Harvey hadn't been able to focus at work for the rest of the day. All he could think about were the text messages from Grace and the idea that Lottie could be pregnant.
He didn't understand it. None of it made any sense. He wanted to believe that this was just Kiara trying to cause trouble however, he couldn't shake the idea from his mind.
"Were you busy?" Lottie asked as she pushed a mug of coffee across the kitchen counter, while Harvey stood the other side of it.
"Yeah, it was pretty crazy today." He replied, yet Lottie could feel his eyes watching her, as though he was looking for something. He looked concerned and confused and she was already guessing why.
"Is everything okay?"
Nodding his head, Harvey attempted to act unfazed once again. He wasn't really sure how to go about this or how he would even bring it up. He couldn't just come out and ask her if she was pregnant without sounding rude or confrontational.
"You look stressed..." Lottie trailed off while still keeping her distance.
She was stood behind the kitchen counter in a very clever way. She had planned on telling Harvey the truth when he got home from work, so had ditched the baggy shirts and gone for something a little tighter. However, now that she was faced with him, the fear hit her, and hiding behind this counter seemed like the perfect idea.
"So do you." Harvey responded as he could see the nerves taking over her body. "But yeah, you're right, something is up."
"What is it?"
Reaching for the phone in his pocket, Harvey opened up the text messages from Grace before sliding it over to her. Lottie didn't waste anytime in picking it up, and began reading through every single one as her heart began to beat so fast against her chest.
Grace: we know that Lottie is pregnant. you can see the bump in her instagram picture. you can't hide it anymore.
That one particular message hit her hard. She was aware of what had happened, but reading that confirmed that Grace had been the one to tell Harvey. She hadn't been the first to do it.
"What is going on, Lottie?" Harvey asked while sounding incredibly desperate.
Glimpsing up at him, Lottie let out a deep breath. She could feel the tears threatening her eyes but she did not want to give in to them. Not right now.
"Grace is right..." She muttered, not even looking at Harvey as she spoke.
"You're are..."
"Pregnant, yeah."
Harvey didn't say anything but his mouth dropped open like he was going to. He looked shocked, unsurprisingly, but also completely confused at the same time.
"Kiara is observant and clever. She worked it out."
"Fuck." Harvey breathed. His head was pounding and he still couldn't seem to make sense of any of this. "Who is the dad? I dont' get it."
He didn't want to cause offence to Lottie but it didn't make sense. Grace thought he had cheated on her and he kind of understood why now. But knowing himself that he hadn't, meant that Lottie had clearly been with someone else.
"It's yours, Harvey. The baby is yours." Lottie replied yet that didn't make any sense to him.
"How is it mine? We didn't cheat... I haven't slept with you since..."
"Since we were together, yeah, I know."
There was silence for a moment while Lottie was watching everything she said process in Harvey's mind. His facial expressions showed it all and it took about a minute before it seemed to click.
"Wait..."
"I'm 4 months pregnant, Harvey." Lottie cut in before he could even say anything. "But I found out about a month ago. I haven't been with anyone else since you and the dates work out that I fell pregnant just before we ended."
Lottie was trying so hard to fight the tears. She wanted to cry, she needed to cry. She felt sick, she was terrified and she couldn't judge Harvey's reaction.
"Shit." He began shaking his head. "Fuck. Lottie..."
"I wanted to tell you sooner but I didn't know how. You seemed happy with Grace and I knew it would be complicated. But then when you two broke up..."
"...you took this as the perfect opportunity to tell me." Harvey replied for her causing Lottie to nod her head.
"I knew we'd be alone here and I thought we could deal with it in secret but that didn't really work out."
Running his hands over his face numerous times, Harvey wasn't sure how to react. He didn't know how he felt. He was experiencing so many emotions.
Lottie had unknowingly been pregnant when he broke up with her. She had been carrying his baby for 3 months without even realising it and then had kept it from him for a month when she found out.
He wasn't mad at her, he understood. However, he was upset that things had happened this way.
He felt guilty.
"Are you hiding behind that counter for a reason?" Harvey asked and his forward comment took her by surprise.
Looking down to where she was stood, Lottie looked back at him before nodding.
"The bump isn't huge or anything but with this kind of top, you can see it, yeah..."
While Lottie held onto the kitchen side, feeling protected and hidden behind it, Harvey reacted by holding his hand out towards her.
He wanted to see. He wanted her to come out from hiding and to confirm to him that this was actually happening.
"Harvey... I..." Lottie trailed off before her voice broke.
She was shaking. She felt emotional. This whole thing was terrifying and she didn't know what any of it would mean.
"Just come here." Harvey replied in a soft tone as he looked at her in the same way.
He wasn't angry but he definitely looked emotional and for some reason, that made this whole thing worse.
"Okay." Lottie agreed as she finally, but apprehensively, walked out from the kitchen counter and into the full view of Harvey.
She watched as his eyes scaled down from her face and to her stomach. She felt exposed and couldn't help but feel incredibly uncomfortable under his gaze, yet remained still and waited on his reaction.
"Wow, I.... I don't know what to say."
As Harvey's eyes drifted back up to her face, Lottie could now see the tears forming in them. He wanted to cry. She could see that very clearly.
This was an emotional and confusing mess for the both of them but to see such a reaction from Harvey, was somewhat reassuring.
He didn't hate her for not telling him sooner. He was emotional because of the circumstances and because he now saw with his own eyes that she was pregnant with his baby. He was going to be a dad.
Lottie knew that Harvey's biggest dream was to have a family. It was in his genes. However, she also knew this probably wasn't how he expected it to happen.
They weren't in a stable relationship anymore. They weren't in the position to actually have and bring up a baby together. Things were actually a mess.
However, one thing that Lottie was confident of, was that no matter what, Harvey would step up. She didn't have any doubt that he would be the most amazing dad he could possibly be for this little baby, and she could only be truly grateful for that.
**
0 comments: