Page 31 of My Sweetest Obsession
I scan her face, taking in every detail of the woman I’ve fantasized about for years, searching for any signs of what might be wrong, what might be different. But other than the puffiness around her eyes and the tear stains on her cheeks, she looks okay.
Better than okay.
Fucking beautiful, like she always is.
“Why, Ivy?” I lean closer, my body naturally wanting to be near her even when things are far too complicated for that ever to happen again. “What’s going on?”
It takes so long for her to answer that I start to think she won’t, but I’m not in any position to be pushing her for anything.
Her eyes move from my face up into my hair, then down to my hands. “You were painting…”
I glance down, following her gaze, and stare at the black and white splotches covering my skin. “Um, yeah. Trying to…”
She nods, clearing her throat as her gaze finally sweeps up and meets mine. “Good. That’s…good.” Her head bobs slightly, and a tear slips down her cheek. “I?—”
Whatever she was about to say gets swallowed by her sob, and she presses her hand over her mouth.
A vise tightens around my chest, and I shift closer.
Ivy pulls her shaking hand away, pressing it over her stomach. “I’m pregnant.”
My breath catches. “What?”
It echoes in my head.
Pregnant?
The entire world seems to go dark around me, and I blink to clear my vision as I try to focus on her. So much sadness seeps into Ivy’s gaze that I can physically feel it like a sledgehammer being driven straight into my heart.
I open and close my mouth, trying to form any coherent thought, but the only thing that keeps playing in my head was her saying “yes” when I asked her if I could fuck her without a condom.
Which I did.
Many times.
I assumed her acquiescence meant she was on birth control and there wasn’t any chance of this happening because I know her well enough to know she wouldn’t have intentionally gotten pregnant when?—
“It’s Drew’s.”
Her words cut through the fog of confusion.
“Wh-what?”
Ivy releases a little hiccupped sob, and another tear slips down her cheek, barely contained in eyes locked on mine. “I had no idea. I came in for my annual exam today, and they told me. You know I haven’t felt good since Drew died.” Her voice wavers. “I couldn’t eat because I was always so nauseous and even the thought of most food made me queasy.” A sad smile pulls at her lips. “The only reason I ate at all was because you kept making sure I always had my favorite things. I couldn’t sleep and was constantly restless and uncomfortable in that bed. I thought it was because he was gone.” She releases a little laugh, raising her shoulders and letting them fall. “I thought it was all just…grief. But apparently, it was also because I was pregnant.”
“But…”
She reaches under the edge of the blanket and pulls out a slip of paper. Her hand shakes as she passes me the ultrasound photo, and a little zap of electricity rolls through me when her fingers brush mine. “I’m sixteen weeks. Which means I probably got pregnant around the night Drew died.”
The world goes black again, and I squeeze my eyes shut as everything starts to spin around me.
Drew’s…
It’s Drew’s baby…
Something twists violently in my chest, and if I weren’t already sitting, I’d be flat on my ass with the way my body collapses. I cave in on myself as each piece of the agonizing puzzle falls into place, and I force open my eyes again and stare down at the image on the piece of paper and the words typed along the edge in tiny lettering.
Gestation: 16 weeks.
