Chapter forty one.

                                    

                                          
Tessa
                          
Somehow Carson and Emmeline were standing in the middle of Hardin's living room, staring at me with wide hopeful eyes.

                          
"Y'all, not to sound like a total ass, but we were kind of thinking this would be a private moment," Hardin said, his arms crossed over his chest and one brow lifted.

                          
Emmeline and Carson turned to each other with questioning looks, then lost it laughing. Turning back to us, Emmeline stated, "Seriously? We see you with boxes of pregnancy tests, and you expect us to walk away and pretend like we don't know. Not happening, Scott."
                          
"It's cruel if you make us leave now. We're in too deep," Carson added.

                          
I rolled my eyes and let out a long sigh. "They can stay, but you're not coming into the bathroom with me. Only Hardin is, and you have to give us a few minutes to process the results."

                          
They nodded their heads as if they were my kindergarten students. I tried hard not to let the flicker of amusement in my eyes show. I had to admit, this was a complete one-eighty from the last time I held a pregnancy test in my hands.

                          
"Let's go, Tessa. You two stay," Hardin said as he pointed to both of them.

                          
"Do you at least have booze?" Carson called out.

                          
"Help yourself to whatever you find, bro."

                          
My pulse quickened as we drew closer to Hardin's room. Once we walked in, I froze.

                          
Stopping, he turned to look at me. "Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

                          
Chewing on my lip, I said, "I need a second. It's hit me all of sudden. I might be pregnant. How did I not realize I was late?"

                          
Hardin took my hand and led me over to the bed. "Tess, I didn't think about it either. Maybe deep down inside we did notice but chose to ignore it for whatever reason."

                          
I took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I think you're right. Maybe the fear of what would happen? Being disappointed? I don't know."

                          
"Well, we can sit here and analyze it, or we can see if you are."

                          
With a wide smile, I agreed. "You're right. So? You ready to find out?"

                          
His eyes filled with excitement. "Never been more ready."

                          
We both stood. My stomach was in knots. I wasn't going to try and fool myself that I wasn't excited. And I knew by Hardin's reaction, he was as well. It was a far cry from ten years ago when we were two young, scared teenagers.

                          
When we walked into the bathroom, Hardin laid all the tests out, and I couldn't help but laugh at how crazy it was for us to buy so many.

                          
"Damn, I guess we bought a lot."

                          
I agreed. "We did buy a lot. I guess you could say we were excited?"

                          
Hardin laughed. "A little."

                          
For both of us, it was like the first time finding out if we would be parents. And yet it wasn't a do-over, because I knew we would never forget our first child. But this time around I had a sneaking suspicion that Hardin wasn't upset that we had forgotten protection. Deep down I knew whatever was meant to be would happen. We would both be happy, whatever the outcome.