Page 27 of The Billionaire's Bad News Baby

“And I’ve noticed you’ve been real tired the last few weeks,” her mom continued.

“Yeah, Ma, I’ve turned my whole life upside down.”

“And for the last couple days, you’ve been unwell.”

Kayla suppressed a sigh. Her mom liked to hedge around a topic and get it good and prepared before coming out and saying whatever it was that she wanted to say.

“Yes, Ma. I’ve been unwell for a bit now.”

“So you do admit it?”

“It’s pretty obvious. And it’s lucky I don’t have practical classes or I wouldn’t be allowed through the door.”

“Well, I was thinking…”

“Yes?”

“That you should maybe go take a pregnancy test.”

Kayla choked on toast crumbs and spent a full minute coughing, trying to get her airways clear. Liz not so helpfully slapped her repeatedly between the shoulder blades with a little bit too much enthusiasm. After a prolonged fit and a glass of water, Kayla was able to breathe again.

“Are you trying to be funny?” she asked. “Because it’s falling pretty flat.”

Liz said nothing, just raised her eyebrows.

“Ma… c’mon.”

Nothing. Silence.

Oh, God.

“You don’t really think…”

Liz raised her eyebrows because it was apparent that she certainly did think that Kayla was pregnant, and the realization of it all was coming towards Kayla like a tsunami on the horizon and the impact was really, really going to hurt.

Being pregnant wasn’t necessarily the problem. The problem was that she hadn’t been with anyone since Elio… The guy who was on the other side of the world. That was a really big problem. Right now, denial seemed to be the best strategy moving forward.

“I don’t really feel like driving across town to get a pregnancy test right now,” Kayla said, setting about cleaning her already clean kitchen as a distraction. “So your curiosity is going to have to remain unsated, sorry.”

“Lucky for you,” Liz said, breaking her unnerving silence and rummaging through her purse. “I happen to work at a hospital, so…”

And like some twisted, very unfunny magician, she pulled not one but two pregnancy test boxes out of the bag and placed them on the countertop. Kayla stared at them like they might grow fangs and start wriggling forward to bite her.

But despite that, her hand reached out without her permission and she picked up one of the tests. Unable to take in any of the text on the box, she just stared at it blindly.

Her heart was thudding in her chest; surely her mom could hear it. She stared at the package, her feet frozen to the floor. Because part of her already knew what the test was going to say. It made too much sense…

“Kayla,” Liz prompted gently.

Kayla was suddenly able to move again, feeling like a frozen-over lake cracking at the first signs of spring, and gripped the test tighter in her fist to stop her hands from shaking.

“No point in procrastinating, right?” she asked, with just the smallest waver in her voice.

“Nope,” said Liz, shuffling her off in the direction of the bathroom. “And I’ll be right here when you come back out, kid. No matter what the result is.”

* * *

It read positive. Plain as day. But these things weren’t a hundred percent accurate. False positives were a thing, and even Liz had hedged their bets and bought two of the things. But then Kayla did the second test, waited another excruciatingly long three minutes, and the result was the same. Positive. Pregnant. Expecting. With child… Whatever you called it, it was life-changing. Kayla had had quite enough life-changing experiences in the last couple of months, thank you very much.

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