And what about McKenzie? The child shealready hadwhoneededher. There was no time for another. Certainly not for two. There was no spare time to give at all.
She just couldn’t do it again.
‘Are you going to take that or just stare at it?’
Peyton didn’t have to look up to know Valentino was standing there. His voice was steely, like he was annoyed. Well… he could get in line.
‘I have a UTI,’ she said, raising her face defiantly.
Even glowering at her from the doorway he looked magnificent, and her breath caught in her throat. His hair was all messy from the cap and his top two buttons were undone. In another time and place, having his baby would have made her very happy indeed.
‘Is that why you kept leaving the theatre today?’
‘Yes,’ she said testily.
‘So why bother with that?’
She shrugged. ‘Just pre-empting my GP.’
‘What if it’s positive? What if my baby is already growing inside you?’
His words sunk like lead bullets in her belly. Valentino’s baby. Growing inside. How could it sound so terrifying, yet so good all at once? ‘It won’t be.’
‘What if it is?’ he insisted.
‘It isn’t.’
‘So, go and prove me wrong.’
Peyton swallowed. She should. She knew she should. But at least with the test tucked safely away in its packaging, she could pretend she wasn’t pregnant. Once the test had been done, andifit was positive? That was a whole different shit show.
‘Peyton.’
Huffing out a breath, she stood. ‘Fine.’ It had been twenty minutes since she had last relieved herself but the urge to go had never been far away today. May as well get it over and done with. Then at least she could discount pregnancy and get some anti-biotics for her infection.
‘I’ll be right here waiting,’ he said, his voice brooking no argument.
Peyton’s legs were the consistency of wet spaghetti as she made her way through the lounge area to the staff toilet. Her hands shook as she undid the packaging and it took several attempts before she was able to liberate it. Between her nerveless fingers and the vibrations of her heartbeat she was frightened she was going to drop the damn thing in the loo.
She doubted very much that Valentino understood the potential impact of this test. How could a footloose, fancy-free, playboy surgeon understand the full implications? For him it was no doubt a test of his virility. Proof of his manliness.
But for her? The potential quagmire of grief it opened up? Yeah… she didn’t think she’d survivethatagain.
Regardless, it needed to be done so she took a deep breath and managed to eke out enough urine to do the test.
Even before that little plus appeared, somewhere inside Peyton knew. Sheknewshe was pregnant. With Valentino’s baby. Tears burned her eyes as she stared at the sign, willing it to turn to a minus, already so desperately in love with the little life inside her, it ripped the air from her lungs.
After five minutes with it stubbornly refusing to change, Peyton knew she couldn’t hide out in the loo any longer.
‘Well?’ Valentino asked as she re-entered the open lounge area.
Holding the test up, Peyton barely kept herself upright as the foundations of her world crashed down. ‘It’s positive.’
He whisked the test off her and stared at it, blinking several times, and Peyton watched as his mouth kicked up at the edges, the smile growing bigger and bigger. Looking at her, he said, ‘We’re going to have a baby.’
A huge block of emotion wedged in Peyton’s chest till she thought she was going to pass out from the pressure of it. It stung her eyes and prickled in her nose. She sucked in a breath. ‘Yes.’
And she burst into tears.
