Wonderful news? Since when?
I’m in a fucking war right now!
“Your wife really needs to rest…and eat! Her blood sugar is low. That is why she fainted.”
She’s not my wife.That damn word stings. But it was easier this way; fewer questions, less judgment.
“Are you sure?” I finally manage to croak out. “I mean, this has to be a mistake. Sophia…she can’t be pregnant.”
“Yes,” she replies, nodding, her eyes wide with sincerity. “The HCG level confirms it. She’s with child, perhaps two weeks along.”
“But she can’t get pregnant,” I hear myself saying again, my voice breaking. “An accident damaged her fallopian tubes. She told me herself.”
Dr. Johnson’s smile fades, replaced by a look of concern. She leans forward, her eyes probing mine.
“It’s not uncommon for women to believe they can’t conceive after such trauma, especially if they were told so in the past,” she says, her voice soft, comforting in a way that only irritates me more. “But medical science advances. Perhaps the damage wasn’t as extensive as thought, or her body healed in a way that allowed for conception. It’s rare, but it happens.”
Rare, but happens. Like a damn fairy tale.
Only this isn’t astory.
This is real life, and it’s screwing with me in ways I can’t even begin to understand.
“Mr. Ivankov, this is a miracle,” she says.
Miracle?
“It’s a mistake,” I hear myself say.
The doctor is not smiling anymore, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looks at me. “Mr. Ivankov, I assure you the tests are accurate. Perhaps this is unexpected, but it’s certainly not a mistake.”
Unexpected?That’s a fucking understatement.
I shake my head, trying to clear it.
This is not happening. But it is.
And there’s no going back. Damn it all to hell.
Sophia’s pregnant.
Afather. Me, Luka Ivankov, about to become afather.
A knock on the door interrupts my spiraling thoughts. A nurse pops her head in, her face as cheerful as the doctor’s. “Mr. Ivankov, your wife is awake now.”
My wife.
My heart does a strange thing, a beat too hard, too fast. Sophia’s pale face appears in my mind, the way she collapsed suddenly, her body limp. We head toward her room, the pit in my stomach growing with every step.
Pull yourself together!
I halt outside her door, hearing her voice even before I step in.
“But…I can’t be pregnant. I just can’t.”
I pause, my hand frozen on the door handle, every muscle in my body tight.
She knows. And she doesn’t believe it, just like me.
