Build And Break novel Chapter 65

"Hey, um," Steven began, "since last time, have you checked if you're..."

"Pregnant?"

The day Angela had been a day late, she had immediately bought a test. She hadn't told anyone. She had waited for everyone to be asleep before she locked herself in the bathroom. The few minutes of wait for the result, Angela's brain was conflicting between wanting to see a minus or a plus. A negative sign would mean that she wouldn't have any additional ties and more drama with Steven. A plus sign meant that she and Steven might have another possible chance at the life they had once dreamt for them. And she wasn't sure what she really wanted between the two.

"No, Steve, I'm not." Angela spoke in a low tone with a surprising hint of sadness.

And Steven caught her emotion. He brushed his fingers over her jaw. "That's a shame. I hoped you were. I would have took you back home and never let you leave me again."

Angela stepped back, away from his touch. "You can't always get what you want, Steve. I've told you that once before."

"Yes, you did. And that time, I've proved you wrong." She had told him those same words when Steven wanted to take the test in hopes of being Daniel's donor. And he did prove her wrong then.

"Not this time. Whatever was between us, it's over." Just as much as their dream of living a blissful family life was, Angela thought.

Steven shoved his hands that were missing touching her skin into his pants pocket. If he hadn't done that, he would have satisfied the itching he had to grab her and pull her so close to him. "So we're just Daniel's parents now?"

As much as she wished they could be more, Angela had to keep back from Steven. She had to protect the new life she worked hard to build. And she was afraid of letting him completely into her new life. "Yes. We're just his parents."

With those simply words, they had gone from being an ex-husband and ex-wife to being just parents of their boy.

Steven nods then, understanding. "Well then." He turned to leave.

"Steven." Angela stopped him and he faced her again. "I do want Daniel to have your name."

"You think Mommy will spill your secret if you share it with me? Come on, son, tell me. And you know you can't keep secrets from Mommy." As much as Angela knew that wishes made over a cake and candles should in fact be kept a secret, she wanted nothing more than to know what was passing through Daniel's small brain.

"Okay, I'll tell you. But..." He pointed a straight finger at Angela with an all too serious side-glance. "You have to promise not to tell or it will not come true, okay?"

Angela extended her pinky finger while holding an adoring smile back. Goodness, her little boy looked like a young man when he was sustaining his argument. Another trait he inherited from the other side of his genes.

Daniel entwined his own pinky finger around Angela's and proceeded to beckoning Angela to crouch to his height. Then he moved his lips close to Angela's ears and peered around him to make sure no one listened. "I wish I will be just as happy as I am today for all my life." He whispered with emphasis on the complete definition of his words.

Air caught in Angela's throat as she inched back to look at her son before engulfing him in her tight but loving arms.

From the second she had woken up that day, Angela forced herself to hold back her tears. Every year on Daniel's birthday, she'd be a roller coaster of emotions. Whenever she looked at her son, she'd feel the pride of having raised a beautiful and great kid like Daniel. But it wouldn't be long that the memories of the day of Daniel's birth would come back at her. That day, Daniel's birth day, had been of the hardest and biggest struggle of her life. From the moment she started her labor till the moment Daniel had been born and took his first nap in her arms, Angela had wanted nothing more than not to be alone in that room. She wished Steven had been there to witness that moment with her. She wished Steven was there when Daniel began to crawl and giggled with every step, when he murmured his first word 'bo' as pointed to a ball, when he called her 'Mommy' so clearly she tried or when Daniel learned the word 'Daddy' from a bedtime story book.