Light (The Shadows Series) (11 page)

My mouth is so dry that I swallow a couple of times before I can answer her. “Sure.” Grabbing the cup, I hop down from the table and head towards the bathroom. I am in my own little world, while I walk down the hallway, not really paying attention to anyone else. Suddenly, I walk right into something. I look down, and I realize that I have just completely knocked someone over. I feel like such an ass. I help them up from the floor, but I am not prepared for when they turn around.

“Eve?”

“Bridgette?”

“What are you doing here?”

I hide my cup behind my back, as I circle around her so I am closer to the bathroom. “Oh, you know. That annual visit. Got to love those.”

“Yes, I guess someone might. Look, we should talk soon—”

“No.” I cut her off with a wave of my hand. “There will be absolutely no talking between us. In fact, I’m going to pretend I never even saw you. My contempt for you has no boundaries right now, and it’s taking everything in me not to lay you flat on your ass.” With the last words leaving my mouth, I feel the knot in my stomach twist and turn. No, no, no. Not right now. I swallow trying to prevent myself from throwing my breakfast up in front of her.

“You have some nerve!”

I don’t stand around waiting to hear what she has to say. I need a bathroom and I need it now. I find the door, and kick it shut with my foot. At least I made it to the toilet, before I got sick. It takes me a couple of minutes to gain my composure back. I shouldn’t have come here without Theron. He would make me feel so much better right now. I set my cup on the ledge like the nurse said and wash my face. My reflection deceives me. Even though I am trying to hold back my emotions, my face is displaying everything. My complexion is pale and ghastly looking. My eyes are red and puffy, and the messy knot on my head only emphasizes the mess that I am. I open the bathroom door and slowly step out; making sure that Bridgette is nowhere to be seen. Keeping my head down, I walk back to the room.

The nurse takes my blood pressure and my weight. She marks all the measurements down in her notes before leaving the room. I feel like I have been sitting here for hours, but it has only been three minutes. I know this because I haven’t stopped watching the second hand on the wall clock above the door. Hearing the latch on the door click, I look down to see Kayla’s aunt walk into the room.

“Eve. It has been a while since I’ve seen you, at least a couple of years now. How have you been?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“And your parents?”

“They’re okay.”

She washes her hands, and tosses the paper towel in the trash bin next to the sink. “Not really revealing anything, are we today? That’s okay. I know how nervous you must be. Shall we get this over with?”

Swallowing hard, I nod my head. She says something, but I can’t hear her. It’s like everything has gone silent and all I can hear is my heart thumping in my chest.

“Eve, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said you’re definitely pregnant. Are you alright? I thought you were going to faint there for a second.”

“I’m okay. Just kind of out of it, I guess.”

“Do you have someone here with you today?”

“Kayla is in the waiting room.”

“Okay, good. Here are some general pamphlets for you. Basically, what to do and not to do. Tylenol is safe if you need some and you should start a prenatal vitamin, just make sure it has some folic acid in it. Carrie, my nurse, will set you up with an appointment for your first ultrasound. It looks like your last period was almost ten weeks ago, is that correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Well if I had to guess, I’d say your anywhere between six to eight weeks. Carrie will be right in to help you set things up, and your next appointment with me will be in about four weeks. It was nice seeing you, Eve. Oh and congratulations.” She smiles and shakes my hand, and leaves the door cracked open a bit. I hop down off the exam table, and quietly walk over to the door. I swear I can hear Bridgette’s voice, but I brush it off as being in my head. No sooner do I close the door, the nurse walks in. She hands me a bunch of papers and we set up a time for the ultrasound on Friday. I take relief in knowing that I have three days to tell Theron, but I dismiss it because I know I have to tell him today.

Kayla is scrolling through her phone when I walk back out into the waiting room with my stack of papers in hand.

“Hey.”

Kayla looks up from her magazine, trying her best to give me a soft smile, but all I see is pity. “Hey. How did it go? What did you find out?”

“I’m definitely pregnant.”

“Honey, we knew that already. Did she say anything else?”

“She said that I’m most likely six or eight weeks pregnant, but I don’t see how that’s possible. I just moved back in with him. Before that, we hadn’t had sex since…Oh. You’ve got to be kidding me.” I squeeze the bridge of my nose with my fingers, inhaling deeply through my nose.

“What? Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“The night Theron left me. We had sex and then he left in the middle of the night, leaving me a stupid fucking note. Kayla, that was almost eight weeks ago.”

“Okay?”

“Kayla, he left me when I was pregnant.” Blood. Why do I taste blood? Shit. I am chewing on my cheek again. I can’t believe this is happening.

“Oh, no. I’m not letting you go there. Neither he, nor you knew anything about your little bump. You cannot use this against him.”

“Fuck my life.”

“Um, sweetie, Theron already did and look where that got you.”

“Kayla! You are not helping right now.”

“And neither are you, all you are doing is causing a scene. Come on, let’s get you home.” She links her arm in mine, dragging me along with her.

Poor Kayla had to pull over twice on the way home. Perhaps toast, orange juice, and all the water I drank, wasn’t a good idea after all. I feel like crap when we pull up in front of the house. I shove my papers and pamphlets in my purse and say goodbye to Kayla. She has already done enough for me today, so I turn her down when she offers to stay with me.

I go to open the door, but then I remember Theron saying we were going to give Evan the guesthouse. Crap. I don’t know which house to go into. I call Theron, and of course, it goes to voicemail.

“Hey baby. It’s me. I don’t know which house I’m supposed to go into. You and Evan are both gone, so I’m just going to go into the guesthouse and lay down for a bit. Love you. I’ll see you when you get home.” Hitting the end call button, I head into the guesthouse. It still looks the same and our clothes are still in the closet. I shed my clothes and throw on one of Theron’s t-shirts. I am physically and mentally exhausted, sleep sounds really, good right now. Pulling back the covers on the bed, I make myself comfortable, close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.

