Rob looked over at her and grinned. She tried to imagine what it would be like, her staying in Chicago and moving in with Rob. Her and Rob getting married. Making their own excited announcement that she was pregnant…
Speaking of,
she thought, trying to recall the date of her last period. Shouldn’t she be starting soon? She’d been so busy lately that she hadn’t even thought about it.
She picked up her phone and opened her calendar. Her last period had been not too long before she and Rob began officially dating, which was…
Her heart gave a quick squeeze.
Six weeks ago.
No, that couldn’t be right. It couldn’t have been that long. Because that would mean she was two weeks late. And she was
never
late.
She looked over at Rob. He must have sensed something was wrong. He was watching her with a furrowed brow.
She closed her eyes. This was not happening. It couldn’t be. She could not be pregnant. She had been working her butt off and the stress was getting to her, that was all. Didn’t Terri mention that stress could throw off a woman’s cycle? Even though as long as Carrie had lived it had
never
happened before.
“Carrie?”
She looked up to find Rob standing beside her chair.
He leaned down beside her and lowered his voice, so no one else would hear him. “Are you okay? You’re white as a sheet.”
She couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs to answer him, so she shook her head instead.
“What’s wrong?”
Should she find out for sure first or tell him now? She hated to freak him out until he had something to be genuinely freaked out about. But was that really fair? And did she really want to do this alone?
“We need to talk,” she managed to squeak out.
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“Let’s go to my office.”
She rose from her chair, her knees squishy and her head spinning, hoping she would actually make it to his office. She had never passed out in her life, but it sure felt like she might now. He must have been thinking the same thing because he took her elbow to steady her.
“Where are you two going?” Al asked.
“Carrie isn’t feeling well,” Rob said. “Let’s postpone the meeting until later this afternoon.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Al asked, and hearing the concern in her voice, everyone else turned to them.
“It’s not a big deal,” Carrie lied. “I skipped breakfast. My blood sugar is just a little low.”
“I’ll take care of her,” Rob told them, walking her to the door.
She wavered a little on the way to his office, but they made it there. She must have looked way worse than she realized because when Mrs. White saw her, she rose from her chair and said, “What’s wrong?”
“She’s not feeling well,” Rob said as they walked past her desk. “Could you hold all my calls? And get us a cold bottled water from the break room?”
“Right away,” she said, scurrying out.
Rob got her seated in his chair and sat on the edge of his desk. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. The initial shock seemed to be wearing off and she didn’t feel nearly so woozy. “Sorry about that.”
“How late are you?” he asked.
She was so stunned by the question that for a full thirty seconds she could barely breathe much less speak. “How did you…”
“I pay attention.”
“To my menstrual cycle?”
“Not specifically. But when Nick announced that Terri was pregnant, it got me to thinking—”
“Thinking what?”
“That maybe, someday, that could be us. And then for some reason it dawned on me that since we’ve been dating I don’t recall your having had a period. Then I looked over at you and you were pale as a ghost and checking your phone. Like I said, I pay attention.”
“I can’t be,” she said. “There’s no way I’m pregnant.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just…
can’t be
, that’s why. I’m a little late, that’s all. A measly two weeks. Stress can do that.”
“It can?”
“That’s what Terri said. Besides, we’ve been super-careful, right?”
“Well…” he said, trailing off.
“Rob?”
“We did have a small breach.”
Her heart slammed the wall of her chest. “A
small
breach?”
“Very small, just a little tear.”
“When?”
“A month ago, give or take.”
“And you didn’t
tell
me?”
“It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. And I was worried you might freak out. Which I should point out, you are. I figured, there was nothing we could do at that point anyway, so there was no use worrying about it until we needed to. I was so not worried that until today, I forgot all about it.”
“I can’t have a baby.”
She heard a throat clear and they both looked up to see Mrs. White standing in the doorway with Carrie’s bottled water.
“Thank you,” Rob said, taking it from her.
“Is there anything else I can do?” she asked, wearing what could almost pass for a look of sympathy.
“No. But please, just…keep this to yourself.”
“Carrie?” Mrs. White said. “Do you need anything?”
Feeling shell-shocked, she shook her head. “No, but thank you.”
She left, closing the door behind her.
“Actually, there is something you need,” Rob said. “A pregnancy test.”
Fifteen
“I
don’t need a pregnancy test,” Carrie said, opening her water and taking a swig. Some of the color had returned to her skin.
“Would you rather see a doctor instead?” Rob asked her.
“I don’t need either, because I’m not pregnant.”
“And you know that because?”
“Because I
can’t
be. That’s why. I’m not ready.”
“I don’t think it works that way,” he said.
“Besides a missed period, what other symptoms do I have? I don’t have morning sickness and I haven’t been especially tired. I feel completely fine. Totally normal.”
“Maybe it’s too early in the pregnancy for that.”
“I am
not
pregnant.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know for sure?”
“I do know.”
Her sudden descent into total denial was a little disturbing. “Carrie…”
“Just humor me, okay? Let’s give it another couple of days. If I haven’t started by then, I’ll take a test. I just… I’m not ready to know yet. I need a few days to process this. And if I am, well, then I am. A few more days isn’t going to make any difference.”
He wanted to argue, because although she may not have wanted to know, he did. But shy of forcing her to take it, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do. She was obviously scared and confused and pushing her would only make it worse. And she was right. If she really was pregnant, waiting a few days wasn’t going to make a big difference. And there was no reason why he couldn’t start making plans now, just in case.
“We’ll give it until Monday,” he said. “If you haven’t started by then, we’ll get the test.”
“Sounds fair,” she said. “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go home early today.”
“Go ahead. I’ll stop by after work.”
