Redeeming (11 page)

“Oh my God, Tricia!” Daniella said as she stifled
a laugh. It was totally wrong, and not at all amusing but… it kinda was. Tricia on her knees with one hand in the toilet and the other grasping onto the test stick,
hilarious
.

“Not funny!” Tricia growled. “Here,” she continued. “Take this thing before I flush it!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.” Daniella replied. She took the test stick from Tricia’s hand and placed it on the bathroom sink once again. Afterward, she helped Tricia get up and clean herself off. As Tricia toweled herself dry, she turned towards Daniella.

“Well?” She said. “Anything yet? I didn’t go through all of that for nothing you know.”

With those words, the seriousness of the moment returned to the forefront of Daniella’s mind. She reached for her cell phone and looked at the timer.

Three minutes, five seconds.

“I can’t look.” Daniella said.

Tricia put the toilet seat down.
“Okay, you want me to do it?”

Daniella nodded.

Tricia picked up the test stick and studied it for a few seconds.

“Well?” Daniella said. The last several minutes were like an eternity. Tricia made
it a hundred times worse as she sat there and studied it in silence.

“Just give me a second. Would you?”

Daniella exhaled and looked up towards the ceiling.

“Hmm…” Tricia said.

“What?”

“Well, I can’t tell if it’s positive or not.”

“What do you mean? If it’s plus sign, it’s positive, if it’s a minus, it isn’t.”

“Right but…” she began. She held the stick upwards and tried to get a better view. “It looks like there could be a plus sign but it’s really faint.”

Daniella couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Just give it to me.” She said.

Tricia handed it to her. “Alright, tell me what you see.”

Daniella looked at the stick for a few seconds. Tricia was right. It looked like there could be a plus sign but it was faint.

“What do the directions say?” Daniella asked.

Tricia looked to her left and grabbed them off the sink.

“Okay,” she began as she read them. “It says here if you see anything other than a minus sign, you’re pregnant.”

“Anything other than a minus…” Daniella muttered.

While she examined it once more, Tricia folded the directions and stood next to her. For another second or two, they looked at together and then turned to one another.

“Daniella…” s
he began. “Holy shit! You are pregnant!”

***

When Daniella next awoke, Tricia knelt over her with a bag of frozen peas in her hand.

“Oh… what happened?” Daniella moaned.

“You fainted… Are you okay?”

“Yes, except… ow, my head…” she said. Daniella reached around behind her and felt a rather large bump near the base of her skull.

“You hit the freakin’ sink.” Tricia replied. “I tried to catch you but you went down like a sack of rocks. Here… put this behind your head.”

Daniella winced as she took the peas from Tricia and placed them on the site of the bump.

“How long have I been out?”

“Just a few minutes… It was a nasty fall though. Are you sure you are okay?”

“I think so.” Daniella replied. “Let me try and get up.”

“No, no… no.” Tricia said. “Just relax for a second. Someone in your
condition really needs to take it easy.”

“Shit…” Daniella whispered as the meaning of her ‘condition’ flashed back into the front of her mind.

“Yeah,
shit
is right.” Tricia said as she knelt down next to Daniella on the bathroom floor. “Honey, what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… what are you going to tell Jett?”

Daniella already knew the answer to that question. There was no way she would te
ll him, not right now. He… hell,
they
, were in the middle of so much at the moment this was the last thing they needed. Besides, there would be time. Once they straightened this mess out, they would find a way to make it work. They had to since her life depended on it but for now, it would stay between her and Tricia.

There wasn
’t any other choice.

Daniella
’s face turned to one side. She felt the sharp, dull pain of the ice against her flesh.

“I’m not telling him anything.” She whispered.

“What?!” Tricia exclaimed. “Why not?”

“I have my reasons.” She began. “And while we’re at it, you aren’t telling anyone
else either.”

“Oh no… no way, Daniella…” Tricia said as she leaned away from her. She wagged her finger and said, “You are not putting this on me. That’s not fair!”

Daniella groaned, sat forward and propped herself up on her elbows.

“Please, Tricia. I never ask you for anything…”

“Well, this is not just any little thing!” Tricia exclaimed. “Uh, Daniella… I don’t understand why you are acting this way. Why don’t you want anyone to know? Especially Jett of all people!”

“I can’t explain it right now.” Daniella replied. “Please, trust me. Just this
once.”

“I am very uncomfortable with this
, Daniella. Very,
very
uncomfortable…”

Daniella exhaled. Tricia was right. It wasn
’t fair to ask her to keep it a secret. Still, what other choice did she have? If Tricia, or heaven forbid her mom, knew how much she was at risk… well, it would be a full on crisis. And managing a yet one more dramatic event was not something she wanted to do.

“Okay,” Daniella began. “You’re right. I know it. I’m sorry that I asked you to do this but I’m out of options right now. Try
to see it from my perspective for a second. What would you do if you were me?”

Tricia frowned and leaned back against the bathroom sink.

“Yeah, I don’t know…” Tricia replied. “I understand what you are saying and everything but… ugh. I really don’t know what I would do. I’m just worried about you having to deal with this all by yourself. How are you going to explain stuff like the morning sickness to Jett?”

Daniella shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. With any luck, it will get better as time goes by.”

“Uhhh…” Tricia groaned as she rubbed her temples.

“Tricia, please…” Daniella begged.