“Eve, I need you to wake up and I mean really wake up.”

I open my eyes and find Theron pacing back and forth. Sitting up, I rub my face with my hands. “What’s going on?”

“We need to talk and I need your full attention.”

“Okay.” No, it is not okay. The knot in my stomach tightens, and my mouth fills with warm spit. I jump off the bed and push him out of my way, as I run to the bathroom. Theron doesn’t leave. He just stands in the doorway, watching me throw the entire contents of my stomach up into the toilet. I lay on the floor and curl up into the fetal position, pressing my cheeks against the cold tiles.

“Eve. What is this?” I don’t have to look at him to know what he’s asking. Tears stream down my face, and I try my best to hold back the sobs so desperately wanting to come out. “Eve. You need to tell me what this is right now!” His voice booms echoing around the room, causing me to jump. This is exactly what I was afraid of. He is not going to want anything to do with me now. “Damn it, Eve. I am giving you a chance to make this right and you’re not using it.”

“Make what right, Theron? I’m fucking pregnant. Is that what you wanted to hear?” My voice is nothing but strangled cries.

“I know.”

“You know? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I got a text about thirty minutes ago, congratulating me on knocking up the gold digger. Their words, not mine. I had no clue what they were talking about, or who it was from, though I’d place all my bets on it being, Thomas.” He runs his hands through his hair. His gaze never drifts from me. I swear I can feel his eyes burning into my skin. “I decided to come home and check on you since you were sick yesterday, and I find the contents of your purse spilled out on our bedroom floor. Do you know what I found, Eve?”

Once again, I am speechless. Of course, I know what he found. I put the damn papers in my purse. “I was going to tell you, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Right. I’m guessing this is why you spent the day with Kayla yesterday. This would also explain you feeling like shit yesterday and right now, wouldn’t it?” I can’t respond. I sit up and grab some tissues to wipe off my face. If he is going to be an ass about this, then I am going to be a bitch about it.

“I planned on telling you when you got home. I had no idea someone was going to text you, nor do I know how they found out. I’ve only had it just confirmed today.”

“Do you know how bad this hurts, Eve? You should have told me when the first thought crossed your mind. I should have been there with you yesterday. Hell, I should have gone with you today. That’s my baby. I have a fucking right to know what’s going on with you and you hid it from me!”

“I didn’t mean to hide anything from you! I didn’t know how to tell you, I just wanted to know for sure. That’s why I went to the doctor without you today.”

“How am I supposed to know you’re telling the truth?”

I look at the paper in his hand and recognize it immediately. It is the paper that I got from the nurse confirming my pregnancy. “Turn the paper over, Theron.” He looks at me confused, as if he can’t understand what I’m saying. “The paper in your hand, Theron. Turn it over.” Theron slowly turns the paper over and his eyes drift over to me in shock.

“I didn’t…I didn’t see it.”

“What does it say?” Theron sits beside me, and pulls me into his lap, kissing the top of my head. A kiss is not an answer to my question. “You still haven’t told me what it says.”

“I’m so sorry. I was a complete dick. I didn’t even give you a chance to explain things. I thought you were going to run again. God, I’m so sorry.”

“Damn it, Theron. What does the paper say?”

“It says, ‘Congratulations, Daddy. We love you.’”

“Like I said, I was planning on telling you when you got home. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the tests I took yesterday. I guess I needed to come to terms with it.”

“Tests? As in more than one?”

“Kayla and I didn’t know which ones would work better, so we bought every kind they had. I had to have taken around seven of them yesterday.”

“And between the puking and the tests, that wasn’t enough proof for you?”

I shrug my shoulders. They are extremely lame excuses, but at the time, they made sense. “I just wanted to have everything together when I told you. I wanted to be able to give you something I could show you. I was so scared you would leave me.”

“Beautiful, that’s never going to happen. Come on lets get you off of this floor. It can’t be comfortable.”

“To be honest, it is. It’s really cold and it feels so good against my face. I think I’ve fallen in love with this tile.”

“It will be fine. I’ll take care of you now, you won’t need the tile.” He scoots me off his lap and stands. “Can you walk?”

“I’m pregnant, Theron. My legs work perfectly fine.”

“Right. Sorry, I was just worried you might feel sick or something.” He pulls me up from the floor and leads me out of the bathroom. I crawl back up onto the bed and Theron plumps up the pillows behind my back, propping me up so I can sit comfortably. He is hovering over me, asking me a ridiculous amount of questions that all end with me responding, ‘I’m okay’.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do.”

“Stop it. I’ve said I’m fine. If I gave you something to do, would it make you feel better?”

“Immensely.”

“Fine. Stop hovering over me. Just lay with me and hold me for a bit.”

“That I can do.”

Theron slides in beside me. He lays back on his pillows, pulling me to him. At first, he draws small circles on my shoulder, but then he moves his hand to my back. My stomach starts to knot, but I refuse to let it ruin this moment. Rolling over, I lay flat on my back with Theron’s arm under my head. He turns onto his side and splays his hand across my stomach.

“We made this. This tiny little thing you are carrying, we made it.”

“It’s not a thing. It’s a baby. It’s our baby.”

“Our baby. Beautiful, I love you so much. What are all of those other papers you had in your purse?”

“Just a list of do’s and don’ts. The doctor wants me to start taking some vitamins, but other than that, it’s just general information.”

“Hmmm. This list you have, what does it say about sex?”

“Were not allowed to have sex for at least a couple months.” I bite my tongue to keep from laughing at Theron’s expression. He looks absolutely, horrified. I can’t contain myself anymore. I lose it.