"No…I…" I began saying but I had to stop.

Tears welled up in my eyes and my chest suddenly felt tight. All the emotions that I was holding in all started pouring out at once and it was too much for me to handle. I covered my mouth and sobbed. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I cried from a mixture of relief, happiness, confusion, excitement, anxiousness, stress, and so many other emotions that I couldn’t quite name or identify.

"Congratulations, Malissa. You’re going to be a mother soon," Hayden whispered tenderly to me as he pulled me into his embrace.

I hugged him back tightly as more tears streamed...