Tricia raised her arms in mock surrender.
“Man, I know I am going to totally regret this but okay, I’ll keep it to myself for now. Still, I’m telling you… if
a-n-ything
happens to you because of this child, I won’t hesitate to tell everyone if it means keeping you safe and healthy. Agreed?” As she finished speaking, she extended her right hand towards Daniella and waited.

That was the best Daniella could have hoped for under the circumstances. Without a second thought, she shook Tricia
’s hand.

“Deal.”

***

Dateless, Daniella arrived at the fundraiser about fifteen minutes early. She
’d mentioned the event to Jett mostly because he would be curious about where she was that night. He’d offered to come with her but she’d told him not to worry about it. She made it sound as if it would be duller than dull. That seemed to do the trick. He hadn’t brought it up again so at least she wouldn’t have to worry about explaining his presence there with her to her nosy co-workers.

Speaking of which
…

As she walked into the banquet hall, she saw Candi and Victoria across the room talking with a couple of guys she assumed were their dates. The women waved for Daniella to come over. As she walked up to them, Candi and Victoria stepped towards her.

“Hey,” Victoria said as she looked past Daniella and scanned the room. “Where’s your date? Harold?”

“Yeah,” Candi replied. “What gives?”

“Oh,” Daniella began. “He, um, had some last minute stuff come up at work. He’ll be coming by later.”

“Oh, well, that’s okay I guess.” Victoria said with an uncertain tone in her voice.

Daniella smiled and changed the subject as fast as she could. She gestured towards the men. “Are those your dates? I’d love to meet them if they are.”

Candi and Victoria took the bait and before long, they introduced Daniella to them. For about fifteen minutes or so, they chatted and got to know each
other a bit until Eric, Victoria’s date, offered to make a run to the bar. He got a couple of requests and then turned to Daniella.

“Can I get you anything?”
he asked.

Daniella
really
needed a drink. It was going to be a long night and something to take the edge off sounded great.

“Yeah, I’ll have a glass of wine.”

“Okay,” Eric nodded. “Red or white?”

“Red, please…”

“You got it.” He said as he smiled and walked over towards the bar.

After he left, the group chatted for several more minutes. About five minutes later, he returned with everyone
’s drinks and handed them out.

“Thanks.” Daniella replied as she took the wine glass from him.

“A toast…” Candi said. “To Daniella and Victoria… A job well done! Here’s hoping tonight is a success!”

Without thinking,
Daniella smiled and raised her glass along with everyone else but at the last second, she remembered… While the others drank their beverages, Daniella lowered her glass without so much as taking a single sip.

“Daniella?” Victoria asked. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want your wine?”

What? Me? No thanks. I’m pregnant and really shouldn’t drink…

Or at least that
’s what she wanted to say.

Everyone stared at her in silence unable to understand why she didn
’t participate. Each second that passed without a word from her just made things more awkward. She needed to come up with something quick and it had better be believable.

“Uh, it’s the damndest thing…” she said as she chuckled. “I completely forgot that I bleached my teeth. I’m not supposed to have anything that would stain them for at least twenty-four hours.”

The group nodded in collective understanding.

“Well,” Eric chimed in. “I could get you something else. A martini perhaps? That’s clear. It wouldn’t stain your teeth.”

“No, thank you though…” Daniella replied. “I’ll, um, just have a glass of water for now. Maybe later…”

Everyone seemed content to drop it at that point. Daniella was relieved she dodged a small bullet with a little white lie. As much as she hated to do it, the consequences for revealing the truth would be far worse.

Over the next couple of hours, the evening’s events went off without a hitch. There was a silent auction before dinner that went much better than planned. After the meal, the guests mingled with one another and started to relax and loosen up a bit. As Daniella chatted with a donor to the cause, Kim approached.

“Daniella, can I speak to you when you’re done?”

“Yes,” Daniella replied. “I’ll be right there.”

Kim nodded and walked over to the bar where Daniella met her a minute or so later.

“Did you need something?” Daniella asked.

“No, I just wanted to talk to you about the event.”

“Oh,” Daniella said as she looked around. “Is something wrong? What’s happened?”

“No, Daniella. Relax, it’s nothing like that.” Kim replied as she patted her on the arm. “The evening came together perfectly and I wanted to congratulate you on doing such a good job.”

“Oh good,” Daniella replied with relief. “For a second there, I thought for sure something went haywire.”

“No, no…” Kim chuckled. “I couldn’t be happier. But, I’m sure it goes without saying I had some concerns about it.”

“Yes,” Daniella began. “I know. I’m sorry. I promise things like that won’t happen again.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear it. I…”
Kim began but as she did, her eyes widened. At the same time, Daniella felt a large, warm hand wrap itself around her waist. Kim’s eyebrows raised as the palm made its way around the front of Daniella’s dress. Startled, she spun in place to see Jett before her.

“What…” she said. “Jett, what… what are you doing here?”

Jett smiled. “I wanted to come by, see how things were going and congratulate you.” With his hand still on her waist, he leaned away from her with an expression of surprise on his face. “I hope that’s okay.”

Before Daniella could reply, from behind she heard Kim clear her throat.

Daniella shook her head and turned back to face her boss. “Kim, this is…”

Jett stepped forward between the women and extended his hand toward her.
“Hey, I’m Jett.”

Kim smiled.
“Nice to meet you.” She cocked her head to the side and brought her finger up to her chin. “Do I… I feel like I know you from somewhere. Have we met before?”