AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What do you feel like? A fever? Anything?” Karolina asked.
“No,” I answered. “Just… tired. Seasick. No other symptoms. But I’m not on a boat.”
“Maybe it’s stomach flu,” Rick said.
“Or, maybe it’s something else,” Karolina said in Rick’s mother tongue.
“Like what?” I asked.
“When was the last time you had your period?” Karolina asked.
“I don’t get them. I’m on the pill. I just started a new pack.”
“You don’t get periods on the pill?” Karolina cocked her head. “You should. Do you have your pills?”
I directed Rick to the location of my pills and he brought them to his mother.
“These white pills are the ones where you should have a period,” Karolina said. “You didn’t have one?”
I shook my head, my blood running cold.
“No one told you that?”
I shook my head again.
“She was sheltered,” Rick said, sweetly. “Not allowed to ask questions.”
“Astrid and I arranged for these prescriptions to come. It was touch and go. We’re not trying to have a baby right now,” I said.
“I can understand that, but, sweetheart, I worry you might be pregnant. Does your back ache? Do your breasts hurt?”
“Mamma!”
“What? It’s an important question!”
I looked down. “Yeah?”
“We need to get you a test,” Karolina said.
Rick appeared ready to faint. This wasn’t the news either one of us wanted. If it was true, it would be awful for him. If positive, I was about to carry a baby to term worried I'd fall victim to my mother's sad fate.
Karolina was magical because a test arrived within the hour. By then, I’d been in and out of the toilet more times than I could count. Karolina explained what I needed to do with the test. I followed the directions, placing it on the bathroom vanity.
“I can leave if you would like space,” Karolina said. “I don’t mean to intrude.”
“Please stay,” I asked. “Because I’d want my mamma right about now and… just stay.”
Karolina rubbed my back. “Alright, sweetheart. I can do that. It must be hard sometimes.”
“Sometimes, I miss her more than others, but I always do,” I admitted. “God, I feel so stupid! I did something wrong.”
I couldn’t bear to look at the test, but Karolina refused to read it for us. So, Rick went in. My fate hung in the balance as I sat on the bed in his childhood bedroom, wondering what would happen next. To his credit, Rick was supportive. He hadn’t squawked at me, but I was frightened. It was as if we’d discovered a secret magical retreat within ourselves every time we had sex, but was it worth it? I wasn’t ready to have a baby.
“You two will be fine. No matter what,min skat.” Karolina squeezed my hand. “They never come when you want them to, anyway.”
I burst into tears.
“Oh, sweetheart, do not cry. I am sorry?—”
