Page 17 of Begin Again, Part 1

Eden got straight to the heart of her visit. She was hoping the doctor could figure out why she was constantly fatigued and nauseous. She knew she had to do all the work of losing the extra weight herself, but she'd appreciate something to help curb her appetite.

Dr Waylon listened and took notes, his gaze shifting between her and the notepad.

"When did the fatigue and nausea start?" he asked after her impassioned plea for help.

Eden explained it had been weeks now. At first, she thought it could be the stress from her failed engagement, her new job, or the change of season. But now, she'd decided to enlist the help of a professional because it was obvious she couldn't kick this thing on her own.

Dr Waylon nodded and scribbled in his notepad, asking a series of questions that made Eden uncomfortable. But it wasn't until he handed her a small plastic cup and showed her to the bathroom that she began to panic. She'd never given urine samples in her life before. But she knew this wasn't going anywhere good. Anything involving bodily fluids almost always never had a happy ending.

Within minutes of returning from the bathroom, a beaming Dr Waylon confirmed her worst nightmare. "Congratulations, you are pregnant!"

Eden sat in numb disbelief, zoning in on the loud hum of the air conditioner mounted on the wall above the window.

Any moment now, she expected Dr Waylon to turn to her with his warm brown eyes and tell her he'd made a mistake; he'd used an expired pregnancy test. Yes, that was exactly what it was. An old pregnancy test gone wrong. And in a few minutes, she'd return to her desk and reach for her secret stash of cookies, and her life would return to normal. The false diagnosis would be nothing but a malpractice lawsuit waiting to happen.

"You are going to be a mom," Dr Waylon explained patiently, when it became clear she was a little slow on the uptake.

"No." Eden shook her head. It was impossible. She only had sex once in her life, and they'd used protection. She didn't make up the shiny condom wrappers on Liam's floor when she ran from his bedroom. What the hell was going on here? Was she now Mary, Baby Jesus' mother, or what? How was it even possible?

Dr Waylon showed her the pregnancy test and explained the two lines. When she still didn't look convinced, he offered, "we can do an ultrasound scan to make sure."

Eden liked his plan. So she jumped on the examination bed, and with a few flicks of his fancy device on her tummy, she saw her baby for the first time on the screen and heard his heartbeat.

"Congratulations, you're twelve weeks along," Dr Waylon said. "The baby's growing well, and his heartbeat is strong."

Eden laughed incredulously. "I'm going to be a mom!"

"Yes, you are."

She burst into tears, a thin stream of snot pooling on her upper lip. She wiped it off with the back of her hand. "But I don't know how to be a mom. I share an apartment with my friends. I hate my job. What do I know about being a mom?"

"Since you're already questioning yourself, it means you want what's best for your baby. You'll be an amazing mom." Dr Waylon smiled and jotted down more notes in Eden's file while she cleaned herself up and buttoned up her blouse.

She returned to her desk ten minutes later with a bewildered look in her eyes and a prenatal vitamins script in her hands, unable to believe she was expecting a baby with Liam Anderson, former motorsport racer, now CEO. A likely married CEO.

The first few days after their hook-up, Eden had obsessed over him and consumed every tabloid story she could find. There were plenty. Nothing about his marriage, though. She figured he kept that part of his life very private. Weeks passed, and so did her fascination with Liam when it became clear they were nothing more than a hook-up. She'd firmly put him out of her mind. But now, she had a part of him growing inside her.

That evening, Eden's friends were as mind blown by her news as she was.

"Whoa! Didn't you guys use protection?" Sienna asked the one question Eden had been puzzling over.

"We did," she insisted, even though she wasn't so sure now. They had sex several times that night. So it was possible that while they began with good intentions, common sense had left them at some point. She didn't even want to bring up the Plan B she never took. With all the chaos of those few days, it had slipped her mind.

"Oh my goodness! I'm too young to be an aunt!" Lydia threw herself on the couch with a dramatic sigh.

Eden sat on the throne and stared at the plain white ceiling, a contemplative look in her eyes.

"That's good then, because I'm the baby's godmother," Sienna said, massaging Eden's feet even though they weren't swollen yet. But she wasn't about to decline a free foot massage.

"And I'm the baby's godfather!" Cassandra placed a cup of ginger tea in Eden's hands.

"Well, the baby already has two aunts who'll fight you both for the godparent roles." Lydia had to be the buzzkill, and the three of them turned to Eden.

Shrugging innocently, she asked, "what?"

"Have you told him?"

"I found out a few hours ago," Eden said, hating how defensive she sounded.

---