"When I first realized that I might be pregnant," she says, "I was sitting on a bathroom floor, I had just thrown my guts up, and all I wanted to do was cry."
I pull back to look at her, my eyes wide.
"But I couldn't because... I had been kidnapped by a rival family, and I couldn't let them find out because then they’d have more leverage over Gio," she says with a weak smile. "It's a very long story for another day, but the mountains that man moved to get me back, and the way he is with Stephano... it's a kind of love I never knew was real, not until he gave it to me."
I stare at her. I hadn't heard that story. I didn't know any of that.
"It's terrifying, isn't it?" she asks, her voice soft. "The idea of it. The reality of it. The way it changes everything."
I just nod, unable to speak.
"And you're dealing with all of this," she says, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the ER. "On top of it. Erica, it's okay to be terrified. I would be too. Anyone would be."
"How did you know?" I whisper.
"I didn't," she says simply. "Not for sure. But I've been there. I see the same look on your face that I had on mine in the mirror of that damn bathroom."
She laughs weakly and opens her purse.
"The same look I had on my face when I had an epiphany this morning." Out of her purse, she pulls out two pregnancy tests. "Just in case, you know? But it's not any less terrifying the second time than it is the first time, even in a non-kidnapping situation."
She holds one out to me.
I stare at it as if it might bite me.
"Take them together?" she asks. "Neither of us will be alone this way."
I take the test from her, my hand shaking so badly the little box rattles.
"But you could do this with Giovanni," I say. "It's not the same with you two."
"I know," she says. "But I don't want to get his hopes up if it's negative. And actually, it might be more fun this way for us. We get to freak out and worry together."
She gets to her feet and then helps me up.
"Now we have a mission," she says, her voice firm. "We find out what's going on, and then we figure out what we're going to do next. One step at a time. That's how I did it with Stephano. That's how you're going to do this, too."
I nod.
"I'm scared."
She pulls me into a hug again. "I know. But we're doing it together. And no matter what, you and me and the baby, or babies, will have a whole family that is going to lose their minds with happiness."
She takes her box and walks into the neighboring stall.
I sit on the toilet, rip open the box, and pee on the stick. My hands are shaking so badly, I'm afraid I'm going to drop it in the toilet.
Then we sit together on the floor again and wait for the longest three minutes of our lives. Or mine, anyway.
Three minutes and my life could change forever.
"What if... what if he hates it?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
"That's impossible," Bianca says immediately,
"You don't know that. This is... this is huge, Bianca. We've only been together a month. Technically, three weeks. A month is when we first... Never mind."
My face heats sheepishly, and she sends me a sly smile.
