Page 77 of Ashes of Us
“It is,” Danica giggled and held it out of Indie's reach. “Don't look so worried, I'll only let her have it when I'm here to supervise,” She nudged him and nodded at the dog, whose tail was going frantically as she whined and tried to get it from Danica. “Look how excited she is, you're not gonna tell that face she can't have it, are you?” Alex looked at Indie and then back at Danica, his heart melting at how happy she was spoiling the little dog.
“Only when we're both here to supervise.” He allowed, trying and failing to keep his voice stern. “Now you need to give it to her before she chews your arm off.” He couldn't hide his smile at how excited the dog was for her bone. Danica smiled as he gave in and passed her the wrapped bone. She immediately tore into the paper on Danica's lap, with Danica pulling it away from her so she didn't eat it. “Also, if it stains the rug, you need to clean it.” He warned her as Indie happily took the bone and moved back to the blanket on the end of the couch.
“Yes, Babe.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, smiling at him. “Now, open your present,” Alex grumbled good-naturedly, peeling off the sticker she had used to hold theenvelope closed and sticking it on the end of her nose with a smirk. Then, he opened the envelope and pulled out the folded piece of paper inside. Opening it, his breath caught in his throat as four tickets to see the Offspring live in Austria fell into his lap.
“You got me tickets to see my favourite band.” He could feel a lump forming in his throat, and he cleared it consciously. Usually, when he received gifts, it was something like clothes, cufflinks, or something similar. He knew he could be hard to buy for, because if he wanted something, he would get it himself. Danica seemed to realize that while he would buy things he wanted or needed, he never got experiences for himself.
“Tickets for you and three other people.” Danica smiled, sliding her hand into his. “I know you're looking to do the grand opening of the hotel in Austria around that time, so I figured you could have a little fun while you're there.”
“Wecan have some fun whilewe'rethere,” he corrected her as he pulled her into his lap and buried his face in her neck. “Because you will definitely be there with me.” Her arms went around his shoulders, and she kissed the top of his head.
“If that's what you want,” she murmured, but he could hear the smile in her voice.
“Thank you.” He took a deep breath, breathing her in and then sat back, still holding her in his arms. “My gift kinda sucks in comparison but go ahead and open it.”
Danica chuckled and pulled the wrapping off, opening the box to reveal the necklace he'd bought her. She'd stopped wearing her compass necklace at some point before they went to Hawaii, and he'd noticed she kept reaching for it. When he asked why she stopped wearing it, she explained that Jasper had gotten it for her in lieu of wearing their wedding bands because wearing rings while working on cars was considered dangerous.So, he'd found a rose gold necklace with a locket pendant, figuring she could put pictures of whoever she wanted inside. He had made it a little more special than just a locket by having her birthstone added to the front and 'Love A' engraved on the back in his writing.
“Oh wow.” She lifted it out of the box and looked at it, smiling softly when she saw the engraving on the back. “This is perfect,” she leaned over and kissed him. “Thank you,” she said, passing him the chain and turning, lifting her hair out of the way. Alex let out a soft sigh of relief. He'd struggled trying to find something to give her that wouldn't come across as moving too fast or being too much, since she had put a firm cap of no more than five hundred dollars for one significant gift and no more than a hundred dollars on any subsequent gifts. He helped her put on the necklace, doing up the clasp and kissing her shoulder.
“It looks perfect on you.” He smiled as she turned back to face him, the chain was just long enough that the locket rested just above her cleavage. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
“You have.” Danica grinned as she turned and straddled his lap. “At least four times just today. Have I told you how impossibly sexy you are?”
“Yeah, but I never get tired of hearing that.”
Chapter Sixty: Positive
Danica stared down at the positive pregnancy test in disbelief, frozen in place. No, she couldn't be. It wasn't possible. Putting her face in her hands, she let out a soft sob as she sank to the floor. She knew it was, though. She and Alex had spent most of the last half of their business trip in Hawaii in bed together, and while they had picked up condoms after their first night and she went back on birth control when they got home, the first night had been unprotected several times.
“Should we get Plan B?” Danica asked quietly as they grabbed a couple of boxes of condoms at the pharmacy closest to the hotel.
Alex paused, an expression she couldn't read crossing his face. “It's up to you.” He said finally, after a long silence.
He hadn't sounded particularly for or against it, so Danica had gotten one and taken it. Pulling out her phone, she googled why Plan B would fail and saw that if she had already ovulated, she was essentially hooped since it worked by stopping or delaying ovulation. Her stomach dropped to her shoes as she opened her tracking app and went back to the date, only to see that she had ovulated the day before.
“Oh god.” If that was right, it meant she was already almost seven weeks pregnant. She'd been having nausea and vomiting in the morning for the last week and had been hoping it was just a weird bug. She'd found a pregnancy test in the back of a drawer while looking for something else and just did it on a whim to rule it out. Grabbing her phone, she texted Alex that she wasn't feeling well and told him to go to work without her. He stopped by on his way out and asked if she needed anything.
“No, I think I just need to rest.” She assured him, leaning into his hug like it was the last one she'd ever get from him.
“I can stay home with you.” He pulled back slightly and looked down at her, concern plain in his eyes.
“No, really, go. I'm just gonna sleep anyway.” Danica smiled as best she could as he kissed her goodbye and left. She gave it fifteen minutes to be sure he was gone and then ran to a nearby drugstore, buying one of every brand of pregnancy test they had available. Two hours and more water than she'd ever drunk at one time in her life later, she was staring at eight positive tests.
She sat with her back against the sink, looking at the tests lined up on the edge of the bathtub, and wondered what the hell she was going to do. Indie nudged her elbow, and Danica automatically lifted her arm so the dog could crawl into her lap. Rubbing Indie's ears absently, Danica tried to organize her thoughts. She was pretty sure Alex wouldn't be upset with her. She had done her best to prevent this exact scenario, so he wouldn't say she was trying to baby-trap him. She was more concerned about how this would look at the hotel and with the Prestons. She'd been hoping to keep their relationship on the down low for another couple of months, but that would be impossible when she started to show.
She briefly considered an abortion but found the thought of getting rid of her and Alex's baby made her sick. If that was what he wanted, she would, but she was very sure he would be pissed if she did it without discussing things with him. Needing an outside opinion, she pulled out her phone and called Emilia. “Hey, can you come over?” She asked breathlessly when Em answered. “I need your advice.”
Emilia agreed to come, and Danica carefully collected all the pregnancy tests and went to wait for her in the living room.
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“What's going on?” Emilia asked when she opened the door. “Why aren't you at work?” Danica stepped back and let her in, taking her coat, hat and gloves and putting them away for her as she pulled off her winter boots. “You're as white as a sheet.”
Danica ran her hands through her hair as she walked back to the sofa. “Well, um. Alex and I are together and have been since we were in Honolulu.” She decided to start with that since she still hadn't told anyone they were more than friends.
“No way.” Emilia rolled her eyes and folded her arms, her voice dry. “I can't believe it.” Danica groaned and gave Emilia an annoyed look. “What? You're making it sound like it wasn't inevitable.”
“Fine,” Danica said as she led her over to the table and pointed at the pregnancy tests she had lined up. “Was this inevitable?”
