by Holly Rayner
Her mother had been right. This was probably the biggest mistake she could have ever made. And yet, she found that she wasn’t sorry.
There was a tiny little life growing inside of her at that very moment. A little baby, depending on her to stay calm and relaxed, to eat healthy and take good care of herself so she could take care of him or her. She took a deep breath, then, and met her gaze in the mirror with determination.
It was time to shed all feelings for Akim. He was a businessman first and a human being second, and while neither she nor her child would be immune to that, she had to try. She forced herself into a sense of calm acceptance. Akim was who he was, and he wasn’t going to change for her or their child.
It was time to move on.
ELEVEN
“Yousef, can you hand me that slide?”
Maddy took the thin plastic slide Yousef handed her and slid it under a microscope, turning the knobs as she focused in on the sample.
Then she felt a little flutter in her belly, and froze.
“Maddy? Are you all right?”
Yousef had been watching her with suspicious eyes ever since the day she had found out she was pregnant. Maddy didn’t know how, but she could swear that he knew. Unwilling to broach the subject, she made sure to change it every time Yousef started hinting that she might be carrying a baby. It took everything in her in that moment not to cup her growing belly.
“I’m fine. I think I just ate something weird for lunch.”
“Did you?” he asked.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. The truth was, Yousef was the one person she had wanted to confide in this whole time. She felt so alone, and dealing with everything entirely on her own was crushing her. She couldn’t tell her mother, lest she die of the shame. She couldn’t talk to Akim, who had steadfastly ignored her these past three months, and who seemed to want nothing more to do with her or the baby until he could flaunt them both on live television.
But Yousef looked at her with concern, empathy even. She could feel that he knew something was off, that he had guessed at least some of it, but she couldn’t put him in danger by letting him in on the secret. Not until the political tides had turned, and they were in the clear.
Maddy forced a laugh. “Really, Yousef. Your concern is admirable, but really, I’m fine.”
She bent back over the microscope and ignored the burning sensation of his stare against the back of her head. Finally, she looked up. “I think you’re onto something here, but the cell sample on the left looks a little botched.
Yousef frowned. “I thought so, too, but I’m glad to get a second opinion on it.” Sighing, he pulled the scope up and removed the slide, replacing it in a protective case. “We’ll have to do another round of testing.”
“Yes, I suppose we will.”
“Are you pregnant?”
Maddy gawked, staring at Yousef, taken completely off guard with his blunt question.
“Why w-would you ask that?” she stammered.
Yousef’s stare was cold and direct. “Maddy, what did you do? Were you really so desperate to see Chlomerol succeed that you decided to test it on yourself? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
Maddy stared at him, processing his words. She had been so alone for so long, trying to stay positive, trying to see her decision as something good, but with no one else seeming to agree, she finally gave up trying to be stoic, and broke down in tears.
Yousef placed a comforting hand on her arm as she wept.
“How did you know?” she asked, finally.
Yousef’s eyes were soft when she finally grew brave enough to look into them. “I have three children, Maddy. I know what a pregnant woman looks like, even if she has no belly to show for it.”
Maddy sniffed, taking a seat on a lab bench. “I suppose you think I’m stupid?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On who the father is.”
Maddy stared down at the table, and Yousef sighed in frustration.
“Maddy, you haven’t been yourself in months. I’ve already guessed the truth. Whatever you think you are saving me from no longer matters. You might as well just tell me what’s going on. Now, who is the father?”
“Akim,” she breathed. It felt terrible and wonderful to say it out loud.
Yousef sighed. “Of course. Was this his idea? Is he taking advantage of you?”
Maddy shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. At first I thought he might be in for the chance to have a family, but after I let him know we’d been successful in the trial, all he could talk about was marketing prospects.”
Yousef growled out a curse in Arabic. “That is not the way a man acts, Maddy. He needs to be responsible for his future child, and not just in terms of money!”
“What do you expect me to do? I’ve gotten impregnated by my boss in the name of science. It is too much to ask for him to be any more than that.”
It was an argument she had been through with herself time and time again, deep into the night when she couldn’t sleep for fear of dreaming of Akim.
Maddy felt Yousef’s comforting hand resting on her shoulder once again, and she nearly flinched away. The last thing she deserved was kindness.
She should have listened to her mother.
As she began to weep again, Yousef grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him.
“You feel more for him than you are saying, which is understandable, now that I know the truth. Go to him, Maddy. Don’t stay away simply because he is distancing himself. Perhaps you will find that he believes that to be your wish, or that he believes he is protecting you in some way. You must ask for what you want. You must take action, rather than hiding here in your lab, waiting for something to happen.”
Maddy sniffed, accepting the tissue Yousef handed her and blowing her nose.
“I think you’re right,” she said.
“Of course I’m right. When has that ever not been the case?”
Maddy smirked. “Oh, now you’re choosing to get cocky?”
“Just go talk to him. Invite him out to dinner or something. I agree it is something he should be doing, but the choice has been placed in your hands, so you must now do something about it, yes?”
“Fine, fine, just stop with all the lecturing. There’s a reason I tried to keep this from you,” she said, trying to keep the mood light.
“Sure. I’ll be here when you get back,” he said.
Maddy dabbed more tears off her face, wondering just how many more she would shed before all this was over. Then she left the lab and headed for Akim’s office.
Yousef was right. It was time for her to take some control over her situation. For her child’s sake, she had to.
TWELVE
When Maddy reached Akim’s door, she froze.
