Chapter 181

Olivia

The whispers and rustling of paper could be heard in the living room, but I was too busy trying to understand how Angela could keep a secret like this. She had a knack for being unpredictable.

“Come on, Olivia! You have to pop it!” Angela urged, placing a sizable balloon in my hand, a smirk playing on her lips as she guided me over to the center of the room where everyone was gathered and waiting for me.

I raised an eyebrow, hesitating. “This isn’t going to explode with glitter or something, is it?”

Her laughter echoed. “No, silly! Inside there's confetti that will reveal the gender of your baby. Everyone’s dying to know!”

I furrowed my brow slightly, wondering how Angela would pull this one off. Blue and pink confetti, perhaps? Not only that, but I hated standing like this in front of people, especially right now. I felt just like this balloon: overinflated and ready to pop.

And yet, as I scanned the room, I saw the eager faces of our friends and family. Their anticipation was palpable, and I knew that I couldn’t let them down.

Taking a deep breath, I braced myself and popped the balloon. A cascade of blue and pink confetti burst forth, shimmering as it gently descended upon us. A confused silence fell across the room.

“It’s… a…” someone muttered, cocking their head to the side.

Suddenly, someone gasped. “It’s a boy and a girl! Twins!” they shouted, causing a wave of applause to break out.

For a moment, everything felt right. But then, as the party resumed, everyone wanted to know more about the babies in my belly. Voices crowded around me, drowning out all other sounds.

“How far along are you? Have you thought of names? Do you have everything ready?”

I knew that they were just curious, and to them, it was purely innocent. But to me, it felt as if a barrage of words hit me all at once, and I began to feel overwhelmed. My vision blurred slightly as the questions became an indistinct murmur. Maybe my exhaustion earlier had been a warning sign, a sign that I should have taken it easy.

And then, suddenly, a comforting warmth surrounded me. Nathan’s arm was around my waist, and he whispered softly into my ear in a soothing voice, “It’s okay. I’m here.”

His presence immediately calmed my racing heart. I leaned into him, taking solace in his embrace. He squeezed my waist lightly, and I looked up to see him smiling down at me.

“How about we get some fresh air?” he suggested, his voice low so that only I could hear.

I nodded gratefully. Without a word to anyone, we both quietly slipped out of the back door, seeking refuge in the cool night.

The backyard was illuminated only by the soft glow of the moon. The atmosphere was serene, a sharp contrast to the bustle inside. We wandered aimlessly, the sound of our shoes against the grass the only noise between us.

“Look,” Nathan pointed. The frame of our treehouse was coming together nicely. “It’s almost done.”

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice distant as memories of us building it flooded back.

We reached the base of the tree and looked up. The treehouse sat sturdily amongst the branches, a testament to the time we had invested in it. Nathan gently pulled me towards him, our faces inches apart.

“Do you remember,” Nathan began, his fingers tracing the rough surface of the bark, “when we first hung out by this tree?”

I chuckled, a nostalgic warmth enveloping me. “Yes, and you tried to climb it. You slipped and almost broke your arm.”

His laugh echoed in the quiet night. “Ah, but you were there to catch me.”

For a moment, I let my fingers brush the ladder leading up to the treehouse. It had been a slow process to build the little structure, but it was almost finished. “Soon, we can go up there,” I said, rubbing my protruding belly. “Once these little guys are out of me. And then, when they’re older, they can hang out up there, too.”

Nathan nodded. “We’ll have to stock up on books and blankets,” he said. “And a telescope, too. It’ll be perfect.”

“You know,” I murmured, leaning against him, “when I sketched out those ideas for this treehouse when we were kids, I never thought that they would be actualized like this. It’s amazing, what a few boards and some nails can do.”

Nathan chuckled. “It’s more than just a few boards and some nails, Olivia,” he said gently. “It’s your dream. Yours. No one else’s. There’s a magic here—in this entire house, in fact. It’s like this whole property absorbed all of your hopes and dreams.”

“Yours, too,” I said, turning to face him. “It’s your home now as well. It holds just as much of you as it holds of me.”

There was a long silence between us. Inside, through one of the open windows, we could hear laughter and music playing. I preferred it outside, though, where it was calm and quiet and where the only music was that which was made by the crickets chirping.

“When I thought you and Levi…” he began, his voice catching, “were together, it felt like a part of me had died. Every time I looked at you, every laugh, every smile... it tore me apart.”

I looked into his eyes, the pain evident. “Nathan, I—”

He placed a finger on my lips, silencing me. “I just needed you to know,” he whispered.

For a few moments, we simply stood there, lost in each other's eyes. Nathan then pulled out a small pocket knife from his jeans.

“Let’s make a memory,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

With careful precision, he carved our initials into the bark of the tree: ‘N + O’. It was simple, but the act felt incredibly intimate. A permanent mark of us on something we had created together.

I traced the letters with my fingers, a tear slipping down my cheek. Nathan, seeing my emotion, leaned down, his lips hovering over mine. There was an electricity between us, an undeniable spark.

Clint’s words echoed in my mind. Lost time… I had spent so long denying my feelings for Nathan. I had spent so long pushing and pulling with him. Now, though, I knew that I would make up for it. I would make up for the ten years that we were apart, when hardly a day went by that I didn’t think about him.

But just as our lips were about to meet, I felt a sharp, sudden pain. Just as the world seemed to have slowed down and every sound, every sensation was magnified, the sudden pain hit me. A sharp, arresting sensation that gripped my entire being. The serene night, the magical atmosphere of the treehouse, was suddenly shattered by the impending reality.

Gasping, I clutched my belly, panic evident in my eyes as the realization hit me.

“Olivia?” Nathan’s concerned voice wavered, his eyes widening with fear.

The world around me faded as I felt the contraction, the pain stealing my breath away.