Sweet Temptation (38 page)

“Baby, you don’t look too good,” Nate whispered from behind her.

Looking up into the mirror, she could see that he was really worried about her. “It’s fine Nate. It will pass,” she said as she smiled weakly at him. “What have you got on today?” she asked, reaching for her hairbrush.

Nate folded his arms over his chest and frowned at her. “I have two cars to do today, then seeing some friends later,” Nate answered her. “What about you?” He walked up and wrapped his arms around her.

“Cleaning, and then going out with Alex.”

“Okay, I’m going to head back over; are you coming over tonight?” he asked.

“I’ll be over tonight,” she answered him.

“We’re leaving in twenty minutes, Skylar,” Alex yelled out.

“I’ll be ready,” she replied, turning towards Nate. “I need to get ready. I’ll see you sometime tonight, okay?” Skylar told him.

“See you then, baby.” Nate said, smiling and winking at her.

Closing the door behind her, she quickly pulled on her jeans and shirt and walked out into the kitchen. “The only appointment I could get you was at 10:30 a.m. today, or you’d have to wait two weeks for the next available one,” Alex told her.

“Thanks for that, Alex. I’d rather have the appointment now than have to wait.” She reached for her bag. “Ready to go?” she asked, walking towards the front door.

“After you,” Alex said, smiling.

She really didn’t want to hear bad news today; there was no way she could handle it. She was really glad to have Alex with her, just in case.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Alex pulled into the clinic car park. Jumping out, he met Skylar on her side and gently grabbed her hand in his.

“Ready?” he asked.

Breathing out, she nodded. They walked into the clinic and Alex took a seat as Skylar spoke to the receptionist.

“Hello.” The receptionist looked up from the desk.

“I have an appointment at 10:30 for Skylar Montague.”

The receptionist looked at her computer screen, made a few clicks and smiled. “Please take a seat; you’re up next with the doctor.”

“Thank you.”

She spotted Alex immediately and went to sit beside him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned down whispering into her ear, “Everything will be fine. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it, okay?”

“I know, thanks,” she said, leaning against his shoulder. She really wanted Nate to be here with her; she didn’t want to find out whatever it was by herself. She needed him here with her right now.

“Miss Montague,” the doctor called out, looking up from her clipboard.

She took in a deep breath and stood up. “Do you want me to come in with you?” Alex asked her.

“I need to do this by myself,” she whispered.

Nodding, he watched as she went in with the doctor. “Take a seat, Miss Montague,” the doctor said as she closed the door. Skylar sat down beside the desk.

“My name is Marian. What can I do for you today?”

Skylar leaned back in her chair. “Well, for the last day or two I haven’t been feeling myself. I feel lightheaded and have been throwing up,” she explains.

“Okay, that’s a start. I see you were recently in the hospital for a head wound,” she said, bringing up Skylar’s file on the screen in front of her.

“I slipped in my bathroom.”

Nodding, the doctor started typing something in her file. “Okay, I’ll order a blood test and urine test, which you can do now. If nothing comes up, Pathology will redo the tests with the blood.” She reached into the cupboard and pulled a urine jar. “The bathroom is the one on the left. When you’re done, come straight back in, okay?” Marian said.

Skylar picked up the jar and went into the bathroom. After giving her sample and washing her hands, she walked back into the doctor’s office, placing the jar on the desk. She sat down and watched as Marian walked over towards the sink and placed several test sticks aside. She watched as Marian placed each one in the jar, waiting several minutes to see their results.

“Everything looks good. No infections.” As she lifted the last one up, she frowned, “When was your last menstrual cycle?”

“Um, mine are irregular. The last time was before I moved here, so three months ago.”

“Have you always been like that?”

“No, the last two years I’ve been under a lot of stress.”

The doctor sat down in front of Skylar. “Well, I’ve found out why you haven’t been yourself.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Congratulations, you’re pregnant.”

“Really? Are you sure?” She couldn’t believe it.

“That’s what the test says. The blood work will confirm it, and I’ll print out a form for a scan, so we’ll know how far along you are.”

Nodding was all she could do. Skylar waited as Marian printed out the test form and scan test.

“After you have had the blood and scan done, come back in a month, and we’ll go from there.”

“Thank you.” Skylar stood and walked out of the room, heading to the reception desk to pay. Once she was finished, she met Alex at his truck.

“So, did the doctor figure out what was wrong?”

Leaning against his truck, she handed him the test papers. “Jesus, darling.”

“How am I going to tell him, Alex?” Skylar sobbed.

“I’ll come with you to tell him.”

