Page 106 of Fake for 7 days

That must have been what happened.

For probably the tenth time that day, I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes.

You can do this, Isabella.

Then I looked at the test window. Fortunately, the stick had only cracked at the front, so the result in the window was still clearly visible.

Two pink lines.

The damn test was positive.

I was pregnant.

At that moment, I heard Hayley's key in the door.

"I'm back," she called cheerfully.

"And I'm pregnant," I muttered tonelessly. And so quietly that Hayley couldn't possibly hear me. Hayley appeared breathlessly in the bathroom doorway and held out a new package to me. Blue and pink again.

Wordlessly, I held out the test stick to her.

"Oh baby," she said when she had read the result in the window.

This time I was the one who laughed. But not loudly and heartily, just short and dry. "You can say that again. Baby."

Hayley let out a short giggle, but she immediately became serious again. "Take the second test, Isabella. Bring the thing to the kitchen. We'll wait for the result together."

I nodded and closed the bathroom door.

A little later, we sat together at the kitchen table, staring at the white stick lying between us.

"What do you want to do if it's true?" Hayley wanted to know.

"Don't know," I replied pitifully. "I'd like to emigrate. Start a new life somewhere. Just the child and me."

"I can understand that." Hayley nodded seriously. "But that's not a real option. At first, you won't be able to work right away. You'll have to take care of the child."

"I know." I shook my head desperately. "What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Who?" Hayley looked at me confused.

"The child. What am I supposed to tell them? That their parents had sex because their mother hoped to get $50,000 from their father? And that their father just wanted some fun and his grandmother's inheritance and was also an idiot who took every available woman?"

"You don't have to tell the child that." Hayley put her hand on mine. "There are countless children whose parents separated before birth."

"I don't want to lie to them." I looked at Hayley, upset.

"Sure. Maybe you won't have to."

"What do you mean?" I had no idea what Hayley was talking about.

"Talk to Carter again, Isabella."

"I never want to hear that name again." Resolutely, I reached for the test stick lying between us on the floral patterned tablecloth. My heart was pounding.

And at this moment, I couldn't exactly say whether it was beating so hard because I would soon really know if I was pregnant.

Or if Carter was the reason.

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