B00BR2BOUU EBOK (45 page)

“Bryce, are you happy?” I
searched his eyes.

“Yes, my love, but I could be
happier.” He kissed my chin as he said it. My heart skipped a beat, wondering
why? “I would be happier if you married me.”
Phew.
He pumped me harder,
making me bounce against the wall, and jerking my voice as I responded.

“I will marry you, but not
yet. Anyway, we still haven’t gone on a date. I’m not marrying you or even
properly saying yes to a proposal without a ring and a date.”

He laughed. “We really did do
the whole date thing backwards, didn’t we.”

“Yep.” My voice climbed as
did my breathing as he rolled into me many more times until I sunk my teeth
into his shoulder blade, and buried my outburst of pleasure into his skin. We
slowed out breathing and relaxed, then he let me go. He leaned up against the
wall, and watched me as I proceeded to wash my hair.

“How was Nate when you were
playing the Wii with him?” I asked.

“He was alright. He did ask
me if I was going to be his ‘new Dad’ though.”

I turned my neck so quickly
in his direction I pulled a muscle.

“Ow, fuck.”

Bryce chuckled, “You all
right?” He pushed off the wall, and placed his hand on the sore spot, then
rubbed.

“What did you say to him?” I
said now feeling a slight twinge of discomfort.

“I said ‘no’, that he ‘already
has a Dad that loves him’. But I did say, ‘that one day I would be his second
Dad if he ever wanted me to be’.”

A smile crept across my face.
“And what did he say to that?”

“He said, and I quote, ‘Sick’.”

CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE

Bryce and I fell asleep
together in his bed, but in the early hours of the morning, he carried me back
to my room and told me he would see me in a couple of hours. When I sat up, I
felt horrible and only just made it to the toilet before hurling the contents
of my stomach.
I’m never eating fish ‘n’ chips ever again, unless Bryce
makes it with his special sauce.
I groaned on my way back to the bed then
flopped face down.

“Mum, Bryce wants to know how
you want your eggs, poached, boiled, fried or scrambled?”
Eggs, white, and
yellow, soft, slimy, oh fuck not again.
I ran back to the toilet and
projected another fountain of stomach interior decoration. When that was down,
out, and flushed, I washed my hands and face, and brushed my teeth. Bryce burst
into the bathroom with Nate following closely behind.

“What’s wrong, Hunny? Are you
okay?”

“I think it was dodgy fish ‘n’
chips. How do you feel Nate?”

“Fine.”

“Well, I had the calamari and
you didn’t...So maybe it was that? I need to ring Rick and see if he and
Charlotte are okay.”

“I’ll get your phone, Mum.”

Nate handed me the phone and
I dialled Rick. “Hey, how did you and Charli go last night?”

“Yeah fine, she is still
asleep. How’s Nate?”

“Yeah he’s fine, don’t worry.
Listen, have you or Charli been sick at all?”

“No, we are fine. Why?”

“I must’ve had a dodgy
calamari ring, I feel awful.”

“Shit, that’s no good, make
sure you rest.”

“Yeah, I will, thanks. Oh, by
the way, when Charli takes you shopping today, she does not need another pair
of pink, purple or silver sparkly shoes, nor does she need another hair brush.
Don’t be fooled by her blue, twinkly eyes.”

“Got it. No shoes or
hairbrushes.”

“And avoid the eye contact,
trust me. Okay, got to go, bye.” I threw the phone on the bed and ran back into
the bathroom. Bryce was there rubbing my back as another, but smaller version
of my fountain, spilled into the toilet bowl again.

“Hunny, I’ll call Janette and
see if she can come and take a look at you.”

“I’m fine, Bryce, it’s
probably food poisoning. I just need some water.”

“Okay, I’ll get you some
water.”

I cleaned up again and got
back into bed.

“Mum, it smells like spew in
here. Can I go?”
The amount of times I’ve had to smell your spew young man,
let alone other bodily excretions you have blessed upon me throughout your nine
years, and yet you can’t handle this? Lucky you.

