I turned on my heel and took off running.
I made it to the second floor in less than a minute, and when I reached room 217, I pounded my fist against the door. Hilary yanked it open a few seconds later, looking irritated. Her expression grew doubly exasperated when she saw me.
“Where’s Bette?” I asked before she could say anything.
Hilary crossed her arms. “She left.”
Could this woman be any vaguer?
“Where did she go?” I demanded. “Is she okay?”
“Honestly, Miss Murphy,” my minder gave an exaggerated sigh, “I would think that by now you would have accepted that the Department of Fertility is doing everything to ensure fertile women are kept safe.”
“That isn’t an answer,” I snarled. “Where is she?”
“She and her baby were moved to a secure government neighborhood where they’ll be protected from the virus and taken care of.” Hilary shrugged like this was no big deal. “It’s the best option now that she’s given birth.”
I knew she wouldn’t be allowed to go home, but a governmentneighborhood? Had she been given a choice? Probably not. What about her husband?
“Is her husband with her?”
Hilary sniffed and made a point of staring at her nails when she said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but the Department of Fertility is working on reuniting families once they can ensure no one is infected. There will, of course, be a quarantine period, but if all goes well, her husband will be allowed to join her.”
That was a relief, assuming it was true. Although I wasn’t sure if I believed it.
When I said nothing, Hilary lifted her brows. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No,” I automatically replied.
“Then I suggest you head to breakfast, Miss Murphy. And do remember to behave yourself. We don’t want a repeat of the other day, do we?”
I didn’t respond before turning but had only taken one step when I stopped and looked back at Hilary. “Can you tell her I asked about her? Tell her I hope she’s okay and I’ll miss her.”
My minder rolled her eyes. “She’s fine, Miss Murphy. I already told you that.”
“But can you tell her I asked?” I said, allowing a pleading note to bleed into the words.
“Fine,” Hilary said, sounding so put out you’d think I’d asked for her firstborn child. “Now run along to breakfast.”
I obeyed despite the condescending words.
Vic was once again absent during my work shift, but I didn’t bother asking about it. There was no point both because I had a good idea what had happened and because Jane wouldn’t tell me anything. Part of her job was to ensure that we were kept in the dark.
Life went back to normal. Or as normal as it could get in this place. I ate, worked, attended meetings, did my best to kill time when there was nothing scheduled, and saw Marc as much as possible. Most nights, he came to my room, but there were times when he couldn’t pull it off. During the day, we found stolen moments when no one was watching. Looks across the room,notes passed, quiet conversations, even a quickie in a closet. My life revolved around him and his around me. Everything we did was so we could see one another, and every moment we weren’t together, I thought about when I would be with him again.
Thirteen days after my period, I got the dreaded news that I was once again fertile.
Standing in the middle of the room as the chime went off, I thought about the night before when Marc had slipped into my bed. We’d made love just like we had earlier in the day when he’d pulled me into a closet, and the night before when he’d come to my room. We’d only missed two days since we started sleeping together, a fact that had my mind spinning. In just a while, the doctor would inseminate me with a stranger’s sperm, but Marc’s had been there first, and he would no doubt add more to the mix tonight.
How would I feel if I found out I was pregnant? I didn’t know. Couldn’t think about it. Not now, anyway. Now I just had to grit my teeth and get through the next part. It was all I could do.
The process was a repeat of the last time I was fertile. Hilary met me outside the clinic, led me to a room where I undressed from the waist down, the doctor did a quick pelvic ultrasound to make sure I was ready, then performed the procedure. Marc was the only thing missing from the equation since he wasn’t at the desk, which I was okay with because I wanted time to process it all before seeing him.
Not that I had much time since he was on the other side of the room when I arrived for breakfast. I was later than usual, and he had to suspect why. He also had to be thinking the same thing I was.
We hadn’t talked about it. At least not in detail. I was pretty sure we were both afraid to acknowledge what could happen, both afraid the other would put a stop to things if we thought about it too hard.
Being that it was group day – not that we had much of a group anymore since it was just Ivy, Malika, and me – I had less free time and wasn’t able to find even a few seconds to talk toMarc during the day. That night, though, he came to my room as usual.
