Chapter 209
~ Hailey ~
It was almost impossible to believe that I was carrying Nathaniel's baby, the idea sitting in my mind like a foreign object that refused to settle into place.
The words kept repeating in my head like some cruel mantra, looping over and over, but they didn't feel real. Didn't connect to anything tangible beyond the abstract knowledge that cells were dividing inside me, creating a life I hadn't planned for and hadn’t prepared my heart to accept.
My heart was beating wrongly, thudding against my ribs in a way that felt off-balance and strained. Too fast, too irregular, like it couldn't quite find the right rhythm no matter how hard it tried to steady itself.
Nathaniel was a nice person. Genuinely kind and attentive and caring, the type of man most women would feel