“Yeah, go mate, I’m fine.” I
watched him deliberate whether or not to give me a kiss, so I made his decision
easy by blowing him one. “Go, sweetheart.” He walked out the door as Bryce
walked in with a glass of water and some dry toast.

“Here, Janette is on her way
up.”

“Bryce, I’m fine. You’re just
wasting her time.”

“Time I pay her for, so shush.”
He handed me the water, which I guzzled, then I took small nibbles of the
toast. He was smirking at me as I made my tiny baby bites.

“What?”

“You’re even beautiful when
you vomit, you know that?”

I rolled my eyes at him.
“You’re funny, Mr. Clark.”

“No, I’m not. You are all
kinds of green right now, yet you are still the most beautiful creature I have
ever seen.”

“I’d kiss you right now if I
didn’t have vomit-breath.”

“I’d kiss you right now too,
if you didn’t have vomit-breath. You might be breath takingly beautiful, but I
don’t do vomit-breath.” He kissed his fingers and pressed them to my head as I
laughed.

The buzzer to his office door
rang. “That will be Janette. I’ll be back in a minute.” He rushed out of the
room, and minutes later he was back with the City Towers Precinct Nurse.

“Alexis, dear, I’m not going
to ask how you are because obviously you are not too well.”

“Hi Janette, I’ve definitely
seen better days.”

“Okay, so what’s been
happening?” She sat down on the edge of the bed. I looked at Bryce who was
leaning up against the wall.

“Well, I had fish ‘n’ chips
last night, and I think the calamari rings might have been a bit suspect.”

“Right, have you had
diarrhoea at all?”

“No.”

“Stomach pain?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay, I’ll just take your
temperature and blood pressure.” She pulled a thermometer out from within her
bag and placed it in my ear until it beeped.

“37.8, that’s slightly higher
than normal, but not high enough to indicate a fever.” She took out the blood
pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm, then placed the stethoscope across
the crook of my arm and pumped away.

“125/90, you’re blood
pressure is also slightly higher than normal. Do you normally experience high
blood pressure?

“No, not that I am aware of.”

“Have you been stressed
lately, or over exerting yourself?”
Ha, stressed? Well you could say that.

“Just a little a bit,” I admitted
as I smiled studiously at Bryce. She removed the cuff and placed it on the bed.
“Are you on birth control, Alexis?”

“Yes.” I blushed, and quickly
looked at Bryce, because he had never asked me this question. “Yes I’m on the
pill.” As I said it, a wave of heat resonated at my toes and slowly rolled
through my body until it hit my face.
My period, Shit. I haven’t surfed the
crimson wave in...in a while. Fuck, Fuckity, Fuck, when was I due?

“Bryce, can you show me how
to do that trick on Mario Kart?” Nate was at that the door.

“Sure, that’s my cue to
leave.” He said as he followed Nate out.
Thank you my little angel boy.

“Alexis, when did you last
get your period?”

“I don’t know. My pill is in
my bag, but I missed some a few weeks ago when I went away for a couple of
days. Shit.”

“How many did you miss?”

“Um.” I remembered back to
the day before I first came here. I had taken my pill away on the girl’s
weekend, but when I came home that night I put it on my dresser. After Rick
confessed, I had grabbed my bag and forgot all about it until I went to the
house on my way back from the airport. 
So that would be 1,2,3,4 days.
“Four days.”

“Okay, I think we should do a
urine test.”
Shit. Crap. Balls.
She handed me a cup, so I went into the
bathroom and very awkwardly placed it between my legs, closing my eyes and
hoping I wouldn’t pee on my fingers. I was about to catch the amber liquid that
would determine the use of my uterus for the next nine months. I clenched my
pelvic floor and removed the cup, then stared into it.
There is no baby in
there Alexis, what are you doing? Get off the toilet.
I washed my hands and
handed over my cup of possible gestation.

