Page 104 of Curvy Cabin Fever

Thank god.

I slide the test into the bottom of my bag before leaving the store. It rattles with each step all the way back to the cabin, a constant reminder of the question I’m both desperate and terrified to know the answer to.

I wait until everyone is outside. Rhett is working. Morgan and Damien are clearing the path behind the shed, their deep voices occasionally carrying across the property.

I lock the bathroom door, sit on the edge of the tub, and tear open the box with shaking hands. The instructions blur before my eyes, but I’ve seen enough movies to know the basics.

It takes less than a minute.

But it changeseverything.

Two lines.

Two tiny pink lines that rewrite my entire future.

Holy shit!

I don’t cry as numbness spreads over me like a rash. I exhale slowly—my fear mixed with a strange joy that catches me by surprise.

I don’t plan how to tell them. In fact, I spend twenty minutes sitting on the closed toilet lid, test clutched in my hand, mentally rehearsing different scenarios.

Should I wait until dinner? Plan something special? Blurt it out the moment they walk inside?

Instead, I find myself standing on the porch, the test still in hand, watching them work together in the yard. Rhett directing, Damien measuring with his eyes, Morgan lifting things that should require machinery. The sight of them—my men—working in perfect harmony settles something in my chest.

They sense me before they see me. Rhett turns first, as if pulled by an invisible thread connecting us. His eyes drop to my hand. Then to my face.

“Aria?” His voice carries across the yard, causing the other two to look up.

I meet his gaze, then Damien’s, then Morgan’s as they approach the porch. The words come without rehearsal or preamble.

“I’m pregnant.”

Silence.

No one even breathes as they stare at me.

Then Damien steps forward, breaking the spell. He takes the test from my hand, stares at it for a second, then lifts his eyes to mine.

“I told you,’ he murmurs, voice rough with awe. “I told you I’d fill you.”

I let out a half-laugh, half-sob at the memory of his promise.

Morgan blinks repeatedly. “Wait. You’re serious?”

I nod, unable to find more words.

“I... Holy fuck.” He runs a hand over his head, his dark eyes wide. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I whisper, and I mean it. Despite the fear and the uncertainty, I’m okay.

More than okay.

Rhett looks stunned.

Wrecked.

Like someone has simultaneously punched him in the gut and handed him the keys to the universe. But his hand reaches for mine anyway, warm and steady as always.