Chapter 33
I still remember the day I found out I was pregnant.
That same day, I felt like Mattia abandoned me—at least that's how it felt, like he didn't want to hear that I was carrying his child.
So I decided to leave things as they were and stop looking for him.
I told Sam and Carter about the pregnancy, and they were happy.
They asked who the father was, and I said this baby would be mine alone.
I think they understood and respected my decision.
I'm five months along now. Every month I go to my obstetrician for an ultrasound, and today we're going to find out the baby's sex.
My mother and sister are so excited about everything that's happening—they've already bought so many little outfits, bottles, a crib, even a pacifier.
It comforts me knowing my baby is already so loved.
I haven't heard from Mattia since then, and my friends have finally been respecting my decision.
Frank disappeared too—I haven't heard from him either, which is great.
I don't know if he knows about my pregnancy since I've been hiding it well with slightly looser clothes, and my belly is still small.
Sam is coming with me to my appointment today, and Carter asked to come along too. Since he's been such a good friend, I said yes. We arrived at the hospital, and I gave my name and sat down to wait to be called.
“Emma Sullivan.” I stood up and walked toward the nurse, with Carter and Samantha behind me.
“Can we come in too?”
“Of course, let’s go.”
First I had my routine checkup, which was quick, and then I went to the ultrasound room. My two companions wanted to come in too. And then it began—the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. My baby appeared on the screen. He’s huge. The doctor said:
“Emma, do you want to know your baby’s sex?”
“We do,” Carter said, speaking up before I could, and we all laughed.
“Well, here are the little legs, the little arms, the little head—your baby is very healthy and big, mama. Now let’s get to the best part.
Look, he’s being so cooperative today, his legs are open, and here it is.
” She pointed the ultrasound cursor to the space between my baby’s legs, and even without understanding much, I could already tell—I was going to have a boy.
“You’ve got a little boy arriving in a few months. ”
I looked at my companions and they were crying, just like me. I’ve always wanted to be a mother—of course, I wanted to start a family the traditional way—but if God allowed it to happen this way, then I’m going to take care of him and love him more than my own life.
“Congratulations, Emma.”
“Congrats, girl.”
“Stop crying, you goofballs.” We all laughed. “Since you’re here with me, do you want to be my baby’s godparents?” I asked, taking their hands in mine.
They looked at each other in amazement and then hugged me, saying “of course we do” in unison. Then Carter said:
“I don’t know if I’ll be a good godfather—I’ve never looked after a child before—but I promise to take care of him as if he were my own son.”
Pregnancy has made me so sensitive, and knowing that this friend I’ve made along the way is welcoming my son so warmly makes me incredibly emotional. I broke down, crying harder than before.
“Thank you, Carter. This means so much to me.”
We finally left the appointment and went straight to the office—we needed to get back to work.
The workload was increasing every day. The company had grown a lot in just a few months, and last month Carter offered me the position of team lead since Eduardo was moving up to management alongside him. Of course I accepted.
And with that, the work intensified. On top of everything, we’re also moving—since the staff has grown, we’re relocating to a bigger building. I suggested to Carter that we start our own decorating company, and he thought it was a great idea since we’d be able to do everything in one place.
Carter, Samantha, and I are working on the new office project, which will be beautiful and provide a healthy work environment.
Since it’ll be bigger, we’re going to divide it by department so everything flows more smoothly.
I visited the new building—we’ll have five floors for the company.
I loved the location and was full of ideas, which we soon put into practice.
We ran into some problems at the construction site, and I’ll have to go check it out. Sam, who’s been following everything closely, called me—apparently one of the walls can’t be torn down. So I headed to Carter’s office. I knocked three times on the door, and he asked me to come in.
“Carter, I’ll have to go to the cons—” I stopped talking the moment I saw who was sitting in front of his desk. It couldn’t be. Gathering my strength, I finished what I was saying. “I’ll have to go to the construction site. We had some problems.”
“Okay, Emma. If anything comes up, call me and I’ll run right over.”
“Got it. I’ll try to get it sorted as quickly as possible.”
I closed the door. Mattia hadn’t looked back once while I was talking. What could I expect from him? After all, on the day I found out I was pregnant, he simply turned his back on me and left.
I left the office and headed to the new location.
When I arrived, I talked to the engineer, and from what I could see, the problem was going to be bigger than I’d expected.
I needed that space open because it was going to be our meeting room, and I wanted it to be a good size since we’d have a larger screen than before.
So we discussed it and decided to move the room to a different location, but first I needed Carter’s authorization.
I dialed his number, and he answered right away.
“Hello, Emma, did something happen?”
“You’d think you were the father of my baby—keep acting like this and you’ll have a heart attack.” I start laughing at how he answered.
“I’m the godfather, so I have to look out for you, but what happened?”
“We had a problem with the meeting room, and I decided to relocate it. I already sent the drawing I made to your phone, showing where it could go now.”
“Stay on the line while I take a look.” I wait a few moments and he comes back on. “Go ahead and do it. If it can’t be on one side, put it on the other.”
“Then I’ll have them do it, thank you.”
I hang up and go over everything with the construction crew.
We’ll have to change a lot of things, and unfortunately, it’s going to cause delays.
I hate when a project runs into problems with no easy fix.
Starting today, I’ll come here every day to keep a close eye on everything, so we don’t have any more surprises like this.
And from what I saw, Mattia is in the city—another reason to avoid him.