Page 4 of His Bittersweet Regret

I laughed at her. “I’m not even the one who thinks she’s pregnant, but fine, chicken. I’ll go first.”

I took the test to the bathroom and peed on the stick. As I left the bathroom, I let her know that I’d left mine on the back of the toilet so that it was out of the way and wouldn’t get mixed up with the three she took in with her, since she’d need more counter space.

It took Bethany a few minutes to come back out, which made me nervous for her. “Everything okay in there?” I asked.

When my bestie opened the door, I realized that none of her boxes were even opened yet. “Um, Opal,” she started to say.

“What? They all have pretty simple directions. You basically pee on the end of each stick and then set it down to wait three-to-five minutes for them to process.”

“Opal!” She startled me with the urgency in her tone. “Look,” she pointed to the back of the toilet, where my test sat. I moved toward the toilet, thinking maybe some pee had been dribbling off the test, and grossed her out or something.

That wasn’t what startled my friend though. As I glanced down, I realized why she was so concerned. My test, the one I only took to make her feel better, was positive.

“This can’t be,” I whispered after picking the test up to examine it, as if that would make the results different.

“I’m so sorry I made you take a test with me,” she apologized. I shook my head to dismiss her apology.

“It’s not like the outcome would change. I just wouldn’t have known for a while longer. Hurry up and take yours,” I pushed her back into the bathroom while taking my own positive test with me. Briefly, I wondered if maybe I should take another one, just to verify, but then the ache in my overly tender breasts reminded me that I still hadn’t had a period this month, even though it was…

I glanced at my phone and the period tracker I had there. “More than two weeks overdue,” I mumbled to myself. How had I not realized sooner? There was work, and all the worries on my mind lately about everyone trying to sabotage my relationship with Marsh, even though I thought he was headed in a completely different direction. I had honestly expected him to take the next step toward becoming more serious, not less. Ugh! I had to stop thinking about his stupid brothers.

When Bethany finally came back out of the bathroom, it was with three pregnancy test sticks and a guilty look on her face.

“Not you too?” I asked, feeling sympathetic, because she was not in a committed relationship the way I was. Marsh and I weren’t necessarily ready to have kids yet, but we were financially stable together, and in a healthy relationship.

“No, I’m not. I just feel bad that…”

“Stop!” I told her in no uncertain terms. “It’s fine. You did me a favor because now I know and can start planning on getting to the doctor. There are vitamins I need to take, I think. Obviously, I need to buy a book about pregnancy or something,” I rambled. She just stood there staring at me, and my brain spewed the first thing to come to mind in my nervousness.

“Beth, what would you have done if you were pregnant? Do you know who the father might have been?”

“Wow! That’s kind of an asshole thing to ask,” she snapped at me.

“Sorry, it’s just that you’ve gone out with several guys, and I’m worried about you. If you thought you were pregnant, then are you being careful? I don’t want to see you end up with a baby to take care of on your own, let alone whatever diseases might be possible.”

“I know, I’m sorry I snapped at you. Honestly, I’m just angry with myself because I don’t know. And God help me, I wouldn’t even know how to get in contact with two of the guys because they were just random Tinder hookups.” She moved to hug me and once again, I had to stop her.

“Can you throw your pee sticks away and wash your hands before we hug it out?” I asked.

Both of us laughed as she did just that. I’d already placed my test into a plastic Ziplock bag so that I could show it to Marsh when he got home. We hadn’t really talked much since the party a few nights ago because of our work schedules. He also had to go help his family with a few things that had been keeping him busy and away from the apartment.

“What are you going to do?” Bethany asked.

“Bring my baby up with two loving parents. I think Marsh is hunting for an engagement ring. He’s been a little cagey lately, and I bet anything he’s worried about getting something I won’t like.” I laughed lightly at the thought. “Honestly, I’ll love anything he brings to me because I’ll know it was from the heart.”

“Aww, you two are so damn sweet.” I grinned at her. “I wish I could find what you have with Marsh.” A worried look consumed her then, and I poked her in the side to get her to spill. We didn’t keep secrets.

“What’s wrong?”

“Please, don’t take this the wrong way because I know you hear it far too often. I’m not saying it like the others do, but what if something happens between you and Marsh? What if the others truly get into his head about how he needs to split up with you and go fuck every available woman in the country before deciding to settle down?”

I laughed at the thought. “That would never happen, Beth. You know Marsh.”

“Sure, but what if?”

“Then, at least I’ll still be able to tell my child, or children, that they were brought into this world because their mom and dad loved one another. I don’t want them to think they were an accident from a night of sloppy sex with a stranger who never deserved my time.” I gave my bestie a knowing look.

“I know. I know. Trust me, I learned a lesson this month.”

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