A Tough Moment

Chapter Fourteen

"Where's Ethan?" Caleb asked as he entered the lounge.

"Upstairs, putting Georgia to bed." I answered.

I glanced at him as he sat next to me on the sofa.

"So I'm guessing he told you?" he said quietly.

I nodded slowly, my mouth too dry to speak.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked.

"It's not about me, I have to support him." I said quickly.

"But you need someone to talk too as well, otherwise it'll just build up." he stated.

Even though I rolled my eyes at him, I knew that he was right. But I'd always had difficulty opening up to people, especially Caleb, who I still didn't trust completely.

"I just hope that he can cope with it." I admitted.

"Well he has you by his side, so that'll help." he pointed out.

"Yeah but what about long term, he's going to end up severely disabled, and what do I tell the children?" I ranted.

"You just have to take every day as it comes." he said gently.

"Does it cause mental changes as well as physical ones?" I asked.

"It can sometimes cause anxiety and angry outbursts." he said quietly.

"Great." I muttered.

"It'll be okay." he reassured me.

"No it won't, I love him so much, it's like a physical ache and because of this illness I'll have to watch him slowly fade away." I muttered, my bottom lip wobbling.

"I don't know what to say." he admitted.

"There's nothing you can say." I sighed, my voice breaking slightly.

He sighed and gently wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me tightly. I rested my head against his chest and allowed the tears that I'd been holding back to flow freely. Somehow it seemed easier to let my emotions out when Ethan wasn't around. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause him any more hurt by allowing him to see how much this was effecting me.

"I'll be around to support the two of you." he whispered.

"Anything that I can do to help, just say the word." he added, gently planting a kiss on my forehead.

"Thank you." I whispered.

After a few moments I eventually sat up and smiled at Caleb.

"I'll make you a cup of tea." he said.

I nodded and watched as he walked away. As I sat alone on the sofa I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Ethan must be coming back down. I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks, desperately hoping that he wouldn't notice. He entered the room and silently sat next to me. I quickly curled up on the sofa and placed my head in his lap. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he sighed and gently stroked my hair. I glanced up as Caleb walked back into the room and gently placed a mug of tea on the coffee table. He quickly glanced between Ethan and myself and I saw something flicker across his face. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that he was jealous. No matter how much time I spent with him, I couldn't seem to figure him out. He knew that I was married to his brother, did he think that there was something between us, just because he'd hugged me? Was he really that deluded?

"Did Georgia settle okay?" I asked Ethan, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah, she was still a little upset though." he sighed.

"She's probably picking up on how you two are feeling." Caleb pointed out.

"Yeah probably." I sighed.

"I asked the lab to fast track her results so you should have them in a couple of days." Caleb stated.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed, quickly sitting up.

Ethan gazed at the floor as I glanced between the two of them.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry." Caleb whispered.

Clearly there was something going on that I hadn't told me about and once again Caleb had put his foot in it.

"What's going?" I asked nervously.

Caleb glanced at Ethan and sighed when Ethan remained silent. I couldn't blame him, even though I felt sorry for him, I knew that he was going through hell, it was still becoming frustrating that he wasn't being open with me.

"We took Georgia to the hospital for a blood sample to see if she has the illness." Caleb explained.

"What?" I whispered.

"There's a fifty fifty chance that a child will inherit the condition if the parent is positive." Caleb added.

I gasped as his words sunk in. I'd been so caught up with worrying about Ethan that I'd totally forgotten that Georgia and the baby could be affected.

"I was going to talk to you about it." Ethan said quietly.

"Really?" I questioned, turning to face him.

He nodded slowly, looking me in the eye for the first time.

"We do need to get the baby tested." he pointed out.

"What for?" I frowned.

"So that you guys can make an informed decision." Caleb piped up.

"What decision?" I asked.

"Whether you think it's right to keep the baby or not." he answered.

"You're kidding right?!" I exclaimed.

"We've already lost one child, neither of us want to lose another one." I quickly added.

Caleb watched me closely, clearly surprised by my reaction.

"Right Ethan?" I asked, waiting for him to back me up.

"Well..." he started, sounding slightly nervous.

"Well what?!" I snapped.

"It's something we need to think about." he said quietly.

"You're actually considering this!" I exclaimed.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted him.

"Don't!" I shouted, as I stood up and left the room.