Chapter 68 I'm Pregnant
Lara’s POV
The day Ethan came home with the permission slip seemed ordinary at first, just another school assignment, another small task to help him with. But the moment I read the words family tree project, something in my chest tightened.
“A family tree?” I repeated, trying to keep my tone light.
Ethan nodded eagerly, already pulling out markers and a large sheet of paper. “Yeah. We have to draw everyone, parents, grandparents, and write about them. Will you help me?”
“Of course, baby,” I said without hesitation, even though I knew this wouldn’t be as simple as it sounded.
That night, we sat together at the kitchen table, the soft glow of the overhead light falling over us as Ethan began sketching circles and lines. He placed Damien and me at the bottom, smiling proudly at his work before moving upward.
“And then my grandparents go here, right?”
I nodded, guiding him gently. I told him about my father, Richard, and my mother, Catherine, names that still carried weight in my heart. He wrote them carefully, as if he understood their importance.
When Damien joined us, he added his parents into the mix, Helen and Robert, though Ethan admitted he barely remembered them.
Then came the moment I had been quietly dreading.
“What about Uncle Marcus?”
Ethan’s pencil hovered mid-air, uncertainty written all over his face. He knew Marcus mattered deeply, but he didn’t quite know how to define him.
I exchanged a brief look with Damien before kneeling beside Ethan.
“Why don’t you make a special branch for him?” I suggested softly. “Because he’s family, just in his own unique way.”
Ethan’s face lit up with relief. “I like that.”
And just like that, he drew a separate line and wrote Marcus’s name.
Simple. Innocent. Solved, for now.
A week later, the phone call from Ethan’s teacher confirmed what I had expected.
“Ethan gave a wonderful presentation,” she began kindly, “but he explained his family in a way that raised questions.”
Questions.
Of course.
Apparently, Ethan had confidently told his class that he had two dads, Dad-Damien and Bio-Dad-Marcus. His words, not mine.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
By the time another parent approached me at school a few days later, curiosity had already started spreading. Jessica, Tommy’s mother, was polite, even impressed, but her questions still felt intrusive.
“Is it common?” she asked.
“No,” I replied calmly. “Very rare. But it’s our reality.”
To her, it sounded complicated. To us, it wasn’t anymore. It was just life.
That evening, I vented to Damien, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. But as always, he grounded me.
“Then stop explaining,” he said simply. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”
And he was right.
Life shifted again when Marcus called with unexpected news.
“Sarah’s pregnant.”
The joy in his voice was unmistakable, and I couldn’t help but smile. But beneath it, there was something deeper, something almost vulnerable.
“This time, I’ll be there from the beginning,” he admitted quietly.
It was different for him. With Ethan, he had entered the story halfway. This time, he would be there from the start.
When I told Ethan, his reaction surprised me in the best way.
“I’ve always wanted a sibling,” he said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And just like that, any fear dissolved.
Six months later, Lily was born.
I will never forget the moment Ethan held her for the first time. He sat carefully, cradling her tiny body as if she were the most fragile thing in the world.
“Hi, Lily,” he whispered. “I’m your big brother.”
Tears filled my eyes as I watched him.
This was everything.
Over time, Ethan embraced his role fully. He visited often, helping Marcus in ways no one had asked him to. He talked to Lily, sang to her, and somehow always managed to calm her when she cried.
Watching him, I realized something important.
Love didn’t need labels. It didn’t need explanations.
It simply existed.
Then, one day, Ethan asked a question that changed everything.
“Mom, are you and Dad going to have another baby?”
I hadn’t thought about it in years, not seriously. But the way he said it, with hope rather than pressure, made me pause.
“I want a sibling who lives with us,” he explained. “Someone with the same mom and dad.”
That night, I brought it up with Damien.
We danced around the question at first, both hesitant, both unsure. But deep down, the answer had already begun to form.
Three weeks later, I said it out loud.
“Let’s do it.”
Pregnancy came easier this time, not because it was physically simpler, but because fear no longer ruled me. There was no running, no hiding. Just anticipation.
When we found out it was another boy, Ethan’s excitement knew no bounds. He was already planning lessons, football, video games, and, for some reason, burping the alphabet.
Labour now held me for four hours. It was like that , I'm bringing my second son into this world.
Damien held him for the first time, tears started rolling down from his face.
So I have another son again. He's ours. Yes .
We gave him the name Richard after my fathers name and the short name is Richie.
The name means so much to me, with memory and also meaning.
Ethan met Richie the next day, he was so happy to see him.
"I'm going to protect you forever", he said and I know that because Ethan is that kind of boy.
Having two children was chaotic, I will shout and shout. But even with that, the house is filled with laughter instead of fear.
Ethan actually stepped into the role of taking care of his brother, he cared for me , loved him without being asked to do so.
I praised him oned day and his response caught me off.
I have some ideas, he said.
"Uncle Marcus"
And just like that, we will live in peace.
Months later, during Richie’s baptism, our entire family gathered together.
Not a perfect family. Not a traditional one.
But ours.
As I stood in the kitchen, watching Ethan play with Lily while Damien held Richie, I felt something settle deep within me.
Peace.
For the first time in a long time, my past didn’t haunt me.
Lucas was still out there, locked away in the life I had escaped.
But he no longer had a place in my thoughts.
That chapter was over.
And this one was everything I had fought for.
Messy. Unexpected. Beautiful.
Mine.