Page 75 of Her Eternal Mate

“Now it’s like you’re in my mind,” Alexis giggled.

“Don’t worry. They’re all going to be fine. I trust Vince,” I said.

“Well, in that case, how about we just go with Plan A and sleep in each other’s arms?”

“And tomorrow, we can go cliff diving!”

“Easy there, mister. Those cliffs are high,” she said, patting my head. “We have to be mindful of your healing process.”

“All I know is, if I’m with you, I’m never in danger, no matter how high the cliff or how deep the water,” I said.

“And as long as I’m with you, I know you shall always protect me,” she said.

“I promise,” I said, stroking her hair, and it was just like that that we both fell asleep.

Epilogue

Alexis

Three Months Later

It wasn’t the San Francisco water that was making me sick. I had ascertained it. If anything, the water here was far better than the one I was used to drinking in Fiddler’s Green.

It had been three months since our wedding and the honeymoon. Three months since we’d packed all our belongings and moved across the country to Palo Alto. We couldn’t decide whether we wanted to live in San Francisco or somewhere quieter around it. It was sort of a draw that we settled on Palo Alto. Will loved the suburbs, and I was fond of the greenery and the peace and quiet. We had just about enough money between the two of us to put the down payment on a small house in a gentrified neighborhood.

Both of us were happy, I believed. Apart from the nausea, that was.

Will had his job at the marina. He had shown exceptional talent to the proprietor of the marina in repairing vintage ships. According to the proprietor, he had never seen such deft work in his entire life. The work was steady, and it kept him busy five days a week. The paychecks weren’t bad, either.

I felt a little bit lost when I first came here, not knowing what exactly to do, but then I saw this amazing little bookstore in Palo Alto that had a “Help Wanted!” sign on its window. Within a month, I was not only their cashier, I was also the bookkeeper, both figuratively and literally. It had never occurred to me that my real passion was maintaining these quaint little bookstores.

Everything was going well, except for the morning sickness.

It was strange; I hadn’t gone out to a party last night. Neither of us had drunk alcohol, even though it was a Saturday night. Will was still sound asleep in the bed, not moving, not stirring.

I, on the other hand, had to rush to the bathroom immediately or risk hurling all over the carpet.

Once the contents of my stomach had exited, I sat there on the toilet, holding my body, feeling queasy, eyeing the medicine cabinet. I’d tried everything in there to subside the nausea, but nothing seemed to work.

Was it food poisoning from that calamari I had last month? Food poisoning didn’t run this long.

Unless.

Fuck.

Apprehensively, I went to the medicine cabinet and brought out the pregnancy test strips I’d casually bought one day while shopping at Walmart. Will and I hadn’t been using protection since we’d gotten married. Some subconscious part of me had prompted me to buy the pregnancy tests.

And now, that same subconscious part was speaking to me, telling me to take out the strip and pee on it to see if I was pregnant or not.

I took out one strip and went to work on it, feeling very afraid suddenly.

***

Ten minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom with my legs shaking and the wet test strip in my hand. It had two black lines on it. Well, that explained the morning sickness. I’d been getting nauseous for a month now. Could I have been pregnant for a month and not known it?

Holy shit.

I went over to Will and shook his shoulder.