April 1998
Lindsey looked at her as if she had grown two heads, "wait...what?"
"I'm pregnant. Oh, and it's yours in case you were wondering."
Lindsey stands up and begins to pace on the porch. He runs his fingers through his hair. He doesn't say anything for a long time. His head is spinning; she can tell just by looking at him.
Stevie sits quietly, swinging on the porch swing and waiting for him to talk. She's more than okay with giving him time to process things. She still has a lot of ill feelings towards him at the moment, but the man is about to have two children by two different women. He's allowed to take a moment to be shocked.
He finally stops in front of her and looks down at her, "so we succeeded?"
Stevie nods, "apparently we did."
Again, he doesn't speak for a few moments. Finally he opens his mouth again, "when are you due?"
"In September," she says with a smile.
"Holy shit. That's only two months after Kristen," he runs his hands through his hair and begins to pace again.
"Look, I don't want anything from you. I just thought you should know and that I should tell you to face to face. I don't think this is news a man should hear over the phone, especially considering our unique situation," she explains.
"What do you mean you don't want anything from me?"
"Well, I just mean....I don't expect you to raise this baby with me."
He stops in front of her and looks at her in disbelief, "Steph, this is our baby. We finally made a baby. I love you. I love this baby. I want to be a family. I want to raise this baby with you. This is what we wanted."
She shakes her head, "no. It was what we wanted, and then you left when you found out Kristen was pregnant and you committed yourself to her and your child with her. You can't just back out of that now. We can work things out. You can see the baby whenever you want. When it's older, it can come stay with you on the weekends or whatever. It's something we can figure out when the time comes."
"I don't want that. I want to be there for everything," he says, as he sits back down next to Stevie on the porch swing.
"Oh, okay, well what will you tell Kristen?" She asks, crossing her arms and looking at him intently.
He shakes his head, "I...I don't know."
"Exactly. You have already promised to be there for her, and frankly, I don't need you to raise this baby. I can do it."
He looks at her, the hurt completely clear on his face, "you don't need me?"
"If I've learned anything these past few months, it's that I can live without you."
"Steph, don't you remember how in love we were?" He asks, trying desperately to get her to remember how things were before he found out Kristen was pregnant.
"Of course I do, but I also remember how you just packed up your life and left me all alone."
"I know I fucked up, but I wouldn't do that again."
She looks at him and shakes her head, "do you honestly think I'm going to let you do to another woman what you did to me? She doesn't deserve that."
Lindsey tries to reach for Stevie, but once again, she moves away from him. "I don't love her like I love you."
"Lindsey, after what you did to me, I don't know if I love you anymore at all," she says, trying not to cry, but her emotions were running rampant.
