Page 82 of The Duke's Second Bride
Christian’s head snapped to look at her, concern blooming in his stomach.
Ava’s hand was clapped to her mouth, and her skin had gotten paler than usual. Her eyebrows were drawn together, eyes squinted as if in disgust.
“What’s the matter?” Luke asked, clearly also noticing her reaction.
Ava shook her head. Standing, she rose from the dining table and ran to the window.
Christian’s heart sank to his stomach as he realized what was happening. It all happened so quickly. Ava stuck her head through the window, and he heard heaving sounds within a matter of seconds.
When Ava pulled her head back from the window, her face looked drawn and almost a bit green. Christian rose to his feet.
“You were sick,” he said flatly, making the inquiry into a statement, rather than a question. Ava nodded. Christian felt his jaw clench. “I’m calling a doctor,” he said.
CHAPTER 29
The physician arrived before the sun had even set. Christian stood anxiously by Ava’s bedroom door. The doctor listened to her heartbeat and asked her several questions about how she had been feeling the previous week.
Once the doctor was done, he looked between Christian and Ava with a smile.
“Well,” he said gently. “I don’t want us to be counting our chickens before they hatch. But dizziness, fatigue, and a spot of daytime sickness would all be consistent with the possibility that you are with child.”
Ava’s face lit up, just as Christian’s stomach dropped.
“Are you quite certain?” he asked the doctor carefully, masking his fear with a slow, intense, deliberate tone.
“No, no. It would be much too early days to tell, particularly if the lady has yet to miss her courses,” he said, looking at Ava, who nodded. “I will come again to check on you tomorrow,” he said.
Christian followed the doctor out of the room, but froze outside the door. The doctor did not appear to notice, cheerily calling his goodbyes over his shoulder as he continued down the stairs. Christian heard the sound of him bidding the housekeeper goodbye, and then the sound of the door opening and shutting behind him.
He felt like he was falling.
The last time there had been a baby on the way, he had lost his wife.
“Christian?” came Ava’s voice from the other side of the door.
Christian took a deep breath, steadying himself. He could not show Ava how worried he was. He needed to get a hold of himself.
“Coming,” he said, before re-entering the room.
It was hard to ignore the way his heart ached at the sight of Ava’s face. While he was worried sick to his stomach, she had taken the news–or the maybe-news, rather–as a blessing from above.
She looked so beautiful, smiling. Even so soon after having been sick, she had now recovered with just a little bit of bed rest and had a healthy flush about her.
The glow of being with a child?
Christian prayed it wasn’t so—and yet he felt so incredibly, immensely guilty for holding that hope. How could he hope to take away that light in Ava’s eyes?
“I will rest for the remainder of the day,” she promised him. “So, you needn’t boss me around about it anymore.”
He nodded, silent.
She seemed to take his silence as a mark of gentle surprise, rather than shock and dread. “Would you stay with me?” she asked softly. “You can work, if you like. I won’t bother you. Luke brought me plenty of books to read. I’ll be working through the pile for a century,” she said, gesturing to her nightstand. When the light joke didn’t land, she grew quiet again, still smiling gently. “I just want to sit with you,” she said.
Christian nodded again, taking a seat next to her.
The rest of the day, Ava read while he pretended to pore over paperwork, occasionally one of them breaking the silence with some small, banal remark.
The whole time, he acted entirely engrossed in his work. But in truth, he couldn’t focus on a single word. He couldn’t focus on anything but the silent spiral of anxious thoughts marching through his head as though to the beat of a drum.
