Chapter Eight #2
He pointed at the phone against his ear. The receptionist at the clinic had just picked up. He advised her that he was bringing his colleague for an assessment.
“We’ll be there in thirty minutes,” he said before ending the call.
“I can book my own doctor,” Siobhan said with annoyance. “No, I’m not diabetic,” she replied to the first aid attendant who was running through a checklist. “No, no, no,” she continued.
“Pregnant?”
“N—oh.” Her reply came out a lot less certain. Her voice actually cracked. She began to blush. Deeply. She shot a stark look at Joaquin.
She really hadn’t suspected? Because in his mind it had become as impossible to miss as a five-alarm fire.
He was already down the road of how he would shield her from his father’s machinations while questioning his own fitness as a father.
He had never wanted to face these sorts of dilemmas.
That was why he used common sense and condoms.
“I apologize.” The attendant misinterpreted her embarrassment. “These are personal questions. I shouldn’t be asking them in front of anyone else. Would you excuse us, senor?”
“The clinic is holding a spot for her,” Joaquin said crisply. “You can cut this short. I’ll take her there myself.”
“I can do that if—” the young man started to offer.
“No,” Joaquin said.
“Of course.” The young man kept his speculations to himself as he repacked his bag, telling Siobhan, “Your vitals are normal, but shall I bring the wheelchair?”
“No. Thank you.” She still sounded strangled.
She refused to look at Joaquin, remaining stoic as Oladele arrived with her things.
Joaquin helped her put on her coat, then took her bag. Her expression remained stiff and unreadable as they left his office.
He heard her thoughts all the same. They echoed his own.
This can’t happen.
No, no, no. There were a million reasons she couldn’t be pregnant, especially by Joaquin. He was her boss. They barely knew each other. They had only had sex once. He had worn a condom.
There was no way she could be pregnant.
She accompanied him to the elevator anyway, blaming the roil in her stomach on nerves. It had to be nerves. But why was she nervous if there was nothing to worry about?
“Have you been with anyone else?” he asked when the doors of the elevator enclosed them into privacy.
“No.” Her heart lurched as though the car was freefalling. “Have you?”
“No,” he said coolly. “And I didn’t think you had, but I thought I should ask.”
For some reason, his question made it more real. More likely. Her eyes grew hot. It became impossible to draw a full breath.
“What will we do if—” Her voice broke.
“Let’s wait to see if there’s anything to talk about before we talk,” he said in that same grave, detached tone.
She caught back a panicked sob and nodded, for once bolstered by his air of cool command. She let him escort her across the lobby, ignoring the stares from the handful of employees who recognized them. She must look like death. She felt as though she walked through sticky molasses.
They were both quiet in the car. She didn’t know what he might be thinking behind his remote expression.
She didn’t have room in her turmoiled thoughts to imagine it.
She just kept trying to blame these symptoms on all the stress she’d been under.
It was flu season. Sometimes she felt off when she was expecting her cycle. That was all this was. It had to be!
She knew it wasn’t, though. She knew.
The moment they entered the reception lounge, before she even saw the doctor, she asked for a sample cup and took it to the toilet.
She went into the examination room alone and the doctor came in a few minutes later to introduce himself.
“Your suspicion is correct,” he said with calm professionalism.
“But I had a period.” She barely got the words out, her mouth was so dry.
“Typical? Or lighter than normal?”
“Light.” Barely spotting, but it had been right on time. She had blamed all the travel and time changes for it finishing before it had properly started.
She wanted to fold in on herself for being so naive. For not understanding that was why she was so tired. She’d been around dozens of pregnancies over the years. She should have recognized when it happened to her.
It hadn’t occurred to her because she wasn’t ready to be a mother. She didn’t even have the sense to notice she was about to become one!
Was she really going to be a mother? Her heart was beating so fast, she had to wonder if she was going to make it through the end of the day. She tried to imagine what her life would look like with a baby and all she saw was a white void where her job and apartment and career ambitions had been.
Distantly, she heard the doctor prescribe prenatal vitamins and mention the need for a physical and a scan and ongoing prenatal checkups “if you choose to continue to term.”
Her heart lurched. She had always planned to have a family, just not yet. Not alone.
What would Joaquin even say?
Let’s wait to see if there’s anything to talk about before we talk.
Reason one million that I don’t want children.
Her hands were icy as she gathered her handbag and returned to the waiting area.
Joaquin was still on his feet and turned from the window. He flinched when he saw her expression and wordlessly held her coat.
In the elevator, she said, “We have something to talk about.”
He nodded curtly and escorted her into his car.
She didn’t pay attention to where he took her, not until they arrived at an unfamiliar building.
“Where are we?” she asked numbly as he helped her step onto the sidewalk.
“My apartment. The security is excellent and my father has a town house in Salamanca. You don’t have to worry he’ll turn up here.”
Lorenzo was the last thing she was worried about. Joaquin hadn’t beamed with joy and hugged her when she gave him the news. He had retreated another thousand miles inside himself.
She had an impression of marble columns and a polite door staff as they entered.
Like many public spaces this time of year, the lobby was decked with twinkling lights and scalloped ribbons interspersed with bells.
A beautiful nativity scene with hand-painted figurines stood on a table between a pair of elevators.
Joaquin used his thumbprint to access a panel. Seconds later, they entered a penthouse that had been modernized while keeping much of the building’s heritage charm.
He waved her into the living room where a tree sparkled with white lights. Flames danced in the gas fireplace.
“This is Marta, my housekeeper,” he said of the middle-aged woman who emerged from the kitchen to smile in greeting. “Thank you for staying late, Marta. This is Ms. Upton.”
“Buenas—um, noches?” Siobhan had lost track of time. There was still a glimmer of fading dusk beyond the windows, but she felt as though a week had passed since she’d fainted at work.
“Welcome,” Marta said in warm Spanish. “May I take your coats? I’ve prepared a light meal if you’d like me to serve it?”
“I texted her that you missed lunch.” Joaquin seated her at the dining table where freshly baked buns gave off a heavenly aroma. Candles wreathed in holly sat on the table, lending a gentle festive atmosphere.
“That’s not why I fainted,” Siobhan said when Marta was in the kitchen.
“The doctor said it’s not uncommon for blood pressure to fall in—” she had to clear her throat, still wrapping her head around it.
“—in early pregnancy. He said he’d test my iron levels when I go back for bloodwork, to be sure I’m not anemic. ”
Marta brought out bowls of pescado en blanco. It was a light soup that Siobhan already knew would sit gently in her unsettled stomach.
“I’ve kept you late enough,” Joaquin said when Marta asked if she could bring them anything else. “We’ll manage. Enjoy your evening.”
“Gracias, senor. I’ll clean the dishes in the morning.” Marta wished them good-night and left.
“I feel like all you do is feed me,” Siobhan said as she tucked into her soup.
“If you would feed yourself, I wouldn’t have to, would I?”
She was so on edge, she flinched.
They ate in subdued silence.
“So, um…” Siobhan couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. “Still a skeptic about fate?”
It was a terrible joke. He didn’t reveal one glimmer of amusement.
“We both have free will here. Your choices will affect mine so, ladies first.”
Her veins stung with heightened emotion. This was sooner than she had planned to start her family and she had always imagined she would be in a loving, committed relationship when she did, but “I’m having the baby.”