Haven Whitmore's Arc

Chapter 11 of 13

Haven was still on the porch step with her father when the gate creaked again. She had not had time to rinse her face or think of words. Cherry was already walking up the path, and Jacob was beside her, and tucked against Cherry's hip was a small bundle in a strawberry-printed onesie — Lucy, blinking at the rose bush by the gate like it was the whole world. Jacob stopped at the pink blooms and looked straight at Haven. "Cherry told me," he said. "On the way over. She figured it out before you could." His voice wasn't angry. It was tired and steady, the way a person sounds when they've already done their crying in the car. Cherry didn't apologize. She shifted Lucy higher and met Haven's eyes. "I wasn't going to let him hear it from a stranger. And I wasn't going to let you carry it one more day by yourself. ✨ You don't get to do that anymore." Lucy reached for a petal and missed, giggled, tried again. Haven stood up. Her hand went to her stomach without deciding to. She looked at Jacob, then at Cherry, then at the baby in Cherry's arms — and she said the word out loud for the first time. "Okay." Just that. The secret was gone. Jacob walked the rest of the path and sat down on the step beside her father, and Cherry handed Lucy into Haven's arms like she was setting a chair at the long table.