Page 6 of The Homewrecker's Fate

“I don’t know when it happened. I’m guessing the doctor can help with that, but my cycle tracker on my phone says it’s been seventy-seven days – well, seventy-nine now – since my last period.”

“Your cycle tracker?”

“Yeah, the health app on my phone. I track my periods, so I know when to make sure I’m stocked up on supplies.”

“If you track everything, why are you just now taking tests?” She asked then her eyes flew up to mine and her mouth dropped in a shocked little “O”. “Is that what you had wrapped in the box Friday night?”

“No. I didn’t realize until Saturday morning when I woke up and accidentally pulled the tracker up on my phone.”

“Oh, Avi! What are you going to do?”

After lying my head down on my desk, I mumbled the answer. “Have a baby, I guess.”

“It’s too bad your mom won’t be able to help with the baby,” Bridgette announced, as if I needed one more worry on my plate. I hadn’t even thought about my own mother in all of this. I would be lucky if she didn’t disown me over an out of wedlock pregnancy.

Wouldn’t that just be ironic? The main reason I refused to relocate to my lover’s town was because I needed to be close to take care of my mother, but would my mother actually be there for me? Obviously, she couldn’t physically help, but would she be there emotionally? I didn’t know. What I did know was that even if she never spoke to me again, she already did me an accidental favor by making it readily apparent exactly what kind of man my ex-lover was. He wasn’t the kind of man who had staying power. He ran when things got tough, and that wasn’t someone I wanted in my corner as a life mate. Fuck Richard Thomlinson.

I was strong enough to be a single mom and he was too cowardly to be a father.

Chapter 4

April

The phone rang in my ear, and once again, went unanswered. That was my last attempt to reach Richard. Today was my ultrasound appointment and I would go in there to find out what I was having without anyone by my side.

My mother would have been there for me, but she took a tumble two days ago and was on bedrest with a home nurse to make sure she stayed that way because she sprained her ankle on her strong side. There was no way for her to walk unassisted without doing further damage to herself.

I glanced up at the building that housed the Obstetrician’s office and blew out a shaky breath. “You can do this!” It had become a mantra I chanted to myself in my worst moments of self-doubt. I could be both a mother and career-oriented woman. There was little choice in the matter, since I couldn’t even get in touch with Rich to tell him he was going to be a father.

My mom was pushing for me to take a trip out to see him, but what would that look like? Did I show up to the office and bring drama to the doorstep? No matter what, I worked for the same business, so that didn’t sit well for me. Not knowing his home address should have been a red flag for me early on. Who doesn’t share that information with their significant other if they’re not hiding something?

Lately, I had been worried that maybe he was hiding a whole other life, but then I’d laugh it off because how would that even be possible? My demands on his time were ridiculous. I couldn’t imagine Rich having the patience to juggle some hidden wife or family in the background. A queasy feeling disturbed my inner peace with that thought, so I shoved it to the back of my mind once more as I entered the doctor’s office and checked myself in.

There was one other pregnant woman in the room who was by her lonesome while two happy couples sat grinning at one another. Watching a man worship his woman’s heavily pregnant belly was torment. I quickly looked away and found a pair of sad eyes that met my own. She stood and made her way to me. The woman's golden, pin-straight, shoulder-length hair shined under the fluorescent lights that usually dulled everyone else’s color.

Her blue eyes sparkled as she took the seat next to me and held tightly to my hand. “My name is Mel, and you look about as miserable as I feel,” she insisted. The woman was my complete opposite in looks. Where I was dark, she was light. We did seem to have one commonality, though. We were both pregnant and at the obstetrician’s office alone.

“That obvious, huh?”

“Well, I think kindred spirits speak to one another.”

“I’m Aviva,” I told her. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes and my hand immediately recoiled from hers as she flinched back a bit. “Does my name offend you?”

“I’m sorry,” she insisted quickly while taking my hand in hers once more. There was never a time where I welcomed a stranger touching me in any way, but for some reason, this woman’s presence didn’t bother me. “Your name is odd, and I could have sworn I heard it somewhere before.”

“It was my grandmother’s name that my mother bestowed upon me. I don’t mind it so much now, but as a child, I tried out every nickname known to man.”

“Do you think our children will hate what we pick for them as much?” She asked with a grin while patting her slightly protruding belly.

“I think, like me, they will have to suck it up and learn to love whatever we give them.”

“How far along are you?” She asked after a moment of silence between us.

“I am nineteen weeks today according to the doctors and the last measurements they took. You?”

“Sixteen weeks, though I’ve had two children before, so I look more like I’m thirty weeks at this point,” she lamented. It was true, her belly had definitely popped further than mine.

“The father?” I asked, seeing that she wore a gold wedding band on a necklace.

---