Page 77 of Married with Blood
She nodded. “I’m… surprised you would’ve forgotten about that.” She added a light chuckle.
I slumped forward to rest my elbow on the table and set my face in my hand. My hair fell forward, but I wasn’t trying to hide from her. “I’m distracted.”
Her frown was sympathetic. “I can see that. Can I help?” She smiled quickly, as if the chance to be helpful would please her.
“You’re the only one who probably can,” I admitted. After a quick glance around to make sure the guards weren’t within earshot, I cleared my throat and felt a smidgen of guilt that I was being this secretive. “I know we’re not reallythatclose, and neither of us seems to get the whole concept of what counts as normal girl talk.”
She huffed a little laugh. “Not when we just end up talking about business most of the time.”
“Yeah. That. But um, I’m hoping you’ll be a good sounding board for my concerns. Especially since you’re…” I cringed and weakly gestured at her adorable baby bump.
She let out a tiny squeak of surprise as her eyes popped open wider.
“Shh!” I shushed her and glanced around again.
“Oh, Carina. Really?” She beamed again.
“I don’t know yet. And that’s part of why I don’t want to broadcast my suspicions or anything like that.”
She nodded sagely. “Okay. I get that. But take it from me that itreallydoesn’t do you any favors to try to hide it. Adrik knewright away. I’m willing to bet Maksim is just as attuned to you as Adrik is to me, too.”
“I know. But please, don’t tell anyone.”
She winced.
“Not yet.”
She sighed and nodded slightly. “Notyet,” she agreed. “Not until you know. I can’t keep secrets from Adrik, Carina. I won’t.”
I licked my lips. “I respect that.”
She asked me what made me suspicious and she listened without judging or butting in with how she first knew she was pregnant. After talking with her for a few minutes, she assured me that she still had a test that I could use. She led me inside the house and quickly found a pregnancy test in her bathroom.
“Please don’t tell anyone yet,” I said again after I stowed the kit in my purse.
“I won’t.Yet.” She arched a brow at me.
“And thanks for… well, for being here for me like this.”
Her smile turned sweet and tender. Holding her arms open, she beckoned me closer for a hug. “Just imagine, though.MoreVolkov cousins in the family.”
When I pulled back, I relaxed to smile back at her. I was already vulnerable as it was, talking to her about this and dealing with the worries about how my identity would change if I were to become a mother now. But if I could let myself be sappy and confess how much she was helping me, I’d be fully honest that it was a good blessing to not be so alone in this man’s world. A violent world, one that I’d always been a part of.
It looked like I’d need to adjust my view on that now, though, if I were to bring a sweet new life into it.
“Go on. Go home and see what that says,” she urged. “I think Maksim’s meeting with Adrik soon, and I’m sure that’ll take a while. You’ll have some privacy to start accepting whatever that test says.” She frowned suddenly. “Or would you rather not be alone? You can take it here and I’ll be on standby. Whatever you need.”
I hugged her again. “I’ll do this at home and report back to you.”
Home.
Maksim’s house wouldn’t feel like somewhere I was a guest any longer.
Not if I was going to be raising our child there.
A thrill for the future made my pulse race, and I hurried out of there to find out whether my suspicions were accurate.
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