Free Courageous: Afterlife Book Four by Willow Rose

desperate.
     He lifted his eyes and looked into mine. "It's just very real all of a sudden," he said. "It's very real when it moves and kicks and stuff."
    "I don't understand. Don't you want it to be real? It's a baby, Mick. It's coming and it's going to be very real."
    "I know," he said.
    "So what. Now suddenly you have regrets? Don't you want the baby after all, is that it? Because it's too late, Mick. It's coming."
    He shrugged. "I know. I know." He was biting his lip. Then he turned his back at me. I wanted to grab him and hold him down, I wanted to force him to look into my eyes and tell me what was going on.
    "I can't deal with it right now," he said.
    Then he oozed through the door and left me.
     
     

C HAPTER 14
    I WAS SPEECHLESS, startled and motionless. Never had I felt so abandoned, so alone in this or any other world. Never had I felt so confused. Why was Mick being that way all of a sudden? He was the one who had told me he wanted a big family. He had been thrilled when I told him I was pregnant. Had he gotten cold feet all of a sudden? Did he not want the baby after all? Hadn't he thought it through? Was it something that I had said or done? I looked at the mirror on the nightstand. Part of me wanted to pick it up and ask what was going on, but another part of me was afraid of the truth.
    I did it anyway. I picked it up and looked into it. My eyes were red and I thought I looked horrible. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
    "Are you there?" I whispered not knowing how to make it talk to me again. "I need your help. I need to know what's going on."
    Suddenly my reflection smiled and the eyes changed. She shook her head. "You look terrible!" she said.
    "I know," I answered. "I don't feel so good."
    "Again with the pity-party?" the reflection asked. "You're getting more and more pathetic. Pull yourself together, would you?"
    "I don't think Mick wants the baby," I said. I was scared to death of the answer but asked the question anyway:
    "Has Mick changed his mind?"
    "Wouldn't you?"
    "Excuse me?"
    "Would you like to create a family with someone like you? A whimpering and whining woman who keeps hurting him? If you're not careful he will grow tired of you soon enough."
    I was about to answer when there was a knock on my door. I put the mirror down and looked at the door. "Come in," I said. I wiped my eyes dry when Abhik showed his face through the door. I smiled and floated towards him.
    "Abhik! You have no idea how glad I am to see you here. I thought you had gone back!"
    "Gone back? No. I promised you I'd stay a little longer, didn't I?"
    We hugged. I held him for a little longer than usual. He looked at me when I finally let go of him.
    "Is something wrong?" he asked when he looked at my face. "Have you been crying?"
    I turned away from him while trying to wipe my eyes again, but instead more tears emerged from and rolled down my cheeks.
    "I look hideous, I know. Don't look at me," I said.
    I felt his hand on my shoulder. "This is not the Meghan I used to know," he said. "Since when did you start caring so much about what you look like?"
    I exhaled. Abhik floated around me and we stood face to face. I tried to not have him look at me. He grabbed my shoulders and then lifted my head to meet his. "First of all you're not hideous. You're beautiful as always, even when you cry. Second of all, what is going on with you?"
    "It's nothing. I'm just acting silly. I think the hormones are getting to me," I said. "It's been like a roller-coaster lately. I have all these mood swings and I never know what I'm going to say or do next. My emotions are controlling me and not the other way around."
    "What about Mick. Can't he help you?"
    "He is the one I'm taking it out on. I keep upsetting him. It's all my fault. I'm ruining everything. Now I am not even sure that he wants to have the baby after all."
    Abhik gasped. "What are you saying? Did he say that?"
    "No, he didn't, but I sense it. He didn't want to touch my stomach just before,