Accidentally His Forever

ong after my legs had gone n

-and yet they had more weight th

forever, had disappeared before the sun came up, leaving behind nothin

nstead, it left me... confused. Disoriented.

sore in all the right ways and all the wrong on

eyes less guarded, my skin still fl

d left with a piece of me? The cash sat on the ni

arted making up stories in my head about what last night meant. Beca

r me until it rinsed off the sweat, the

ouldn't wash him off. Not really. His scent still lin

night before-wrinkled and shamefully clingy-and shove

I couldn't even remember

e on the floor, and curled up on my couch with a bottle

t myself. But all I co

ed. Then a week. And another. No call. No stranger. No knock on m

lf in reports and traffic stops, pretending like I wasn't checking my pho

the way he'd crushed me without blinking-it all felt like a bad drea

e else touches your soul deeper than you

stress. Maybe I was just tired, overworked. My stomach tw

get me started on eggs-I couldn't look at th

efore 8 a.m. That's when something clicked.

stuff didn't happen to me. I'd always been careful. Always

r, "I want to feel all of you." An

break. Picked up three tests. Just to

an. My palms were sweaty. My breath short. I glanced down once. Then again. Then I s

t the floor, willing the universe to fix thi

moral compass and a shaky past. It doesn't care if the father of your baby is a stranger you

ght and curled up o

felt scrambled. I was

I was anymore, let al

barely able to believe it. How the hell was I going to explain this? To my boss? To my father? To my

A memory that now lived under my skin and, apparently, inside my womb. The

. And no clue what came next. Days passed again. My body started changing in tiny ways. My clothes felt tighter.

She smiled at the sonogram screen whil

and a folder full of pamph

ng the sonogram like it was a

ing up my car in the underground parking garage, headi

ct that someone's wa

as t

e piercing eyes. Same expensive suit. Same unreadable expression. M

anged at all

spered, almo

ly, sliding his hands into