“Let’s wait to see if there’s anything to talk about before we talk,” he said in that same grave, detached tone.
She caught back a panicked sob and nodded, for once bolstered by his air of cool command. She let him escort her across the lobby, ignoring the stares from the handful of employees who recognized them. She must look like death. She felt as though she walked through sticky molasses.
They were both quiet in the car. She didn’t know what he might be thinking behind his remote expression. She didn’t have room in her turmoiled thoughts to imagine it. She just kept trying to blame these symptoms on all the stress she’d been under. It was flu season. Sometimes she felt off when she was expecting her cycle. That was all this was. It had to be!
She knew it wasn’t, though. She knew.
The moment they entered the reception lounge, before she even saw the doctor, she asked for a sample cup and took it to the toilet.
She went into the examination room alone and the doctor came in a few minutes later to introduce himself.
“Your suspicion is correct,” he said with calm professionalism.
“But I had a period.” She barely got the words out, her mouth was so dry.
“Typical? Or lighter than normal?”
“Light.” Barely spotting, but it had been right on time. She had blamed all the travel and time changes for it finishing before it had properly started.
She wanted to fold in on herself for being so naive. For not understanding that was why she was so tired. She’d been around dozens of pregnancies over the years. She should have recognized when it happened to her.
It hadn’t occurred to her because she wasn’t ready to be a mother. She didn’t even have the sense to notice she was about to become one!
Was she really going to be a mother? Her heart was beating so fast, she had to wonder if she was going to make it through the end of the day. She tried to imagine what her life would look like with a baby and all she saw was a white void where her job and apartment and career ambitions had been.
Distantly, she heard the doctor prescribe prenatal vitamins and mention the need for a physical and a scan and ongoing prenatal checkups “if you choose to continue to term.”
Her heart lurched. She had always planned to have a family, just not yet. Not alone.
What would Joaquin even say?
Let’s wait to see if there’s anything to talk about before we talk.
Reason one million that I don’t want children.
Her hands were icy as she gathered her handbag and returned to the waiting area.
Joaquin was still on his feet and turned from the window. He flinched when he saw her expression and wordlessly held her coat.
In the elevator, she said, “We have something to talk about.”
He nodded curtly and escorted her into his car.
She didn’t pay attention to where he took her, not until they arrived at an unfamiliar building.
“Where are we?” she asked numbly as he helped her step onto the sidewalk.
“My apartment. The security is excellent and my father has a town house in Salamanca. You don’t have to worry he’ll turn up here.”
Lorenzo was the last thing she was worried about. Joaquin hadn’t beamed with joy and hugged her when she gave him the news. He had retreated another thousand miles inside himself.
She had an impression of marble columns and a polite door staff as they entered. Like many public spaces this time ofyear, the lobby was decked with twinkling lights and scalloped ribbons interspersed with bells. A beautiful nativity scene with hand-painted figurines stood on a table between a pair of elevators.
Joaquin used his thumbprint to access a panel. Seconds later, they entered a penthouse that had been modernized while keeping much of the building’s heritage charm.
He waved her into the living room where a tree sparkled with white lights. Flames danced in the gas fireplace.
“This is Marta, my housekeeper,” he said of the middle-aged woman who emerged from the kitchen to smile in greeting. “Thank you for staying late, Marta. This is Ms. Upton.”
