Page 74 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends

“Enough!” Ryan snaps at me. “Are you saying she has some sort of cancer or something? That she’s going to die?”

I throw my hands up. “I don’t know! She won’t tell us anything. I have to speculate based on what I know.”

Ryan runs his hand over his face, exhaling heavily. “Maybe we should at least call Ethan. Maybe he can figure out what’s going on.”

“And how do we explain why we’re all here?” I question him.

“I don’t care at this point,” Ryan replies. “I just want to make sure that she’s okay.”

I sigh as I watch him walk back over to the door. Our secrets aren’t more important than her life, but I hope with everything I have that nothing is wrong with her. It just doesn’t seem like that from the outside, though.

“Emma, I’m calling Ethan,” Ryan tells her. “I think you’re sick, and we can’t just let you suffer in there.”

“No! Do not call Ethan!” Emma shouts, panic filling her voice.

“I don’t know what else to do!” Ryan yells back. “You’re leaving us with no choice!”

“I’m not sick!” Emma argues.

Ryan shakes his head. “I don’t believe you!”

Josh grabs Ryan’s arm and drags him back from the door. “You’re just making her upset.”

“I’m pushing her. She needs to be pushed, or we’ll never find out the truth,” Ryan hisses at him.

Josh looks over at me for support. “Tell him to back off.”

I glance at the spot under the bathroom door, able to see her shadow nearby. If Ryan keeps pushing, she might want to prove her point enough to open the door. As much as I hate upsetting her, we have to get past her comfort zone if we’re going to help her.

“Push her,” I say.

Ryan turns back to the door like he’s staring her in the eyes. “I’m five seconds away from calling Ethan. He’ll be able to tell us what’s going on.”

“Ryan, stop!” Emma shouts before throwing open the bathroom door, her red eyes brimming with tears. A few glide down her cheeks as she breathes in shakily, looking like she’s about to fall into a million pieces.

The three of us tense up, not expecting her to break so soon.

“I’m not sick,” Emma tells us in a trembling whisper.

“Then, what is it?” I ask her, my desperation coming out in my voice.

Emma closes her eyes for a moment, sending more tears rolling down her face. She takes a deep breath and looks up at us, speaking the words that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

“I’m pregnant.”

Chapter thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-Four: Josh

I’m pregnant.

Emma’s words echo in my ears on a constant loop, making my heart pound faster as the meaning of those words really hits me.

She’s carrying a baby. She’s going to be a mother.

But who is the father?

“You are? Really?” Max speaks first, sheer disbelief written all over his face as he stares at her.