Page 39 of Guarded from Treachery

“I’m kind of nervous,” I admit. “Going to the doctor… it makes this all feel more real. And I’m scared of what the doctor will ask. If she’ll even believe me.”

Matt hesitates before responding, his forehead creasing as he thinks. A little wrinkle forms between his brows, the one I affectionately named—to myself, never to him—his thinking line. Whenever he’s deep in thought, that same line appears, and I always know he’s about to say something really smart or intuitive.

“That makes sense,” he finally says. “But just remember, we’ve got your six.I’vegot your six. And we all believe you. So if this doctor acts like an ass—a jerk, we’ll find you another one.” Pausing, he adds, “And how about this? We can go get that ice cream you like after? And stop at that food truck you mentioned? The one with the gourmet mac and cheeses?”

“Oh, I love mac and cheese,” Erik adds. The car slows as he signals to turn into the medical plaza parking lot. “Do you think they have cheeseburger style? With pickles and onions and special sauce?”

“Ew.” Rhiannon makes a face at him. “That sounds disgusting. Pickles on macaroni and cheese? Gross.”

“It’s not gross,” he retorts. “I had cheeseburger mac and cheese at this little food truck in Pittsburgh. It was delicious.”

“No thanks.” Rhiannon lifts her chin. “I’ll stick with traditional.” She makes anotherewface. “Pickles. Yuck.”

“I don’t know.” I lean over and pat Erik on the shoulder. “I think it sounds interesting. And I’m not sure if they have it there, but I bet if you ask, they could make it.”

As Erik pulls into a parking spot, he turns and flashes me a little smile. “Thanks, Isla.”

Beside me, Matt takes my hand and gives it a little squeeze. “So, ice cream and mac and cheese? We’ll get our dairy quota for the week?”

Holding his gaze, I reply, “That sounds perfect.”

And for a second, everything feels almost normal.

I’m just out with three friends, talking about our plans for the day.

Then Erik turns the engine off and says, “Okay. Let’s just review the plan one more time before we go in.”

The sense of normality fades.

My stomach flips over.

“I’ll be in the car,” Erik continues, “just to ensure no one tries to tamper with it.”

Tamper with the car? Wonderful. Another thing to worry about.

“Rhi and I will be inside with you,” Matt adds. “One of us will stay in the reception area, and the other will be stationed right outside the exam room. So if there’s a problem, you can just call out. Or use the earrings—you remember how to use them, right?”

Another thing the Blade and Arrow team gave me as a precaution is a pair of earrings with GPS trackers in them. And if I press the center of either of them, an alert goes off, and they’ll know right away that I’m in trouble.

“Yes.” I take a deep breath, trying to breathe past the anxiety compressing my lungs. “Press them in the middle.”

“Not that I think you’ll need them,” he replies. “But we like to cover all the bases just to be sure.”

“Okay.” Nausea rises, not from morning sickness this time, but nerves. “Let’s get this over with.”

As we walk into the building, Matt flanking me on one side, Rhiannon the other, a wave of sadness sweeps over me unexpectedly. Fear, worry, stress—those are all emotions I’m used to by now. But this bone-deep sorrow is something new.

This isn’t how I wanted it to be.

I want to be here with the father of my baby. A man I know and love, not some shadowy stranger who may be the one responsible for trying to abduct me. This is supposed to be an exciting time, seeing the heartbeat, wondering what sex it is, getting the little printed photo of the baby like I’ve seen some of my coworkers proudly display on their desks.

Once I’m checked in, we take three seats in a row against the wall facing the door, me in the middle again. Rhiannon exchanges a quick glance with Matt before looking at me. “Isla. Would you prefer to have me wait outside the exam room or Matt?”

While I know the more practical answer would be Rhiannon—as a woman, she’ll receive less attention standing outside the exam room—I answer instinctively, “Matt, please. If that’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay,” he replies quickly.

Rhiannon nods. “Absolutely. So I’ll wait out here. And before you know it, we’ll be headed to get ice cream and some of that revolting mac and cheese Erik was talking about.”

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