Page 39 of Daring Enzo

“I don’t think I could’ve chosen a better person to parent with than Michael. He’s such a wonderful, charming, and helpful partner,” she avows with a smile.

“Aww, you guys are so cute together,” Jenna says, making a weird-looking heart.

“Yeah, you might as well have won the lottery, babe,” Louisa adds. I nod my affirmation.

“Gosh, so much has changed in such a short time,” Louisa says. “Do you remember when we played the pregnancy game? We were all thinking of who could get pregnant among us? Jenna had made us buy pregnancy tests to make sure we weren’t. My heart was in my throat when I took the test.”

Laughter erupts among us as we think of it. It had been such a grueling few hours and such a relief when I learned I wasn’t pregnant. That was before we had learned it was Alessia and not a fluke after all.

“Maybe we should play the game again,” Louisa says excitedly while Alessia groans.

“Oh my God. I think I’ll pop a vein if we did and mine turned positive. Do we have to do it right now?”

“Come on, Alessia. It’ll be fun. Besides, I doubt there’s any one of us who is pregnant,” I stammer. “The last time we did it, I’d been very panicked because I’d been with someone months before.. and I’d missed my period for a while. Now I—”

I pause as the words I just uttered hit me. It’s been a while since the last time I had my period.

“It’s been a while since I last got my period, guys. I haven’t been paying attention to it, but I know it’s been months since…”

The expressions on their faces stopped me from whatever I was about to ramble on about. For once, the video call is quiet, and no one says a word. They all just watch me with different ranges of concern on their faces.

I muster a smile before I speak. “I’m sure it’s just like last time and one of those scares we get as women, right?”

“Yeah, you’ve had many scares in the past. We all have. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” Louisa says, but I know she’s only trying to make me feel better.

“She really has, but one lasts a few months, though?” Jenna, ever the voice of reason, queries.

I gasp, my breath catching in my throat. My mind goes a mile a minute as I try to come up with all logical reasons why I could be experiencing this. My period has always been inconsistent since I started taking the pill. I hold on to the hope it’s the likely cause.

“Guys, I’m on the pill. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” I say, waving off their concern with a look of nonchalance I don’t feel and know they don’t believe.

“I’m sure you’re right, but perhaps you should get tested, anyway. If there’s nothing to worry about, we can all laugh about this just like we did with Alessia,” Jenna offers.

My face pales at her words, and I stare at Alessia. She facepalms.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have mentioned me, considering I did turn up pregnant,” she voices what I was only just thinking.

“Right, sorry Kelly. I’m sure it’s nothing,” Jenna repeats just as I hear the sound of the sound of the laundry basket dropping.

“Hold on,” I say, getting up to investigate. I turn around to see Enzo standing there, the laundry on the floor and his mouth propped open. I don’t need to ask him what he had heard.

“You’ve been missing your period?” he asks. I can’t detect from his tone whether he’s panicked or just shocked by the abruptness of what might not even be news to worry about.

“Yeah,” I say, trying to sound calm. With the girls, it was easier to act like I wasn’t about to go mad with worry on the inside. I know although the truth is glaring, they will be merciful enough not to call me out on it until everything is confirmed. They will always have my back.

With Enzo, it’s difficult to guess where his mind is and how he’d react if eventually turns out to be true. I shake the thought away. There’s no way it is. Of course, there isn’t. All of this, as the girls said, will turn out to be a scare I can look back on and laugh about because there’d been no need to worry.

“Don’t worry yourself about it, Enzo. It’s not that big of a deal,” I finish when he doesn’t say anything.

He nods slowly, his eyes drifting down to my stomach and back to my face. There’s a look I can’t get a read on.

“We need to go get tested right away. Is that okay?” he asks, springing in action all of a sudden.

Panic fills me. Ever since I started sleeping with him, I haven’t shared a bed with any of the others, which means if I’m pregnant, it would definitely be his. The thought is scarier than before because of how it makes me feel. In all the times I’ve had a pregnancy scare, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t panicked and filled with anxiety until the test proved to be negative.

It’s always been a hundred percent clear I never wanted to have a child, not at all, and definitely not with any of the men I was seeing. Many of them would be great dads, possibly with one exception. I had simply never wanted to have a child and likely would not have kept it had I turned out to be pregnant.

Now, however, instead of the old scary feeling, I think of myself with a child. I watch him go through my wardrobe to find an outfit so we can go to the hospital. All fear fades from my mind. I’m left with only one emotion: excitement. I frown. This should not make me this happy, considering it is my worst nightmare and the one thing I’ve always tried to avoid. Yet, it excites me.

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