A Tough Choice

Chapter Seventy Seven

Caleb's POV

I sighed as she walked away from me. I knew she'd be angry with me but I hadn't expected such a look of disappointment. The comment she'd made before walking away had really hurt, it had struck a chord with me. But I couldn't deny that she was right, I couldn't seem to stop myself from lying. As a result I kept hurting her and Ethan. It had to stop. Now. I sighed and made my way home.

Emma's POV

The next morning arrived far to quickly, I slowly packed my bag. I was terrified of facing Ethan now that I knew that he knew what had happened. We needed to sit down and talk about it, but I had no idea what to say. How do you start a conversation like that?

"Are you heading off?" Robyn smiled as she saw me packing.

"Yeah, soon." I sighed.

"You look like you haven't slept a wink." she stated.

"No I didn't really." I admitted.

"Are you sure you're ready to go home?" she asked.

"Yeah, I can't keep putting it off." I muttered.

"Thanks for letting me stay." I added.

"No problem, you're always welcome here." she said kindly.

I smiled my thanks and zipped up my bag.

"How are you getting home?" she asked me.

"I've ordered a taxi, it should be here any minute." I told her as I glanced at my watch.

"I'm gonna miss having you around, it was nice to have another female in the house." she grinned.

"You're stuck with just the boys again." I winked at her.

"Yep." she pouted.

I glanced out the window as I heard a car horn.

"The taxi's here." I told her.

"I'll see you soon." she said as she hugged me quickly.

I smiled at her and gathered my things.

I was getting more and more nervous as I got closer to home. I could only hope that Ethan wouldn't hate me. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to seeing Caleb either, I was still angry with him. He could have saved me feeling so down by just telling me to start with that Ethan knew. It would've hurt at the time, but I'd have felt better by now. He always made things complicated.

All to soon the taxi stopped outside my house. I quickly climbed out and paid the driver. I slowly walked up the driveway and unlocked the door. I listened closely as I put my keys on the side. It was silent. I lingered in the hallway, not able to bring myself to go looking for him.

"Hey you're back." Ethan smiled as he peered around the lounge door.

I nodded slowly and placed my bag on the ground.

"Do you want to talk now or later?" he asked gently.

"Let's talk now." I sighed. I'd rather get it over with.

I slowly followed him upstairs and into our bedroom, where I stood uncomfortably as he perched on the bed. I watched him closely as he sighed and took a deep breath.

"We need to talk about what happened." he said sadly.

"Before we do that I need to talk to you about something." I whispered.

"What?" he asked nervously.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come out.

"You want to cancel the wedding?" he said, a note of panic in his voice.

"No of course not." I said quickly.

"What is it then?" he frowned.

"Please tell me something else didn't happen with Cal." he added.

"Will you stop guessing and just wait for me to tell you." I smiled.

"I'm all ears." he grinned.

I smiled to myself, we hadn't bantered like this for ages. It made me realise how much I'd missed it.

"Did you know that Caleb came to see me yesterday?" I asked him.

"Yeah he said he had to talk to you about something." he answered.

"Well...he needed to tell me something." I said quietly.

He looked at me and waited for me to continue.

"He told me that you know about the miscarriage." I said.

"Wait, what?!" he exclaimed.

"He told you!" he added.

"No, I was filing when you were away and found it on my notes. I was gutted and thought you'd hate me so I made him promise not to tell you." I explained.

"But I already knew by then." he pointed out.

"Yeah but I didn't know that at the time." I sighed.

"Why the hell didn't he just tell you that I already knew?!" he exclaimed angrily.

"He says that he didn't want to hurt me." I told him.

"Bollocks!" he said angrily.

"He wanted to be the one to comfort you instead of me!" he added.

I shrugged, I hated the fact that it seemed like he was right. It would have hurt me less to tell me the truth. Did he just make the wrong decision or was there a sinister motive behind his actions?

"He wouldn't do that." I whispered to myself.

"He's not as nice as you think, just ask Kirstie." he stated.

"What did he do to her?" I asked.

"Best ask her, she'll kill me if she finds out I've told you." he said.

He sighed and looked at the floor.

"Are you okay about it?" I asked him gently.

"Yeah are you?" he asked.

"I'm getting there." I sighed.

"No you're not, you're getting worse." he stated quietly.

I stared at him silently, unsure how to respond.

"Come here." he said as he opened his arms.

I sighed and walked towards him. He quickly pulled me onto his lap.

"I've missed this." he whispered as he leant his head against my neck. I looked down at his hand and entwined our fingers.

"We'll fix this...together." he whispered in my ear.