32
Emaline
“No time like the present,” Rosie says as I read the instructions on the pregnancy test box.
“How accurate do you think these are? What if I get a false positive, and it turns out that I’m not actually pregnant,” I argue, delaying the inevitable.
Rosie scrolls on her phone and then looks up. “Ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent accurate.”
“Not one hundred percent?” I’m horrified. “So, there’s a two percent chance that the result could be wrong. That’s massive.”
“Two percent is not massive, Em,” she reasons, knowing that my procrastination stems from fear, not because I’m worried about two percent. “And not testing will not change the result, either. Because if you are pregnant and you don’t test, you’ll still be pregnant.”
“That hurts my head,” I sigh as I take the plastic testing stick out of the box.
“Em, whatever happens, I’m here for you,” she says warmly, and I rush to her to give her a hug when a gut-wrenching scream emanates from downstairs.
I panic and fling open the door and run down to the living room where Grandma is sitting on the edge of the couch rocking back and forth in obvious distress as Gramps rubs her back to soothe her.
“What’s happened?” I gasp, immediately thinking the worst, as usual.
“I can’t,” Grandma shakes her head as I notice a letter in her hand. She smartly shoves it onto Gramps’ lap, unable to digest its contents.
“We thought there was a mistake, so your grandma rang the bank,” Gramps started, holding out the letter with the bank logo to me. The bank manager informed us that our second mortgage on the home had been paid off. Do you know anything about this, Em?”
“No,” I lie, avoiding their eye. “Why would I know? And where would I get that amount of money from.”
“That’s what I told your grandma,” Gramps says flatly. “I said there’s no way Emaline could come up with that sort of money.” He clears his throat. “Besides, the donor was anonymous.”
“Maybe it was one of your customers,” Rosie suggests, and we all agree that’s a possibility because my Grandparents have been running that hardware store for decades, so naturally, they’d have hundreds of loyal customers with a spare hundred thousand dollars. It”s highly unlikely, but let’s go with it.
“So, is it all paid off? Like you don’t owe a thing?” I ask Gramps since Grandma’s pride is far too bruised. She’s always been a poor receiver. She has no problem giving generously to any cause that needs help, but if someone wants to give her a helping hand. Nope. She finds it insulting. Well, too bad, Grandma, you’re going to have to suck it up.
My gaze meets Gramp’s unintentionally, and a twinkle in his eye tells me he knows exactly what happened, but for Grandma’s sake, we’ll keep that secret to ourselves.
“What’s that in your hand, Emaline?” Grandma asks, and I shirk in horror at my stupidity. In my panic at the sound of Grandma screaming, I neglected to put the pregnancy test down, and it’s clutched in my hand as we speak.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” I exclaim as Rosie snatches it from my hand.
“Sanitary stuff,” she says. She’s so good at coming up with fictional explanations on short notice.
“I’m just pleased that you haven’t received bad news, Grandma,” Gramps winks at me, and I have to keep a straight face when Grandma lifts her eyes. She wasn’t born yesterday, so eventually, I’d have to tell her the truth, but not yet.
“We have to go,” Rosie announces, tugging my sweater. “Em has an assignment to complete.”
“And by ‘assignment,’ you mean ‘pregnancy test,’” I groan, following behind her up the stairs unenthusiastically.
“Go and pee on that stick, and you’re not coming out until it’s done,” she orders in a tone that means business.
“You know I’m going to find you a nice man when I’m done,” I offer. “Someone sweet and kind and not a jock.”
“No, thank you,” she snaps with disgust. “I’m perfectly fine, single. I do not need the drama like what you have in your life,” pointing to the stick.
Once, I peed on the stick, and we had to wait a staggeringly long three minutes for the result. I can’t bear to look, so I sit on the window sill while Rosie stares at the stick in anticipation. The faces of the Leroux brothers float behind my eyes as I fantasize about life with a baby while still at uni and life with three beautiful men.
When the police arrived, they confiscated the firearms and arrested the brothers for public endangerment and harboring illegal firearms. The Viches were arrested, and an ongoing investigation with police and the IRS into their tax evasion and other illicit activities.
The boys were released from prison when it was discovered that the man they bought the weapons from was an undercover cop investigating the Viches in Illinois that Austin found out about when he was in prison.
They set the Cliffton house up to lure the Viches in so police could pounce and make an arrest. Austin and Aaron knew all about this and kept it quiet from Xavier and me for good reason. I’m just glad it’s all over, and my sister is going from strength to strength, made better by the handsome police officer asking her out on a date.
Life’s good.
Rosie looks up with a straight face, so I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad news. “Three minutes is up. The result’s in.”