Page 82 of Warlord’s Empire

It turned out she was wrong though, there wasn’t a single pregnancy test to be found in town and, as it would have taken just as long for someone to go find one as it would for Radik’s doctor to fly in, they waited for Dr. Smith.

It took about three hours for Dr. Smith to arrive from wherever he was. During the wait, Radik slowly lost his mind, or so it seemed to Saskia. He wanted to keep his eyes on her while also seeming to want to get away from her. The two contradictory emotions led to him pacing through the open door of their two rooms. He was nearby if she needed him, but he didn’t have to look at her the entire time.

She tried not to feel hurt by his coolness, his shock over the possibility of her being pregnant, tried to understand things from his point of view. He had a pretty fucked up childhood, had seen and done a lot of fucked up stuff. There was a very good chance he’d never intended to bring children into the world. It was maybe something they should have talked about before having unprotected sex.

Saskia had never thought seriously about having kids. She was young, she’d just started her career, she was on the birth control shot… oh. “I didn’t get my shot updated.” She’d planned on scheduling it once she got back to Prague, after Pretoria.

“I know,” Radik snapped on his way through the room.

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said, annoyed at his tone. “I didn’t ask for you to bring me here. Anyone would have forgotten under the circumstances.”

“I’m not blaming you, Saskia.” He paced back into his room, disappearing through the doorframe.

“You seem so thrilled though,” she muttered sarcastically. Louder, she said, “Good, because it takes two to make a baby and I don’t remember you ever mentioning protection.”

He paced back into the room. “I knew you were on the shot. I had no reason to worry about pregnancy.”

Saskia wasn’t surprised he knew she was on the shot, he seemed to know everything else about her. “If you know my medical history so well then you should have known I was due for another shot after Pretoria.”

“I was distracted,” he said, making it clear by the look he aimed at her who had been distracting him.

“I don’t know what the big deal is, Muhammed,” she replied, wrapping her arms around her middle. “Babies happen when people have sex and we’ve been doing a lot of that lately. I know our relationship is new, but this sort of thing happens all the time. We’ll figure it out.”

He stopped at the end of her bed and stared at her, but it wasn’t filled with love and admiration. He was looking at her like she was a stranger and it stung.

She wished Nonna were still there. Her presence was calm and comfortable, while Radik’s was ratcheting up the tension in the room.

“Look, I can tell you’re not happy, but we need to talk about what happens if I am pregnant.”

A sharp knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Saskia was grateful. Though she meant what she’d said, they really did need to discuss the next steps, she was relieved to push the conversation off. Honestly, she didn’t know what to do if he told her he didn’t want the baby.

Actually, she did know. She’d cry, she’d stab him, then she’d insist he fly her home. Then for good measure, she’d have Jozef shoot him in the dick.

Radik opened the door, greeting Zander Smith with a handshake. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

Dr. Smith gave Radik a crooked smile. “I was in the air before I discovered your emergency was not actually an emergency.” His gaze strayed to Saskia who stood awkwardly beside the bed. “Good to see you again, Ms. Koba. How are you feeling?”

“Very well, thank you,” she said politely, accepting his handshake.

“She threw up this morning and was nauseous for a while after,” Radik was quick to say.

“Yes, well that can happen in early pregnancy.” Dr. Smith opened his bag and pulled out a thin blue box, handing it to Saskia. “Have you taken one of these before?”

She shook her head.

“The instructions are on the box and I encourage you to read them. It’s pretty basic. You urinate on the stick and then wait about two minutes. One line means you’re not pregnant, two lines means…”

“Pregnant,” Saskia finished for him, taking the proffered test. “Got it.” She ignored Radik as she walked to the washroom. She had to or she’d cry.

Why was he acting this way? So cold? Up to this point it didn’t matter what was going on, he treated her with loving respect. It was like the thought of her being pregnant was turning him into a different man.

She closed the door to the bathroom harder than she meant to, but she didn’t care. Her confusion was turning to anger. How dare he bring her here to Marifiya, away from her job and her family, convince her to stay with him, then totally freak when something unexpected happened?

It wasn’t like she was ready to be a parent either. Look at the example set for her! Her parents had been violent, territorial, elitist, privileged mobsters. She knew from a young age that if she were to ever become a mother, she would find her own way. She would never follow in the path of her parents.

What she hadn’t expected was getting pregnant so young.

But it was with the person she loved. If he stopped freaking out, then so could she and they could get on with figuring this out together.