“I just can’t believe it.”

“You’re not alone with this. Both Craig and I will be with you every step of the way.”

“What would I do without you two in my life?”

Alex wrapped both arms around her and kissed her lightly on her head. “Let’s go and do these tests.” He helped her up into his truck, and then slid in beside her and started the engine. “It will all work out.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

After the blood test, they went and got the scan done. She needed someone with her for support. After it was done, they returned home. Her first scan showed she was seven weeks pregnant. She placed her hand over her belly; she couldn’t believe she was carrying Nate’s child. She had always wanted children, but didn’t know how Nate would feel about it. Skylar was both scared and excited; she didn’t know how he would react to the news.

“So, when are you going to tell him, darling?” Alex asked.

Skylar looked over at him, “Tonight, when I go over there. I don’t want to wait too long.”

“Okay, baby girl,” he said.

As they pulled up in their driveway she could see Nate working on a car out back.
God, he was gorgeous,
she thought. As if he could feel her looking at him, he turned around and smiled at her. Skylar smiled back at him. She went inside and placed the scans in her office, then went to grab a drink. Closing the fridge and turning around, she was caught by surprise, “Jesus Christ, Nate! You scared me.”

Nate was leaning against the door and looking sexy as hell. Skylar held a hand over her heart and tried to control her heavy breathing.

“Sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He walked up and gave her a kiss.

“You look better than you did this morning; everything okay now?” he asked.

Skylar looked up in to his eyes. “Much better now.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I just wanted to stop by quick to see if you were all right,” Nate said.

“Okay, I’ll see you later on.”

He walked out the back door, towards his place. She had no idea how she was going to tell him she was carrying his child. Maybe if she waited a week or two to tell him she might know exactly how she was going to do it. Placing her glass in the sink, she made her way to her room. Finding the book she was reading last week, she opened it at the last page she was at. She went over several ways she could tell him, but none of them sounded very good. She didn’t want to just say, “I’m pregnant, and it’s yours.”
How lame would that be?
She settled on finding out how he felt about kids and if he actually wanted any; that would be a good place to start.

* * *

Nate finished up on the car he was working on two hours later. He closed up his shop, and went inside to clean up. When he seen Skylar pulling up in the driveway, he wanted to know if she was all right. The last couple of days she wasn’t acting herself, and really didn’t look that well either. It was a relief seeing her earlier and noticing that the colour was back in her face and she didn’t look sick anymore.

Nate decided to prepare his famous beef stroganoff for tonight. The meat was already thawed, and all he had to do was place the rice in the rice cooker and get the vegetables ready. Dessert was a different story
. I don’t have to do much there
, he thought with a smile. Walking from his room, he heard a knock at his door.
Who would that be?
Reaching for a towel, he stomped towards his door and swung it open.

“Hello,” Natalie said.

“You’re early,” he growled.

“I didn’t want to come too late,” she whispered.

He moved aside to let her in.

“You look good,” Natalie said, moving past him.

“Start explaining, Natalie,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.

Taking a seat on the sofa, she turned to him. “Your son’s name is William. I named him after your grandfather. His birthday is the seventeenth of January and he’ll be turning six next year,” she whispered.

“How can I be so sure he is mine, Natalie?” His anger was escalating.

“You’re the only one who hasn’t done a DNA test. Plus, do the math, Nate. We were only together for a year when I got pregnant.”

“You were also sleeping with someone else at that time too, remember?” He sat down opposite her. Was it possible that it was his son?

Natalie stood and walked towards him, “He looks like you, Nate. He has the same green eyes and dimples. No one I have ever met has eyes like yours. It runs in your family.”

“What do you want from me, Natalie, if he is my son?” This was too much for him.

“I want us to be a real family, Nate. I want to start over.” Natalie placed her hand over his.

Nate was happy with Skylar. How in the world could he have a family with Natalie and be with her? It wouldn’t work out. “How can you say that after what you put me through? It’s not just us anymore, there would be a child involved,” he said. Nate stood, “I need to go and dress. I’ll be back out in a minute.”

He left Natalie and stomped towards his room. He pulled on a pair of jeans, leaving the button undone. He didn’t bother with a shirt; there was no point as Skylar would be over later. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer, popping the cap off and taking a swig. He couldn’t believe Natalie wanted to start over. Shaking his head, he walked back out into the lounge.

* * *

Skylar pulled on the summer dress she bought when she was shopping with Chantal. It was a white dress with black flowers that had a nice halter- top and finished at her knees. Throwing her hair up in a ponytail, she walked out into the kitchen.