Page 82 of Final Chance At Love (Chance At Love Duet 2)

“Oh my God,” I mumble. “Can I die now please?”

She laughed out loud. “Not on my watch. Ok, we’ll do a routine checkup and then I’ll examine your uterus.”

“Rick, I got Gemma,” Kristoff told him calmly. “I’ll take care of her.”

And without a shred of doubt, I knew he would. I turned to Rick and before I even opened my mouth, he responded, “I know when I’m not needed.”

Sophie gave him a glare and then pointed to the door.

“I’m going. I’m going,” he mumbled and then added on his way out. “Now might be a time to tell him what we talked about, Gemma.” And he left me with a wide smile on his face.

I looked over to Kristoff. “Are you sure you want to stay?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he replied with a stubborn determination. “We are doing this together.”

I shook my head and mumbled, “I should have sworn off sex.”

Kristoff squeezed my hand gently in comfort, our eyes locked and I held his gaze focused entirely on me. I could lie to myself all I wanted but I would never get over him. God, I was glad he was here with me.

“By the way, how did you find me?” I wondered just slightly frowning. I needed a distraction, anything just so I wouldn’t think about potential miscarriage.

“Jonathan.” From my peripheral I noted Sophie glared up at Kristoff but didn’t say anything. “I had one of my yachts in Italy so when he told me last week he was with you, I flew to Venice and drove the yacht here.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” I admitted and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

Sophie was efficient and went through all the routine, normal stuff - took temperature, took blood pressure, even took some blood and then she was ready to perform a vaginal exam.

“Kristoff, please,” I begged. “This is too embarrassing.”

His hands took my face and he kissed me on the lips. “We are doing this together.”

Sophie glanced curiously between Kristoff and me waiting for my signal. I finally nodded and she went right to work snapping her latex gloves on and went on poking and prodding. It took her all of two minutes and she was done.

“Everything is fine,” she announced when she was done. “Those babies are not going anywhere. The bleeding is very slight, as I suspected, probably caused by the intercourse.” And just as I thought I couldn’t be more embarrassed, she added, “You two might want to ease up on hard core sex. Try a lighter version of it.” She chuckled like it was the funniest joke ever.

“Jesus.” I was ready for the earth to swallow me whole because this was embarrassing. I couldn’t even look Sophie in the eyes.

She cleaned up her stuff and was out of my room in no time.

She wasn’t even out of the room when he wrapped me in his arms. “Those were the worst few minutes of my life,” he mumbled against me. I glanced up at him and noticed the stress on his face.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered quietly. “I think I panicked.”

“It’s good that you said something and now we are sure all is good.” I guess I didn’t realize just how much he wanted this too. We remained wrapped up together like that for few minutes

“Gemma,” Kristoff started off quietly. “...what did you and Rick talk about that you should tell me?”

The silence stretched for a while and I wondered the best way to tell him.

“Why won’t you marry me?”

I snapped my eyes to his and his face was serious.

“I… I,” I was stuttering, looking away from him. His hand took my chin gently and forced me to look at him. He held my gaze with such intensity, as if both our lives depended on it.

“Tell me,” he commanded.

“I didn’t say I don’t want to marry you,” I muttered our gazes locked together. “I’m worried you are driven to marry me because I’m pregnant. You switched from the contract to marriage and I’m struggling with the mixed signals.”

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