“Sure thing, what do you need? Cold medicine? Aspirin?”
“Pregnancy test.”
********
“Are you crazy? I’m not going inside and buying that.”
“Chris, we’ve been arguing over this for a half hour.” She looked around the parking lot. “No one’s around so just go inside and grab a test. A one minute test preferably.”
“Hell no!”
“Chris!”
“No! If I go inside they’ll think I’ve knocked someone up when I can’t even….," his voice trailed off, shaking his head he finally mumbled, "I’m not doing it.”
“Please!” She pouted.
“No, you go do it. You’re the one who needs it.”
“No! That’s worse!”
He rolled his eyes. “How is that worse?”
She scoffed, “I’m a twenty-four year old single female teacher. How is that not worse?”
He raised a brow, still waiting for a reasonable answer. “If I get it I’m a slut if you get it you’re a stud.”
His face colored and he looked away. She couldn’t be sure but he looked like he was going to cry. “Chris, are you okay?”
Chris cleared his throat. “I’m fine. Look this is more important than my problems. You might be carrying the love child of a 206 year old bloodsucker who refuses to raise my allowance,” he tried to joke. “I think this takes precedence.”
They stared at each other for several long minutes hoping the other would give in. Finally she broke. “Fine, will you go in with me then?”
“Will it make you feel better?”
“Yes.”
“Sure thing. The worse thing that could happen is people will think you are carrying my baby. I’m sure it’s perfectly normal for a female teacher to be with her male student at a pharmacy in the middle of the day buying a pregnancy test. What could go wrong?” he asked wryly.
She opened her door. “Fine,” she ground out. Damn it he was too perceptive sometimes. This time it was probably a good thing. “Stay here. You know you really are a brat and I’m telling your father to cut your allowance, you little traitor,” she said out of aggravation. His hand shot out and gripped her arm.
“Chris, I was just kidding.” He pulled her back into the Jeep. “What?”
He nodded towards the front of the pharmacy. “Oh….no….is that Mrs.-“
“Stevens? Yes, we need to go somewhere else or she’ll spread the news of your purchase everywhere by dinner time. She most definitely will call Grandma immediately after she leaves the store.”
“Oh no,” she groaned and looked over at him. “Do you feel like a drive out of town?”
He started the car again. “I rather like long drives. We’ll make a day of it. Shopping, peeing on a stick and probably a little hyperventilating,” he said brightly.
“Brat,” she muttered.
******
“Well?” Chris yelled from the side of the road.
Madison jumped. “I haven’t done it yet. Give me a minute. It’s not easy to pee on a stick in the woods you know.”
“Oh sure it is, you just unzip, pull it out and-“
“I meant for me, you jackass!”
“Ouch, I hope you don’t use that language in front of the baby.”
“Little brat,” she muttered. After one last look back to make sure Chris still had his back turned she emptied her bladder on the stick.
“Please be positive,” she whispered, surprising herself. A baby with Ephraim? She thought about it, not seriously. He wasn’t even sure they could have a baby together. It was possible, she guessed, but she never took it seriously. She never even considered birth control in the last few months they’d been sleeping together.
She replaced the cap and fixed her clothing before walking back towards the Jeep. Chris was walking around anxiously and when he saw her he came right to her. “Well?”
“It will take another minute.” She held up the stick. They both watched, waiting for the digital test to indicate her condition.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I think so. I just want to know.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “It will be okay. Ephraim is a good Dad and you’re a really good big sister and you’re all motherly so you’ll both be fine.”
“Thank you.” Damn it, he was going to make her cry.
A small beep had them both sucking in air. “I guess we know our answer,” Chris said.
“Excuse me?” a man said behind them.
They both jumped and turned around to see a large man with menacing dark eyes standing in front of a black van. Chris automatically pushed Madison back.
“Can we help you?”
He smiled. “Are you Madison Soloman?”
“How did you know that?” She took a step back, dragging Chris with her.
“Oh, no need to run, sweetheart. We’re here to give you a ride,” the man said.
“Chris, run!” she yelled.
Instead of running, Chris crumbled to the ground next to her. “Chris!” She dropped to her knees next to him. Blood trickled from behind his ear. She looked back to see what caused the injury when a sharp pain shot through the back of her head and everything went black.
******
Madison was pregnant. It took every last ounce of his willpower not to tell her the morning he left. She looked so beautiful sleeping that he hadn't wanted to disturb her.
He woke up with the alarm at three in the morning and to the change in her scent. It took him a good ten minutes to be sure. He ran his nose over her stomach repeatedly afraid he’d made a mistake. It took her swatting him away in her sleep to get him to move. He hated leaving her like that.
Now he was rushing back to her. He left the conference early this morning so he could surprise her. He needed to do this right. This was their first baby together he had to make this right for her. She was marrying him that was all there was to it. He’d been waiting for months to ask her.
He’d been patiently waiting for her to be comfortable with him. Madison was comfortable with him where her body was concerned, god was she ever, but it was her heart that he wanted. Not once had he ever rushed her, never even asked her to say the words or how she felt. He didn’t need to hear it, he knew she loved him. He hoped at least. Now he couldn’t wait any longer.
As soon as he saw her he was going to drop to one knee and propose before she found out about the baby. He didn’t want her to think that was why he wanted to marry her. It wasn’t. He loved her. Worshiped her. She was everything to him. Now if he could only get her to see that.
Speak of the devil. His cell phone rang and he couldn't help but grin seeing her name on his caller ID. “Hey, baby, you miss me?”
“My my my, Ephraim, I don’t remember that being your pet name for me,” a teasing sultry voice said.
Cold fear ran through him. “What are you doing with this phone?” he made his voice sound normal.
“What no ‘I miss you Caroline’, ‘I’ve been nothing without you’, not even 'I miss f**king you’?” she said in a pouty voice followed by a shrill laugh. “Uh oh, seems Madison didn’t like hearing the last part. Seems you forgot to tell her about us.”