Samantha Young: Fall From India Place

“Hannah, what’s going on in there?” Marco rapped impatiently on the bathroom door.

I’d flushed the toilet seconds before I’d thrown up so he wouldn’t hear me being sick. I flushed the toilet again and stood on shaky legs. Marco rapped on the door once more while I brushed my teeth, avoiding the strained, pale face in the mirror that I didn’t recognize.

Finally, once I looked as good as I could, I opened the door. He forced it open all the way so he could yank me out of the bathroom and into his arms. “Well?” he asked, his voice deeper, rougher than usual as he stroked my hair off my face.

My lips felt numb. “Test says I’m pregnant,” I whispered.

He didn’t even blink. “We’ll get you in to see the doctor tomorrow, we’ll get it confirmed, and then we’ll get it all checked out to make sure everything is okay.”

I looked away, fighting the panic that was rising again swiftly on the heels of the last wave of it. “I don’t know if I’m brave enough.”

The little shake he gave me brought my gaze back to his. “You are. You know you are.”

“This is too fast.”

He gave me a reassuring smile. “You think Dylan wasn’t? But Leah and I dealt with it. You and I have dealt with it. You don’t think we can handle another kid?” He squeezed my waist and through my panic I sensed his quiet excitement. “This is our kid, Hannah.”

I raised my shaking hands and laid them on his chest. “If our kid doesn’t kill me, we’re getting married.”

Marco scowled. “You have a sick sense of humor.”

“I either joke and get through this or I start to cry.”

He considered the ultimatum and gave a sharp nod. “Sick sense of humor it is, then.”

I tried my best at a brave nod in acknowledgment of his acquiescence and I pulled away. “Do you want a coffee? I need tea.” I began to make my way slowly down the hallway.

I was just at the kitchen door when he called my name.

“Yeah?” I turned around, feeling exhausted. I quickly grew alert, however, at the dark intensity in Marco’s eyes. He often looked at me like that when we were making love.

He took a step toward me. “Kid or no kid… this is us forever, and you’re right, we should make that official.” Another step closer. “Marry me.”

The panic retreated along with my breath. “Is that a request or a demand?” I asked breathlessly, laughter in the words.

Marco’s lips curled up at the corners. “A little of both.”

I cocked my head to the side, contemplating him with mischief in my eyes. That he could make me feel this way when I also felt so worried about the future was one of the reasons I loved him. “If you’d asked me when I was seventeen I would have given my parents both a heart attack by saying yes.”

“And now?”

I shrugged and began to turn away. “I’ll think about it.”

Two seconds later I was hauled into his arms, laughing as he growled, “I’ll think about it?” against my mouth.

I nodded, wrapping my arms around his neck to hold on to him.

“Think fast.” He nipped at my lip.

“Okay, okay…”

“Hannah,” Marco warned.

Standing on my tiptoes, I brushed my lips against his ear and whispered, “I’ll say yes. I promise.”

“Then say it now,” he whispered back.

“You’re my best friend.”

“Hannah.”

“Always have been. Always will be.” I pulled back to hold his handsome face in my hands.

“I’ll take that as your yes,” he replied, his voice hoarse with emotion.

Letting all my feelings of tender affection and love shine out of my eyes, I grinned. “You always were good at reading me.”

He kissed me, pulling back only to look me deep in the eyes. Understanding passed silently between us. We could do this.

It hadn’t been an easy journey to here. We’d tried to fly numerous times since meeting each other, and we’d fallen more times than we liked to count. That was life.

Flying and falling.

Next week, for all we knew, we could very well fall, but in that moment, we were happy because we knew with certainty that if we fell… together, we’d get back up to try again.

Hannah and Marco’s story made it into readers’ hands because of my wonderful, determined, and amazingly supportive agent, Lauren Abramo. As always, thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty, Lauren!

Moreover, I have to thank my awesome editor, Kerry Donovan, for not only loving the ODS world as much as I do, but for helping to make it so much better than I ever thought possible. Working on this series with you, Kerry, is a dream.

I must say a big thank-you to Erin Galloway and the team at New American Library for all their hard work on this series, too. You guys are phenomenal!

Thank you to Anna Boatman and the team at Piatkus for believing in this series and bringing Hannah and Marco’s story to the UK readers. Your enthusiasm means the absolute world to me.

To Georgia Cates, thank you so much, not only for being a great friend and part of the amazing support system we call the Hellcats, but for sharing your wisdom from fifteen years as a delivery nurse and for providing me with invaluable advice on the medical information in Hannah’s story.

And to Shanine Christoffersen and Kate McJennett, thank you for being such wonderful teachers and such an inspiration. The kids you teach have no idea how lucky they are to have you, and how much it matters that you care so deeply for what you do. Kate, thank you for all your advice as a high school English teacher. Hannah came alive as a teacher as I was writing, and a lot of that came from you. Also, thanks for letting me steal your Dark Knight Rises lesson plan. Very cool.

Finally, a massive thank-you to you, my reader.

You know why.