“That’s good news. Wait—do I havecancer? Breast cancer? Cervical cancer?” Those were the only lady-specific cancers I could think of while starving.
Maxine shook her head and slowly exhaled. “You’re pregnant, Olivia.”
I burst out laughing. With immense relief, I said, “No waythat’spossible. Your tests are wrong.”
She reached into her jacket pocket and extracted a sheet of paper. Underneath my name were a few paragraphs of medical jargon. But there it was, right at the end. PREGNANCY: POSITIVE.
“Are you sure, dear? This must be uncomfortable for you to discuss but really take a minute andhave a think about it. When was your last period?”
“My period? It was . . .”
Whenwasit? I couldn’t remember, but that was typical. Some women liked to keep track of their cycle on calendars and apps, but that had never been my thing. To me, knowing when my period was coming was akin to watching a severe weather report. It was going to happen regardless, so what good was stressing about it going to do? It wasn’t like I could board up my vagina for a storm.
Typically, though, I got my period every twenty-eight days, so . . .
I shook my head. Ridiculous. It was physically impossible for vampires to procreate!
But there was a short time when Robert wasn’t a vampire, wasn’t there?
Still, it would be impossible.
Wouldn’t it?
Okay, so Roberthadbeen human. We’d certainly had sex during that time—a lotof sex—and it never occurred to us to use birth control. Robert had been a vampire for so long, and we were hiding from the VGO under constant threat of murder.
Shit! Why had we been so careless? We’d thought of everything else—forged passports, aliases, new email addresses—and had even managed to evade being assassinated by the VGO.
So, how long had it actually been since I’d had a period? Ihadn’t had one since we’d been back from Bali, and I hadn’t had one while we were there, either. Which meant . . .
Oh my God.
I was pregnant!
Everything clicked into place: my recent mood swings, the nausea and hunger, my breasts looking larger. I felt like a complete idiot. How had pregnancy not occurred to me sooner?
Because vampires can’t procreate!
“I can tell by your face, Olivia, that you are no longer in doubt,” Maxine said. “Which leads me to my next question.”
“You want to know who the father is,” I said. She’d never believe the answer—not that I’d tell her. That old bat could mind her own damn business.
She shrugged. “Not really. That isn’t relevant. What I’m more curious about is what you were doing living with Robert. As Richard and I said earlier, we’d initially assumed that you were trying to gain insider information. After meeting you, however, it appeared that you genuinely loved him and all other vampires. But now we don’t know what to believe. You couldn’t love him that much if you’ve been sleeping with a human behind his back.”
“I . . .” If I lied carefully enough, maybe I could manipulate Maxine into believing that I was secretly a supporter of their cause. But why not reveal that until now? I was too exhausted, hungry, and shocked to think of a clever reason. “I would like to be alone now. I’m not feeling so well.”
Maxine didn’t want to leave, I could tell, but she knew that she couldn’tmakeme talk unless she tortured the answer out of me. Richard would have no problem with that. Maxine, I wasn’t so sure.
My great-grandmother eased out of her chair. “Very well. But I’ll expect an answer tomorrow.”
When she pulled open the door, Jason tried to hand me mydinner. Maxine stopped him, snatching away the bag. “No. Olivia gets no food until she decides to talk.”
“You’re going to starve apregnant woman?” I yelled.
“I doubt you’ll die of starvation by tomorrow morning,” Maxine said coldly.
I gawked at her, aghast. Jason seemed disgusted, too, though he made no comment.
Jason held the door open for Maxine and let her walk through. Once Maxine was outside, he reached into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled something out. He coughed and opened his hand, and then two fortune cookies encased in clear wrappers fell onto the floor.
