“I haven’t had one for years,” I admitted. “Not since I started taking birth control.”
She shook her head. “Some women have been on the pill as long as they can remember, their minds are one-hundred percent focused on a high-powered career, and every time they gain even an extra pound—they fly into a frenzy until they’ve worked it off. It’s the time that you’re not thinking at all about getting pregnant, that it sneaks up on you.”
I pondered.
“They say about one in four women doesn’t know they’re pregnant until they’re already weeks in. Most just think they came down with the flu. Have been working too much, so they’re a little tired lately. Just feeling a bit run-down. It never occurs to most of them to actually take a pregnancy test until they actually start to show.”
I scoffed at such distractible women.
Then thought about that terrible stomach flu I’d had a few weeks back. The one that had lingered on and on. The one that Nick hadn’t gotten—despite having constant contact with me.
I pitied them for being so careless and unobservant at the same time.
Then thought about how tired I’d been lately. How my breasts had been sore and tender. I had blamed both things upon having near constant sex with Nick. I hadn’t even considered—
I was on my feet before I made the conscious effort to stand. Trembling and pale. The magazine and handbag slipped from my hand, as I took a step toward the nurse. “Is it possible for me to get a pregnancy test without an appointment?”
The woman nodded and got me in.
I WALKED BACK TO NICK’S apartment in a daze. All twenty-eight blocks. I didn’t think to call a cab. I wasn’t even sure if I’d brought any money.
Stacy gave me all kinds of encouragement and said we could have play dates. The nurse simply slipped a card, along with a pamphlet of literature into my purse as I floated unblinkingly out the door.
By the time I finally got back to Nick’s building, a crescent moon of blisters had reddened my skin. Shoes like the ones I was wearing, weren’t really meant to be walked in for long periods of a time. They were decorative, not practical.
I probably shouldn’t even be wearing heels anymore. The thought dipped in and out of my dream-like trance. Isn’t that what they say when you’re...
I took off the shoes. Then headed slowly into the lobby.
The place was a flutter with activity. The merger the Hunter Corporation was celebrating today was an international event. Business-men, foreign leaders, and socialites from all over the globe had descended upon our fair city. Ni
ck and I had watched them arriving all week. By the looks of things, booking a room in Nick Hunter’s own building was the ultimate prize, and in two years, I’d never seen the place so busy.
Max, Nick’s bodyguard and longtime friend, greeted me on my way to the elevator. He was wearing a fitted tuxedo in honor of the occasion, and his normally crazy hair had been slicked back to perfection.
“Abigail!” he called in surprise. His eyes flickered over my vacant face, down to my bare feet, and back up again. “Why aren’t you ready yet? Is everything okay?”
He tried to make his way over to me, but a swarm of people flooded in between us. At any rate, I stepped bracingly away—pushing the button as quick as I could.
I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, because I didn’t want to explain myself to anyone right now. And the second I opened my mouth, the whole thing was going to come spilling out—whether I wanted it to or not.
The doors opened and closed behind me—shooting me to the top story.
There was only one man I needed to talk to right now. One man who needed to know what had happened. One man whose reality I was about to shatter into a million pieces.
The second the doors opened in the penthouse, that man came barreling into me.
“Abby!” he called, leaping the last of the stairs and rushing forward to sweep me off my feet. “I was beginning to get worried about you—how did everything go at the ultrasound?”
My eyes flickered up in a daze as I tried and failed to say something in reply, but he was too caught up in the excitement of the night to notice. Instead, he merely kissed me on the forehead, and dropped me back to my feet.
“You’re cutting it a little close in terms of getting ready—but we should be fine. I set your dress out on the bed, and Louise actually called a stylist to work with your hair. She should be here in about ten minutes, so that gives you time to change.”
He had yet to take a breath. He was literally pacing back and forth across the floor in excitement. This was the day we had been waiting for. The day we were free.
As if taking the words right out of my head, he turned abruptly on his heel and darted back over to me. He tilted my head up for another kiss, then stepped back with a beaming smile.
“But Abby, none of that matters anymore—because as of tonight, there is nothing. I repeat: nothing is forcing us to stay together!”