“Actually, I promised Alice we would do something together tonight. Maybe you and I can do something tomorrow?”
“Sure,” he said. There was hardly a night they didn’t spend together. Was it just coincidence that she chose today to spend the night away from him?
She probably just needed time to think.
She pushed herself up from his chair and seemed much steadier on her feet this time.
“Would you like me to walk you to your car?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“You’ll call me if anything happens?”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
He leaned in to kiss her, aiming for her mouth, but she turned her head at the last minute and he got her cheek instead.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, offering him a weak smile as she walked out the door.
When she was gone, Rob sat down at his desk, feeling uneasy. Carrie’s total lack of enthusiasm at the idea of being pregnant worried him. What if she really didn’t want the baby?
There was a soft knock, then Mrs. White poked her head in. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. A little…stunned, I guess.” Or something like it.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do for you?”
“Any words of wisdom you care to impart?”
She considered that for a minute, then said, “A baby is a blessing.”
“That’s it?”
She smiled. “You don’t need me to tell you what to do.”
No, he didn’t. With her time here running short, he’d already been seriously considering asking Carrie to relocate to Chicago. No, not just considering it, but he wanted to wait until the right time. When he felt she was ready to hear it. He knew that rushing things could potentially backfire. And he was more than willing to take things slow. The way he’d figured it, she could keep renting Terri’s place, and in the appropriate amount of time, when they were both ready, move into his place.
It surprised him to realize that he was in no way disturbed by the idea of moving up his timetable. His feelings for her weren’t going to change. And if he was going to collect his fifteen million, marriage would have to be part of the deal, anyway. He hadn’t expected it to happen quite so soon, but he was ready. But how did Carrie feel? What if she wasn’t ready?
She just needed time to process it, to get used to the idea of being a mother. Right now she was just scared. They hadn’t actually discussed how he felt about their having a baby. Maybe she was worried that he wouldn’t step up. Although he would hope she knew him better than that by now. But wasn’t she used to people letting her down? He needed to assure her that he was behind this one hundred percent. That they would make it work. And in the process, he would earn himself a hefty chunk of change. Though he couldn’t deny that the idea of profiting from the situation was a little…sleazy.
There was another knock on his door, but this time it was Nick who stuck his head in. “Hey, can I come in?”
“Sure.”
He stepped inside and closed the door. “Is everything okay? I saw Carrie leave. You guys have a fight or something?”
“Not exactly.”
“In other words, you don’t want to talk about it.”
Well, if anyone could understand what he was feeling, it would be Nick.
“Why did you turn down the money?” he asked.
“The baby money?”
“Yeah. You were married and planning to have a kid, anyway. Why not wait it out in case you did have a boy? I mean, where’s the harm in that?”
“Because the money didn’t matter anymore.”
“Didn’t matter how?”
“When it happens to you, you’ll know.” He paused as the light bulb suddenly clicked on. “Is Carrie…?”
“Maybe. Probably. But keep that to yourself.”
“You know I will.”
Rob shook his head. “This is surreal.”
“Are you going to marry her?”
“Of course.”
“If it’s a boy, will you take the money?”
He shrugged. “That’s what I don’t know.”
“Do you love her?”
“I’ve sure never met anyone like her.”
“But is that a good enough reason to marry her?”
“You know that
Nonno
said we have to be married.”
“Oh, so you want the baby, but you’re marrying her for the money?”
No, but it sort of sounded that way, didn’t it? And it wasn’t like that at all.
“I’m going to marry her, because I
want
to marry her.”
“You think she’ll ever believe that when she finds out you took the fifteen million dollars?”
“How will she find out? No one but us knows about it.”
“A lie by omission is still a lie, Robby. Is that something you could live with for the rest of your life?”
“Probably.” Maybe.
“Until the answer to that question is hell no, you have no business marrying her. And you sure as hell don’t love her.”
The words stung, but even worse, Nick was right. As many times as he’d heard her say that he deserved better than her, she sure as hell deserved better than that.
* * *
Carrie called in sick the next day—leaving a message with Mrs. White—and wouldn’t answer his phone calls all morning. When he got ahold of her after lunch, she claimed that she’d shut her phone off and had been sleeping. “I must have that bug that’s going around.”
“Can I bring you anything?” he’d asked.
“I don’t want you to catch this. Anything I need Alice can get me.”
“I take it we don’t know for sure yet.”
“If you’re asking did I start my period, no, I didn’t.”
“Maybe under the circumstances you should go to the doctor, if you’re sick and pregnant—”
“It’s a bug, Rob. I’ll be fine. I just need rest.”
“I’ll call and check in on you later, and if you need anything, call.”
“I will.”
She didn’t call him, and when he tried to call her later that evening to check on her, it went straight to voice mail.
The next morning she called in sick again—Mrs. White took the call—and when he tried to call her back, she didn’t answer. She texted him a little while later to say that she would be fine and to text if he needed her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was hiding from him, and he knew the best thing to do was to give her space. Give her time to deal with the idea of being pregnant. But by Monday, when he hadn’t heard a word from her, voice or text, he reached the end of his patience. He left the office at noon and drove to her condo, with a quick stop at the pharmacy in between.
She opened her front door—and thank God she did open it—wearing orange sweat pants, a stained white sweatshirt and green slippers. Her hair, which looked as if it had gone days without seeing a brush, was pulled back in a limp ponytail.
He couldn’t tell if she was sick, depressed or a combination of the two.
“Come on in,” she said, looking equal parts guilty and apologetic. “I’m sorry I haven’t called. I know that if there actually is a baby, that it’s your baby, too, and I didn’t mean to shut you out. I just didn’t want to be that insipid, clingy woman who couldn’t deal with things on her own.”