Page 34 of Prince of Tides
I nodded. “Took the test this morning. Two to three weeks.”
Mel started to go bug-eyed. Then she stopped. “Wait. Did you and Eric … that night at Mom and Dad’s … before it all went down?”
I shook my head.
Mel expected me to say yes, and she was in the middle of an “Oh, shit” when the truth filtered in. After all, I’d told her we were going to start trying. We didn’t want to wait until after the wedding. Or, at least, that was what my douchebag of an ex had told me. Regardless, Mel had known.
“Oh, shit,” she said a second time with even more emphasis.
“Yeah.”
“Who? I didn’t realize you’d hooked up with anyone. Or even gone on any dates. Please tell me you aren’t back together with Eric. He called me to try and get you back together, but he was super creepy about it.”
“Absolutely not!” I looked away. “Definitely not him. No need to worry there. What was he doing?”
Melanie looked away.
“What?”
“He suggested that … maybe he andIwould be a better fit.”
I gaped at her. “That fuckingcreep.Are you serious? He actually tried to get with you? What a fucking asshole.Ew.”
“I know,” Mel said, shaking her head. “I didn’t want to tell you ‘cause, well, I would never touch that, but also, you were having a hard time with it all.”
“It’s fine,” I said, waving it off. “I don’t care. Now that I’ve seen the real him, I’m not surprised.”
My sister leaned back against the edge of the couch. “So … whose is it, then?”
I sighed, burying my face in my hands.
“Is it that embarrassing? Did you go out and get drunk one night?”
“Not … quite,” I half-moaned. “Um. Do you remember I told you about that guy at dad’s, the groundskeeper guy who intervened with Eric? The really fucking hot one?”
“Yes …”
“Yeah. Um. I drove him home that night ‘cause he said he didn’t have a ride back to the city. And, uh, he invited me up, and then—”
“You slept with one of Dad’s house staff?” Mel asked bluntly.
“He’s not actually on staff,” I said, my anger at being duped returning. “He’s a freakingprinceof somewhere, though he wouldn’t tell me where or why he was at Dad’s house. Maybe they were meeting to talk about something. I don’t know. But, yeah.”
“Aprince?” Mel yelped. “You’re having a royal baby?”
I gasped. My brain hadn’t made that connection yet. My child was, in all possibility, the heir to a throne somewhere.
“Oh my god,” I whispered. “Oh my god. What the fuck? What the actual fuck? That changes everything.”
“A little bit,” Mel said. “I can’t believe my sister is going to be a queen-mother one day.”
“A … oh, dear,” I said. “I don’t know. That changes things.”
“Why?” Mel asked, face tightening. “Are you going to get rid of it?”
I hesitated, then told her the truth. “I definitely had that thought. I’m not going to lie, but even as Ididhave it, I just sort of knew I couldn’t do that. No, I’m keeping it. I think I’ve accepted this is the way my life is going to go now.”
“So, what does it change, then?” Mel asked, coming in close to hug me, sensing I needed it.
