Page 191 of Marrying My Ex's Brother
Stress can do things.
Stress is probably doing things.
Still, I sit there with my hand pressed against my stomach, unable to move.
Pregnant.
The word doesn’t feel real. It feels too large for the room.
I stand too quickly and have to grip the bedpost until the dizziness passes.
No. I need to know.
I go to the door and open it before I can change my mind. Nina is in the hallway, speaking quietly to another maid. She turns immediately when she sees me. “Madam?”
“I need something.”
“Of course.”
My voice drops, though no one is close enough to hear. “A pregnancy test.”
For the first time since I have known her, Nina loses her perfect composure. Only for a second. But I see it. Her eyes widen, then settle.
“Yes, madam.”
“Don’t tell him.”
She pauses.
“Nina.”
“I understand.”
“Please.”
Her expression softens. “I’ll get it myself.”
Waiting is worse than the lockdown. I pace the bedroom until I can’t stand it, then the bathroom, then the bedroom again. My father texts once more, but I don’t open it. I turn the phone over and leave it on the table.
When Nina returns, she has a small paper bag in her hand. “Do you want me to stay?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No.”
She nods and leaves.
I lock the bathroom door. My hands shake so badly I almost drop the box.
The instructions are simple. Too simple for something that might split my life in half. I do what it says, then set the test on the counter and step back as if distance will make the result less powerful.
Three minutes.
I stare at the tiled wall. I think of Yaromir’s face in the morning light. His hand on Buran’s bridle. His mouth at my forehead before he left. His voice saying I will as if the promise itself could keep death away.
I think of Dmitri for one brief second and feel nothing but cold relief that this, if it is true, cannot be his.
My hand moves to my stomach again. “No,” I whisper. “Not now.”
But even as I say it, something in me aches.