“This will only take a minute,
Alexis.” She dipped the test strip into my pee.
Longest freaking minute of
my life, I’m sure it’s been like 10 or 50 even. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry
uuuuuup.
She pulled the strip out, took the cup to the bathroom and tipped
the sentencing fluid away. “Alexis, you are pregnant.” She said it like she was
in slow motion. 
A l e x i s  y o u  a r e   p r e g n a n t. Oh Holy Shit,
Fucking, Crap, Crappity Balls.
“When did you say you were due for your last
period?” She asked.

“What? Oh, I think maybe two
weeks ago thereabouts.”
Shit, how did I not realise this? Alexis you’ve been
slightly preoccupied, remember?

“I’d say you are
approximately 4-6 weeks along then. You’ll need to book in to see your doctor
as soon as possible.” She packed up her stuff. “Make sure you start taking
folic acid, as of today, and good luck.” I followed her out of the room, and
escorted her to the door.

“Thank you, Janette.”

“All the best, Alexis.” I
closed the door behind her and fell against it.
No, no, no. My womb is in
retirement. She cashed in her superannuation and has been holidaying in Alexis
Island.

“Hunny, what are you doing?”
Shit.
Bryce walked over to me. His face was laced with concern. “What did Janette
say?”
Oh, nothing really, just that I’m brewing a human in my uterus and you
are going to father it.

“Probably food poisoning.”

“Probably?”

“Yeah, my tests were all
good. She said to drink plenty of water to help wash it out of my system, and I
have to get some folic acid.”

“Folic acid? What’s that
for?”
Oh shit, Alexis you’re an idiot.

“It’s just a vitamin to help
boost my immune levels.”
Please fall for it, please fall for it.

“Okay, go back up to bed and
I’ll bring you some more water.”

“Actually, I’m going to have
a shower.” I went to kiss him, but we both stopped and leaned back
simultaneously. I pulled a sad face and turned. “I hate being sick.”
And
pregnant right now.
As I walked off he came up behind me and moved the hair
away from neck, then trailed kisses all over it, stopping to whisper in my ear.

“I might not do vomit breath,
Hunny, but I definitely do every other part of your body.” I let my head fall
back on his shoulder.
 No, God dammit, this is why you have baby Clark in
your belly, Alexis. Baby Clark! Hmmm.
I’m going to have a shower. I walked
back upstairs and gave him delicate smile.

***

I turned on the water, put my
hands against the wall and watched the water go down the drain.
Baby Clark
is not going to wash down the drain, Alexis.
I automatically placed my hand
on my stomach.
Oh my god! I’m pregnant. I’m having another baby. I’m having
Bryce’s baby. It is Bryce’s baby?
 I quickly racked my brain again.
Did
I sleep with Rick after my girl’s weekend away?
No, definitely not. So
yes, it’s positively Baby Clark.
I had no idea how I was going to tell him.
Would he be happy? I hoped so. He’d told me before he loved kids, and he was
fantastic with Nate and Charli, and he absolutely adored Alexander. I couldn’t
tell him yet though, we would need to be alone. I was going to have to wait
till Nate went back to stay with Rick which would be tomorrow night.
Fuck,
how do I keep it from him? I’m not very good at that shit. I should ask Rick
for pointers! No, definitely not.

“How’s it going beautiful?”
Bryce was standing in the bathroom holding another glass of water. I reached my
hand around the shower glass and took it from him, then guzzled some more. “You
make food poisoning look sexy as hell.”

“Stop it, I do not.”

“Yes, you do. Are you feeling
any better?”

“Yeah, I think the vomit
express has moved along.”

“Good. That I means I can
kiss you in a day or so.” He screwed up his nose.

“What? A day or so?”
I
can’t wait that long. I need his tongue in my mouth, like minutes ago.
“Pass me my toothbrush.” I scowled. He put toothpaste on it for me then handed
it over, together with a smirk. I scrubbed and scrubbed as much as I could then
spat the minty foam down the drain. I basically threw the toothbrush back at
him, and poked out my tongue.

“I’m kidding, my love.”