Invisible Strings

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Delaney's POV:

"Did you really mean what you said back there, B?"

"Which part?" Brantley asked, giving me a quick glance as he drove us back to Jefferson.

"The part about a baby." I asked, unsure I really wanted to know the answer. When he'd said that he was open to the idea, I believed him. But now that I had had the time to really think about the implications of how careless we had been, I was starting to second-guess myself and his words.

"Yeah, baby. I did." he said, reaching across the console and entwining his fingers with mine. He then lifted them and pressed his lips against my knuckles. "I meant every single word. Like I said, I know it sounds crazy to go from not even speaking to talking about the possibility of starting a family, but like I've told you before, time is the most valuable thing that we have. I'm not saying I'm about to go all 'carpe diem' in every aspect of my life, but if the universe sees fit to gift me and I with a child, then who am I to balk at the idea?"

"I get what you're saying B."

"There's a 'but' in there..."

"There is." I sighed. "I just- I don't want to rush anything you know?"

"Laney, I get it." said Brantley. "I know that things are new between us and that having a kid can complicate things. But right, we don't even know if you are pregnant. We literally just fucked not even ten minutes ago. But I do know that if you are, then I will be there. If you aren't then I will still be there. Right, now we just have to wait and see what happens. Unless that's not what you want..."

Brantley didn't have to say what he was hinting at. I knew what he was referring to. I had options right now as to what we could do about the little mishap in the alleyway. The problem was, while I knew that one of those might be the logical option, I didn't know if it was the logical option for me since I was getting older and with that came complications with actually getting pregnant. But even as I had the thought, I knew that Plan B wasn't something that I wanted. It wouldn't matter if the mishap happened with brantley or with someone else, I knew that I would make the same decision.

"I guess we just let fate decide." I replied, confident in my decision. "Because the truth is, even if we intervene, the universe has a way of making things happen that it wants to happen."

"Exactly." said Brantley. "But baby, you need to know that I will support you in whatever you decide to do. If you want to intervene as you called it, that's fine. And if you don't, wll, I'm perfectly fine with that too."

The two of us settled into the silence of the cab of the truck, the radio playing softly in the background as the truck ate up the miles along the dark highway. Amanda's manifestation of how the dress would be the reason that she ended up as "Aunt Manda" again popped into my mind then, making me giggle.

"What's so funny?" Said Brantley from the driver's seat. I could hear a smile in his voice.

"It's funny but not funny all at the same time that we got so caught up back there that we didn't ask about birth control or take any protective measures because I was talking to Amanda while I was getting ready for tonight. Well, she actually brought me this dress for my birthday and I've never worn it. When I held it up as a possibility for tonight, she told me that she was going to manifest that it would be the dress that made her an aunt again since you have no self control; her words, not mine." I said, chancing a glance at him. When I looked over at him, he was looking at me with the biggest smile on his face. And that smile was contagious. "What?"

"Like Amanda has any room to talk. She and Chase are like a bunch of jack rabbits with the way they are always tearing one another's clothes off. I don't have to tell you that."