Elias stopped at the café and poured himself another cup of coffee, his hands steady despite the storm in his chest. “I wasn’t asking for your permission. I thought that as my friend, you’d be happy for me.”
Jonnas sighed. “No, you didn’t ask me for permission, but don’t pretend this isn’t risky.”
Elias met his gaze. “Everything worth having is risky. Listen, I’ll have to talk to you later. I have patients to see.” Elias took a right to walk the opposite way from Jonnas. He could see the hurt on his friend’s face, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that right now. They parted without another word, the tension thick and unresolved. As Elias headed back to his office, one truth anchored him through the doubt. He wasn’t going to walk away from Aliza. Not now, not ever.
Aliza
Three Months Later
Aliza had spent three months living with Elias, and it felt as though she had never known any other life. They had settled into an easy rhythm with each other, and she felt a contentment that she had no right to feel with a man whom she had only known for three months.
But three months was enough time to change everything, too. Aliza hadn’t expected how quickly Elias’s apartment would start to feel like home—but it did. Her clothes filled half of the closet now. Her books crowded his shelves, and she had even taken over his home office, using it as her own to study. Cat slept on her pillow every night, like he’d chosen her as his person. Even the mornings had taken on a rhythm with Elias leaving early for the hospital after leaving her coffee in a mug on the nightstand. He always pressed a kiss to her temple before the door closed behind him as she was beginning to wake up.
They didn’t pretend it was temporary anymore, even if she still said it out loud sometimes.
Their nights were full of quiet passion—shared meals, long talks on the couch, his arms around her in bed while Cat snored on her pillow. Elias never made her feel rushed in making any decisions about staying, and he never made her feel as though she owed him anything. He made her feel chosen, and that was new territory for Aliza, and something that she was quickly getting very used to. Honestly, she had never felt more steady in her life.
Until she got sick. It started with nausea in the mornings, and then the exhaustion kicked in, and she knew that she had caught the bug that was going around campus. When the low-grade headaches started, which wouldn’t go away, she called Dani to ask her if there was anything that she could take. Of course, her friend put on her nurse's cap and offered to come over to check on her, but she assured Dani that if she got worse, she’d ask Elias to take a look at her. He was so busy at work, she hated to bother him with her little stomach bug. But after a week of barely being able to keep food down, Aliza finally had to call out of class.
Elias came home to find her lying on the couch, a trash can next to her on the floor. “You’re still under the weather?” he asked.
“Yes, and you shouldn’t get too close,” she grumbled. “This stomach bug isn’t playing around. I’ve heard that half the campus has been out, and it seems to only be getting worse.”
“Well, luckily for you, I’m a doctor,” he said, puffing out his chest. She gave a half-hearted laugh, and he deflated some. “Wow, I really thought that would get me more of a laugh,” he griped.
“I just don’t have the strength to find anything funny, unfortunately,” she said.
“How about you let me take a look at you, just to make sure that you’re not dehydrated,” he offered.
“All right, but do so at your own risk,” she mumbled. “I haven’t showered in over a day, and I’ve probably got throw up on my shirt.”
“It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before, honey,” he said. “And if you want, I can help you take a shower later, when you feel up to it.” He bobbed his eyebrows at her, trying to get her to laugh again, and all she could muster was a half-smile. The poor guy looked absolutely defeated.
“Can you sit up, so that I can take a listen to you?” he asked, grabbing the medical bag that he kept on the corner hutch in the family room.
“This is so silly,” she insisted. “It’s probably the stomach bug going around campus,” she muttered, curled on the couch with a blanket while Cat stared at her like she was being dramatic.
“I just need you to sit up for a second, honey,” he said. “I’ll make this a quick check-up,” he promised. Maybe Cat was right—maybe she was being overly dramatic. Surely, she could sit up for a few minutes to let Elias look her over.
He helped her to sit up and listened to her breathing and her heart. He asked her a few questions about her headaches, what she had eaten during the day, and how much of it she had been able to keep down. She answered all of his questions, but when he got to the one about when her last period was, she froze. Aliza couldn’t answer that question because she didn’t have an answer to give him.
She had to have had a period since moving in with him, right? “Give me a second,” she said, trying to think back to the last time she had to pick up feminine products at the store. It hadn’t been since she had her apartment, and that thought had her panic-stricken.
“Aliza,” he breathed, “have you had a period since you’ve moved in here?” he asked. He looked just as panicked as she felt. He was as pale as a ghost, and she scooted over, allowing himspace to sit down next to her on the couch. Elias sank into the seat beside her and put his stethoscope back in his bag.
Her heart started racing as she counted backwards in her head. Her periods were usually like clockwork. Stress might throw them off by a day or two—but not this much. The nausea suddenly didn’t feel random anymore, and it didn’t feel like the worst thing that was going to happen to her.
“I had to have had a period since moving in with you,” she whispered. “I just can’t remember when it was.”
“Well, I think that we should get you a pregnancy test, just to be sure. If you’re pregnant, that would explain your symptoms, and this could be morning sickness.” This stomach bug wasn’t morning sickness—it couldn’t be because it was happening morning, noon, and night.
“I can’t be pregnant,” she insisted. “I have to finish school and figure out my life.” Elias pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her body. She tried to tell him to put her down, but she needed his comfort right now.
“How about we figure out one thing at a time? I can run down to the pharmacy and pick you up a test while you wait here. You can take the test tonight, and we can figure everything else out after that.” She nodded, not trusting herself to make actual words without crying.
Elias gently kissed her forehead and promised to be right back, and all she could do was sit on the couch and pray that he’d hurry, because the wait was already too much.
Her hands shook as she held the bag of tests that Elias had brought home for her. She wanted to tell him that she’d take them in the morning, after her nerves settled a bit, for thedetermination that she saw in his eyes; she knew that he wouldn’t let her wait.
