Song: Us Against The World by Westlife

Sometimes I feel like the world is against me
The sound of your voice, baby
That's what saves me
When we're together I feel so invincible

I felt Henry placed a kiss on my cheek, but when I opened my eyes, he wasn't there. I heard the bedroom door closed behind me.

I got up in bed and looked at the closed door, wondering if it was my imagination.

As I thought back to the events of yesterday, nausea overcame me and I leaped up from the bed to use the bathroom.

After, I went downstairs to the living room, still in my pajamas. Peeking out the living room windows to the driveway, I saw Larry driving the BMW out through the gate.

Henry left without saying a word to me this morning. He was probably still mad at me for yesterday. We didn't talk to each other since I locked myself in the bathroom, and Henry retreated to his office room. We kept our distance the rest of the night.

Feeling defeated and disappointed—mostly at myself—I turned around and saw Henry walking down the stairs, his soft gaze already on me.

"I thought you left to the office just now. I saw the car leaving," I said, standing at the window surprised to still see him at home.

"Not yet. I was going to, but I couldn't leave until I talked with you. I don't want to leave things like this between us. It's not right." Henry walked over to me. "Let's sit and talked things through. Shall we?"

I nodded and sat down on the couch as Henry sat across from me on the coffee table, our knees nearly touching.

"Look, Ally," Henry leaned toward me and took my hands into his, "I'm sorry about yesterday. Evelyn called me right after you called me for lunch. She said Victoria refuses to eat anything. She thought I could talk some sense into her sister. That's the reason why I was at the hospital yesterday. I'm sorry. I should have let you know."

I nodded. "Thank you for explaining, Henry. I'm sorry, too ... for hiding the incident with Violet's father. I didn't want you to worry about it while you were abroad."

"I know, honey. I know you always have my best interests in your kind heart."

I smiled at him.

"I have to tell you something important," Henry added. "And I need you to hear it from me, not anybody else."

"What do you want me to hear?"

"The truth." Henry took a deep breath. I wondered what he was keeping inside. "I didn't sleep well at all last night after how we left things. And I know, if I didn't tell you now, I would never forgive myself."

I looked in his eyes, and I knew something was wrong. "We've been so much already. Whatever you have to tell me, let it out. I'm willing to listen."

I managed a smile.

Henry returned one, but I could tell something was bothering him from the way he gazed at me. I could see the subtleness of misery evident in his eyes. "Let's go upstairs. I have to show you something."

Henry led me upstairs to his sister's room. He opened the door and stepped inside as I followed closely behind him.

He turned back to me. "This is Jenny's room."

"I know, Henry. I've been in here before with Nana."

"You have?"

"Yes."

Henry walked to his sister's bed and sat down on it, staring at a picture of Jennifer on the nightstand.

As Henry picked up the frame into his hands, I watched him sadly, catching a tear falling freely onto the glass.

I walked over to Henry, sat down next to him on the bed, and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I don't like seeing you in this condition. Whatever you have to say, just say it now. Tell me your problems. Don't keep me in the dark."

Henry placed the picture back down on the nightstand and turned to me, his eyes red now.

I hated seeing him sad and miserable. He must be going through a lot things that I wasn't aware about.

Without saying anything, he leaned forward and pull me into his arms unexpectedly. I knew something was definitely bothering him.

"What's wrong, Henry? I told you, I'm here for you always. Don't push me out."

"Ally, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything," he sighed, clinging tighter onto me.

"What is it, Henry?" I asked, afraid now of what my husband was going to tell me. "Every problem has a solution. You just need to find it."

He shook his head. "Nothing will solve this one. Nothing will."

I moved off him and placed my hands on either side of his cheek. "Tell me then, so I will understand. Don't keep me guessing here. Maybe I can help."

He stared into my eyes and he reached for my hands, pulling them down onto his lap. "Your brother Chris—..."

A lump grew in my throat at the mention of my brother's name. Every time his name came up in a conservation between Henry and I, it made me uneasy, unsure of where this will lead.

"Chris ..." Henry exhaled, "he didn't rape Jennifer, and he never killed her either."

I stared at Henry, slowly processing his words one at a time.

"It was never him." He continued staring into my eyes. "Ally, he was always innocent. You were right about your brother all along."

At the moment Henry said those words, my eyes started to burn.

I was speechless. Bewildered.

"New evidence prove he didn't murder Jennifer. It was someone else. My attorneys are working to get him out as soon as they can."

I wanted to say something to Henry, but I didn't know what to say. A million feelings, a billion thoughts, clouded my mind as tears pushed through my eyes.

"Say something, Ally," Henry said wistfully while I stared at him.

I broke our gaze and turned away from Henry, weeping quietly to myself. I placed my hands over my mouth to keep me from crying out louder.

Of all the things I could have guessed Henry was going to tell me, I didn't expect this one.

My life was thrown upside down when my brother was taken from my family and sentenced to life in prison years ago.

I already made peace with the fact that my brother had, indeed, murdered Henry's sister.

And now to have the outcome flipped 180 degrees, I wasn't prepare for it.

Henry's arms enclosed around my front, nudging his forehead onto my back.

"Please say something, Ally," he pleaded softly, holding onto me. "Anything."

All I did was cry quietly.

I wasn't mad at Henry for telling me the truth.

I wasn't mad at Chris for getting himself locked up.

I was mad at myself for thinking my brother was truly guilty and living with it.

"Ally, I'm sorry for everything I ever did to you and your family. If I could undo all those terrible things and take us back to the start, I would without a doubt," Henry said. I could sense the anguish in his voice. "I'll do anything ... If you want me out of your life," Henry swallowed as he sniffled, "I'll do it. Just say the words."

