It wasn’t a romantic declaration. It wasn’t a proposal. But it was something, maybe more: a nineteen-year-old kid deciding to be a man.
“I’m keeping it,” she said.
But she knew Emma’s laugh—a gurgling, belly-deep sound that had appeared at three months. She knew the weight of a tiny body against her chest at 2 a.m. She knew that love, the real kind, wasn’t a feeling. It was a choice you made over and over, in the middle of the night, when you were tired and scared and out of options. madi collins 18 and pregnant
Leo nodded slowly. “Okay. Then I need to talk to my boss about a raise.” It wasn’t a romantic declaration
“So what do you want to do?” he asked, finally meeting her eyes. “I’m keeping it,” she said
For a long, terrible second, Cheryl’s face went completely blank. Then the emotions flickered across it like a storm: shock, anger, disappointment, and finally—settling in like a stone—fear. But not for herself. For Madi.