Page 31 of Twenty Years Later

I looked down and realized what she was talking about. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."

Turning a bit more in her seat, her narrowed eyes stared at me. "So what is it? Obviously, you've got something going on."

"Well, I..." What could I say? She would think I was absolutely insane.

"Come on, Jayda. Just spill it," she demanded.

Quickly, I peered around to see who might overhear us, but the plane wasn't very full. The only person I could see was one young guy who sat in front of us with his headphones on.

Kaileen raised her eyebrows at me in a silent question.

"Well," I tried again, swallowing hard. "I think... I think I'm pregnant."

She surprised me with a sudden burst of laughter. "What? I know that man is sex on wheels. I mean, his name even rhymes with sex. But you literally just had sex and you think you're pregnant already? After only one weekend?"

I nodded, feeling kind of ridiculous. But even so, those little cramps deep in my abdomen persisted. And I decided to confide in Kaileen and tell her something I hadn't told her before. "I'm... well, I'm weirdly fertile," I whispered.

Her brows shot up so high, they practically disappeared into her hairline. "You are? What on earth do you mean?"

After glancing around again, I continued, "I got pregnant with Audrey after just one time. And I knew the very next morning I was pregnant because of this same little twingey, crampy feeling I'm having right now."

She pulled back in shock. "Why didn't you tell me all that?"

I thought about all of her fertility struggles. "Because I know it wasn't exactly easy for you."

"You're too kind." She squeezed my hand, pausing for a minute as she thought. "But didn't you use a condom?"

"No," I admitted. "I'm on the pill."

"You are?"

I nodded, bewildered and overwhelmed.

"I'm finding out all sorts of things about you," Kaileen said. "I mean, can I ask why you're even on the pill? No offense, but it's not like you're out picking up dudes every night."

Once again, I peeked at the guy sitting in front of us, worried that he was getting an earful of some very private girl talk. But he was bobbing his head to his music, completely oblivious to us.

"It's because I have extremely heavy periods that knock me out for a few days if I'm not on the pill," I confessed in a low voice.

"Really? You poor thing. I had no idea." Her tone was sympathetic but also kind of hurt.

"It's just not something I go around telling people," I tried to explain. "To be honest, it's been so long, with the exception of the one time I was trying to get pregnant, I don't even think about it."

"Well, that makes sense." She fussed with her seatbelt while the pilot came on to tell us we'd be delayed taking off. When he finished, she turned to me again. "So if you're on the pill, how on earth could you get pregnant? How effective is the pill anyway?"

"Good question."

Kaileen whipped out her phone as I rested my head against the back of my seat, not daring to think about the future if I was indeed pregnant with Alex's baby. Good Lord. After a few minutes of my mind whirling in circles trying to comprehend this insane possibility, she spoke up.

"Okay. It says here... well, we all know the only one-hundred percent effective method is abstinence."

"Right. A little too late for that," I said, remembering the look on Alex's face as he first filled me.

"Not helpful. I know." She laughed. "Okay. It says the pill has a ninety-one percent effectiveness rate. Reasons for pregnancy are usually due to a missed pill, especially in the first week of a packet when the blah, blah, blah." Kaileen turned to look at me. "So did you miss a pill?"

I thought back over the last couple of weeks and groaned, putting my head in my hands. "Yeah, actually, I'm pretty sure I did."

To be honest, I wasn't exactly the best about remembering to take the pill. It's not like I had to worry much about getting pregnant. Until suddenly I did.

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