Page 44 of Calamity Rayne Knocked Up

Everything was fine. It wasn’t like Marta was some sort of prophet. She was a housekeeper who liked to cook spicy food. However, she did tell me that the first time she met me, she knew I was going to be essential to the Davenports. Apparently, her intuition influenced Remington’s decision to hire me, which, now that I thought about it, was really odd. She also once told me that she had a bad feeling the day Remington fell from his heart attack like she knew something was going to go wrong that day.

A flutter of excitement rippled through my belly. “Is Marta psychic?”

He rumpled his bushy white brows. “What? You do realize we have actual work to do, Meyers. Go deal with yourthingand get back here to clean up this mess. I want to review these reports tonight. Marta’s making chili, so bring Elara back with you and we can do the reports after dinner.”

“Uh-huh.” I grabbed my purse, not hearing a single word he said.

Twenty minutes later I was washing my hands and staring down at a pregnancy test. I promised Hale I'd wait for him the next time I took one, but he was in Colorado visiting wind farms for the next three days.

Only in the land of wishful procreation did three minutes take this long. Seconds passed like fortnights as I impatiently tapped my foot and stared at the unchanging stick.

“Ugh!” The wait was killing me, so I called Tyler.

He answered right away. “Calamity, what’s shaking?”

“You busy?”

“Just developing some photos I took last weekend.”

Tyler had recently discovered a love for photography after speaking to Rarity Lockhart, the photographer at our wedding.She gave him a bunch of old equipment, and he’d started taking night classes. He even booked a few local gigs around town, which was exciting.

“Pictures of what?”

“Just a few architecture shots and some landscapes. I’m experimenting with shadows and light.”

“Cool.”

“What’s up with you?”

“I’m currently sitting on the toilet waiting for a pregnancy test to process.”

“Shit. Really?”

“Yup.”

“Is that… I mean, are you and Hale trying?”

“We’ve been, but it’s not as easy as it seems. My expectations are low.”

“Oh. Well, how long does it take?”

“We’ve been trying for over a year.”

“No, how long does it take for the test results, Rayne?”

“Oh. Three minutes.” I stared down at the tiny window where one blue line appeared.

“This is a big deal. I feel so special being a part of it.”

“Shh.” I couldn’tthink or blink and Tyler’s words were making it harder to see. I just needed him on the line for emotional support.

“You called me.”

“I think I see something.”

“What do you see?”

Was that another faint line? It was so light. Sometimes that happened, but it never got any darker. I swallowed tightly, an uncomfortable tension headache developing behind my eye.

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