Fatal Wounds

26

Theo

I know nothing is physically hurting Valentina, but
still the remnants of her tears hurts my heart.

Ever since her and Brooke came out of the room, the two of them had matching red eyes and slightly raspy voices. Although I'm curious as to what happened, I respect Brooke's privacy and haven't asked about it. Instead I kept Valentina's coffee and croissant warm and handed it to her, I made myself a coffee and gave Brooke what Valentina had brought for me.

Now, even though Valentina invited her to stay over at her house, Brooke decided to go home and freshen up.

"Come here amor," I beckon her over to the stove where I'm grilling our chicken for lunch. Valentina pushes away her glass of fresh lemonade and strolls over to my side, wrapping her arms around me.

"Yes my love?" She hums looking up at me. Her eyes are still a bit red from her talk with Brooke, which pulls at my heartstrings. "You alright?" I ask softly, tucking the tiny pieces of her hair behind her ears.

My hands move down to cup her face, she leans into it and briefly closes her eyes. "Mhm," she takes a deep breath and nods, "I want to tell you, I do. Brooke told me I have her permission to tell you but I..."

"What?" I frown, I run my thumb across her cheek. "If it makes you feel better tell me, if you feel better keeping it to yourself then do so. I'm here no matter what."

She swallows thickly and nods, "alright," she whispers, "I'm going to tell you but that means you'll have to keep it from Brian."

"I can't tell him?"

"No." She shakes her head, "you okay with keeping it from him?"

After a brief pause I nod. If she's asking me to keep it from him there's a good reason. She clears her throat, "Brooke's pregnant."

My hand stills on her face, my eyes search hers and what I find it the most sincere truth. My thumbs resume their caressing, "with Brian's baby?" She nods. "Is she keeping it?"

"Yeah." A smile pulls at her lips, "she wants to keep it she's just really worried about her financial situation."

My brows pull in, "She shouldn't worry," my chest sinks when a possibility flashes before me, "unless he said something about not wanting it?"

He wouldn't. Brian would never turn her away, pregnant or not.

"No." She shakes her head quickly. "No," her hand tightens around my wrist, "she just thinks it's too early into their relationship and she doesn't know how he'll react. She hasn't told him, which is why you can't either."

The brief worry I had experience quickly resolves. Brian's not the type to walk away from something like this but the possibility that he did had me experiencing brief disbelief . "I hope you told her she has nothing to worry about."

"I did." She assures, "you see the way Brian looks at her- talks about her. There's no way in hell he'd leave her."

"Yeah." I whisper, dragging my finger across her pink lips.

I wonder if Valentina notices that I look at her like this. The way she notices Brian looks at Brooke, that's the way I look at Valentina. Does she notice that?

My chest swirls with heavy emotions as I drink in her beauty. Everyday she seems to amaze me, It doesn't make sense but every time I see her it strikes me all over again just how beautiful she is.

"He'll be happy." I mumble distractedly, the way she looks up at me with those wide brown eyes it does something to my chest. Like a flutter of some kind. Her eyes are light, they give the illusion of shinning honey.