not right now, but yeah. Why not?”

“Why not? Why not?!” Annie nearly shrieked. This wasn’t at all how she’d imagined this conversation going. “Nick..... it was a one night stand.” As soon as she said it, she regretted it, but it was too late.

“A one night stand?!” Nick erupted, his face turning bright red in anger as he jumped back to his feet and started pacing again. “Is that what you think it was?! Jesus Christ, Annie! It’s like two steps forward and seventeen steps back with you!”

“Nick, sit down,” she pleaded. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You didn’t mean it like what, Annie? I don’t really know any other way you could have meant it. That was quite possibly the best night of my life, and you go calling it a one-night stand!” he roared. Again, he wiped away tears. “I have to be honest with you, Annie. When I told you we could take it slow this time, I didn’t mean it. I said it because I knew it was what you wanted to hear-- what I thought you needed to hear--” He stopped pacing and stooped down to grab her hands and pull her up to her feet in front of him. The cashmere throw fell off her shoulders and fluttered onto the damp roof. Her fingers felt like ice, but all he wanted to do was warm them up for her. “Andrea Elizabeth Donohue Morgan, I have been falling in love with you since the second I first laid eyes my drunken eyes on you. What happened with Lauren totally sucked, but now I feel like maybe it happened because it was you I needed all along. I have tried my damndest to be patient with you, but I feel like all you ever do it push me away. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Nick, don’t...”

“I want to marry you.” Annie gasped and attempted to pull away, but he gripped her firmly and pulled her closer. “I’m not proposing. I’m just saying that’s what I intend to do someday. I want to marry you and have a houseful of kids with you. I know I’m not Drew’s father, but

I--” He choked back a sob. “But I want to be his Daddy one day, Annie. Please.... Don’t push me away any more.”

“Nick, slow down,” Annie coaxed. “I love you, too, but we’ve only actually been together, for what? A few weeks, figuratively? In a literal sense.... a couple of days? It’s been a really emotional past few days, and I don’t want you to get ahead of herself.” She paused and studied him. “Nick?” He was giving her his dreamy, goofy grin, and it was obvious that he couldn’t possibly be processing what she was saying to him.

“Say it again.” He beamed happily and gave her hands a little squeeze.

“What?”