I removed his arms from me and turned around to face him, putting my hands over his lips as tears escaped my eye. "Don't say those words, Henry."

I understood this was the final test to our relationship, and I wasn't going to let it tear us apart like other times before. Henry and I came too far now to let everything go down the drain.

Breaking up wasn't the solution to this situation.

My hand moved from his lips and caressed his cheek. "I forgive you ... I forgive everything you did to me and my family ... I will always forgive you, Henry. I don't want you to leave me," I said, shaking my head. "Just stay. Please stay. For me."

Henry grabbed my hand and placed a kissed on it as we cried together. He leaned into my chest, and I accepted him into my arms. I embraced him tightly, my hands soothing at his back to comfort him.

I wanted to say something to him that would give him a reason to stay, a purpose to move on. "I have something to tell you as well."

Henry straightened up and looked at me, confused.

I reached for his hand and placed it flat over my stomach. I smiled at him as I tried to hold the tears from coming down more, but they broke through the barrier. "You can't see it right now, but can you feel it? I don't want you to leave because I'm going to need you more than ever. Henry ... You're going to be a father."

Henry's face glowed. "Ally, are you for real?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm pregnant."

Henry smiled and cried, then leaned and kissed me. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He placed a kiss on my forehead, holding me in silence for a moment as we gathered ourselves. "Why don't you get ready? I'm going to make a few calls, and then I'm going to take you to out to eat. Okay?"

I smiled. "I like that very much. But what about you work?"

"Don't worry, honey. Work will always be there."

.....

An hour later, we rode the elevator to the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.

We were immediately greeted by a waiter and taken to a table near the ceiling high windows. The waiter handed us the menus and informed about the specials before leaving us alone.

"What are you going to order, honey?" Henry asked.

"Everything looks so good," I said, pouring over the menu. "I can't make a decision. Why don't you pick something out for me? Please."

Henry softly laughed. "But I don't know what you're craving."

"I can go for anything right now."

"Alright, let me see," Henry said. "By the way, I booked an appointment for you at two today."

"For what?"

"For your check up at the clinic."

"Henry, is it too soon?"

"It's never too soon. I want to know how far along you are and when we'll get to see my little one."

"Your little one?" I glared playfully at my husband.

"I meant 'our' little one." Henry smiled.

"Better," I teased.

After we finished eating, Henry and I headed over to the clinic a few blocks down from the John Hancock tower.

As we exit the building, I reached for Henry's hand and persuaded him we should walk since we still had time to kill.

The weather on this day was also gorgeous, and I definitely didn't want to miss out of the few days of summer we had left. Henry didn't object.

"When's the funeral for Mr. Sinclair?" I asked Henry.

"It's actually tomorrow morning."

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Sorry, I didn't want you to worry about it. I was debating whether I should attend or not, but I've known him all my life and he was a friend of my parents."

"That's good you're going. Did you want me to come with you?"

Henry exhaled. "No, it's best if you didn't. I know their family wasn't the most friendly of people to you. I know how they treated you in the past."

"How do you know? I don't think I've ever told you about it."

"Victoria told me everything. She is sorry for how she and her mother treated you. Why did you never tell me those things, Ally?"

"Because they didn't matter. People can treat you how they want, but that's their problem. Your own problem is how you react to them."

"But still, you should have."

"Henry, it's okay. Victoria and I, we're good."

We stepped onto the sidewalk of the draw bridge running over the river near Trump Tower. A bus drove by, shaking the whole bridge.

Henry smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. Anyways, I've been wanting to ask you for a while now. I think we should go visit Chris," Henry suggested. "What do you say?"

"Really?" I said in surprise. Before I was always anxious to ask Henry if he wanted to visit my brother with me, but after today, I knew that everything going forward between them should be okay. I really wanted to see how Henry and Chris were like around with each other.

"Yes, I think we should visit him together," Henry continued. "Chris would like that. He has been asking a lot about you, the last few times I visited him. He really misses you."

"I miss him, too."

"It's a deal then. I'll pick you up at home after the burial and then we can visit him."

I nodded, excited and a little nervous for the visit already.

When we arrived at the clinic, the nurse checked us in and led us to a private room with no waiting.

While I sat on the chair, Henry stood up and observed the pictures on the wall with information about the pregnancy journey.

"What you are looking at, honey?" I asked.

He sat down by my side and took my right hand in his. "I was looking at the poster showing the development of the baby in the uterus from month one to month nine. It's quite interesting."

"Is it?" I lightly chuckled.

Soft knocks appeared at the sound. A lady around her fifties dressed in business casual clothes walked in with a bright smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Alexandria. I'm Doctor Nelson. But you can called me Cassie. How are you today?"

"Very good. It's nice to meet you, Cassie."

"I'm very happy to meet you too." Her attention turned to Henry. "And you must be Henry."

Henry smiled.

"Glad to have you both here today. So let's get started, shall we? I know you are probably wondering how far along baby is doing?"

Henry and I both nodded.

Like my first prenatal visit with my first pregnancy, Doctor Nelson asked questions about my current and past health history as well as taking some blood and urine samples for testing.

The last part was always the most fun—the ultrasound.

Doctor Nelson poured some cool gel on my stomach and pressed the probe on top of it, slowing moving it around.

Although Henry was holding my hand throughout the entire process, his attention was diverted to the computer screen, waiting nervously until she found the fetus. He quickly looked at me with a quick smile for a split second before returning to the screen.

His smile grew larger when the sound of our baby's heart beat echoed into the room, the genuine look on his face something I wanted to capture in my memory forever.