If there was some way any of this could be avoided, Derick would have gladly taken that road to the one he was facing now. He'd started, so there was no going back. That didn't make the task at hand any easier.
"Kelly, just shut up for ten seconds and let me tell you!" he snapped at her incessant questioning. Kelly instantly shut down. She knew when he got like this there was nothing she could do but obey. Not doing what he said would cause a fight, and that would cause insults to start flying, and eventually it would end in her crying and begging for forgiveness. But this time, a fight had the potential to end in something much worse. She could accidentally blurt out her big news and mess the whole thing up. He'd be angry with her for not telling him sooner, or for telling him in such a hostile way, or for having the news to give at all! Not that it was only her fault... Babies took two to make, after all...
The silence was relief to Derick. He had a second to actually think. He needed to just say it. There was no better way than to rip off the band-aid, and right now they were doing more light tugging than quick pulling. So with a deep breath, he tensed his shoulder to brace for the impact of her reaction and said simply "I joined the army."
Kelly's body went cold.
"The..." she took a deep breath and forced herself to repeat it. "The army." The words in her throat made her want to gag. Or maybe that was morning sickness. She couldn't tell. All she could tell for sure was that he'd just told her he was leaving for many long periods of time, and he decided to tell her this on the very day she found out she'd be needing him more than ever. Without thinking further than that, she cut off what he'd been about to say to expose her own secret. "I'm pregnant."
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