A SOKEEFE STORY

Chapter 67

"No, don't cry," he pleaded to her, running his finger under her eyes to wipe the wetness falling over her puffy bags. "Please don't cry."

"But what if-" she continued. He placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her head to his chest, running his fingers through the locks of her blonde hair. 

"Do you always think like this in the middle of the night?" Keefe asked her. She nodded and he let out a small laugh, sitting up a bit and leaning on his open arm.

"It's not good for the baby you know, all this worrying and thinking," he told her. Sophie shook her head again and he wasn't sure what to do with her answer. They stayed like that for a while, just cuddling each other and Keefe could feel his arm going numb as she laid her body weight on him. But he continued to stroke her hair, wanting to her to feel comforted.

When he knew she was finally asleep, he begun to search through his own mind, finding what he had to figure out before this baby was born. He had to marry Sophie, which he wasn't happy about the timing nor the deadline, but if he didn't Sophie would be taken from him. He would never get to see his child nor the love of his life ever again. 

Keefe wanted to cry out, scream into his pillow. Grady was causing him more pain and stress than his father ever did. The feeling of his brain being overloaded with worry was weighing him down. But he had to hide it from Sophie for she would then worry. She had enough stress. More stress than he had. He felt so stupid for being so worried about this proposal when his girlfriend was creating a baby while keeping it together at the same time.

Keefe couldn't sleep a wink that night and it wasn't from the uncomfortable position he was lying in.

The sun soon rose in the distance of Sophie's window and Keefe felt his tired eyes blink. He was stiff in the bed, his arms both fallen asleep and making it feel like needles were tapping against every inch of his skin.

He huffed out a quiet breath, attempting to move a bit but failing miserably. He would have to stay here for he was to afraid to wake Sophie.

But his lord and savior opened the door quietly. 

Edaline poked her head inside and immediately her eyes seemed to soften at the sight of them. She slowly opened the door a bit more to step inside.

"Do you need help?" Edaline asked him with a small smile. He let his head give a lazy nod and she quickly walked over to Sophie, lifting the girls into her arms. Keefe let out a quiet groan as he moved his sleeping arm in attempt to get to his knees. It happened eventually, but his bone seemed to be jammed at the elbow. 

Edaline set Sophie back down on her bed, setting the blue elephant next to her and letting the blonde girl cuddle with it instead of Keefe's arm. Then, the mother waved Keefe outside the room, leading him down the stairs and out the door. 

The sun was still rising in the distance, over the cliff. It created a beautiful mix of dark edges with purple and pink skies which slowly faded to a warm orange and yellow. As he walked along the grass with bare feet, he stretched his arm, wincing at the loud crack of his elbow. 

"I hope you know she really does love you, Keefe," Edaline said. "She needs you as well and so will your daughter."

Keefe let out a yawn as they stopped at the edge of the cliff and craned his straining neck. 

He felt like he was growing years older by the second.

"Sophie told me about your 'motherly instinct' but I wasn't sure if she was just playing with me. But I guess now I can confirm it," Keefe said, sitting down beside her. "May I ask how you know?"

Edaline smiled and shrugged, crossing her legs in her lap.

"It's a feeling," was all she responded.

They stayed in a bit of an awkward silence for a bit before she talked again.

"Grady told me about you 'bet' and I slapped him after hearing it," she told him, turning to the boy. Keefe felt his shoulders sag at the reminder and the pressure in his head and heart all came back. He felt like he was going to start hyperventilating at the feeling, like it was the end of the world for him. 

Then the shame came back at the reminder than he was freaking out over nothing. His girlfriend all the right to freak out. 

He felt selfish for thinking such a small thing was worth stressing over. 

"Keefe, I want you to know Sophie also doesn't like it when you keep your feelings inside and its especially not good for Empaths to do it," Edaline told him. She was waiting for something, something he was not going to give to her. 

He stuck on a childish smirk, trying to calm his hurting chest. 

"All that's hear is healthy, Edaline, I promise. Grady's just trying to see how far I'll go for her. But I don't think he knows I'd go to the moon and back for her."

:)

(Try 2 I didn't change the chapter number... whoops)