The last time she had been there, he nearly kissed her before brushing her off for a phone call, only moments after finding out he would become a father. Could her heart really take another cold shoulder from him? She seemed so unable to handle anything these days, and it simply wasn’t like her.
Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and strode in.
Akim looked up from his computer, surprised. “Maddy. What brings you here? Not bad news, I hope?”
His gaze darted to her belly before lifting back up to her eyes. She wondered if he would care if something went wrong with the pregnancy, or if he would be more upset that he lost the millions that were sure to come of it. Brushing that thought aside, she shook her head.
“No bad news… I actually have my first ultrasound this afternoon, and I wanted to see if you were interested in joining me.”
She held her breath. It was a long shot. He probably had some meeting or some other nonsense he would make up to get out of it. To her complete surprise, however, Akim stood and grabbed his work bag.
“I’d love to. Would you like to get lunch together first?”
“I’ve already ea
ten.”
“Yes, but you’re pregnant, right? You’re eating for two!”
Maddy crossed her arms. “That’s actually a myth. Babies are microscopic, so they don’t need nearly as many calories as we like to think they do. It’s just an excuse to eat anything you want to excuse weight gain.”
Akim stared at her as the silence between them stretched on. He cleared his throat. “Well then. What time is the appointment?”
“I was just about to head to the doctor’s now,” she said.
The truth was, she hadn’t expected Akim to want to come. She had expected him to throw out some comment about how she could handle it and then get back to work himself, shooing her from his office. Instead he shouldered his bag and opened the door for her.
“Well, then, we’d better get going.”
Maddy exited the office, Akim falling in step beside her as they made their way to his car. Today’s vehicle of choice was a red Lamborghini, and Maddy squeezed herself uncomfortably into the passenger seat.
“Ugh,” she groaned, trying to get comfortable.
“What?” Akim asked, confused.
Maddy turned to him. “You don’t ever intend to put our child in one of these death traps, right?”
“What? I think a baby would look fantastic in here. I mean anything would. It’s a Lamborghini.”
Maddy pulled her seatbelt across her lap and clicked it in. “Over my dead body. Children aren’t supposed to be in a front seat until they’re like sixty pounds. This car doesn’t even have a backseat.”
Akim pulled out of the garage in silence as he drove them onto the road and wove his way into the light traffic dotting the highway.
“I suppose I have a lot to learn,” he said, so quietly, Maddy almost thought she’d misheard.
He asked for directions to her doctor’s office, and she spent the rest of the drive guiding him there in between bouts of uncomfortable silence.
Akim pulled into the parking garage of the doctor’s office before turning off the car and exiting, not making it to Maddy’s side in time to help her from the car. Instead, he stood awkwardly while she pulled herself free of the tiny vehicle and the two of them stepped inside. Maddy checked in at reception, five minutes before her appointment time, and Akim pulled out his cellphone while they waited, and gave no hint that he was aware of her existence.
“Madeline?” a nurse asked, opening a door to the office.
Maddy nodded and stood. Akim put his phone in his bag and followed her to the exam room.
The nurse handed Maddy a one-sided patient’s robe and said, “If you could please change into this, the technician will be here in a moment.”
“Thank you,” Maddy replied.
The door closed, and Maddy stared at the fabric in her hands, then glanced over at Akim. He looked equally as uncomfortable, and turned around so she could change without him watching. A traitorous part of her secretly hoped he would sneak a peek, remember that passionate night they had shared, and want her again, kissing her just as senseless as he had so many months before.
It seemed like a lifetime ago, now.
After a short while, there was a firm knock at the door before a technician in scrubs entered with the ultrasound machine.
“Good afternoon!” the woman said cheerfully. “My name is Ophelia, and I will be checking out your little bundle of joy today. Are you the father?” She looked expectantly at Akim, who looked like a deer in headlights.
Maddy repressed a grin. Apparently he had never been asked that question before. He looked a little pale under the harsh office lights.
“Yes,” he breathed.
Ophelia nodded. “Looks about right. So funny when they look all terrified, like they’re the ones that have to do anything, am I right?”
She gave Maddy a knowing smile, and Maddy swallowed. She hadn’t really wanted to think about the whole childbirth thing yet. There would be time to prepare for that later.
“Right. Well why don’t you get comfy and lay down on the exam table here. Dad, you can sit in the chair on her side over there.”
Akim took the order and slid into the seat beside Maddy as she lay down. The technician pulled the ultrasound machine over and began preparing the equipment.
“First baby?” she asked brightly.
“Yes,” Maddy said, watching the woman with rapt attention.
“The first one is always interesting. Let’s see what you’ve got for us today, shall we?”
“Sure,” Maddy said.
The woman lifted Maddy’s medical gown to reveal her slightly bulging belly, smearing a blue gel along her abdomen before placing a little wand over her stomach.
“Well, that sure sounds like a strong little heartbeat. Congratulations! You have a healthy child growing in there.”
Maddy looked at the black and white ultrasound screen, hardly breathing. She could tell there was a little wiggling going on in there, but that was all she could discern from the pixilated image. She felt a warm hand slide into hers, and when she glanced over, she met Akim’s warm stare before they both turned back to the screen.
The woman moved the wand around a little before her expression furrowed. It was the last look Maddy wanted to see on a doctor’s face, and her stomach clenched with worry.
“Could you two give me a moment? I just need to get a second opinion on something. No need to panic.”
“Sure,” Maddy said, barely breathing.
The woman stepped from the room, and Maddy instantly turned to Akim.
“Something’s wrong. There must be a side effect that we didn’t consider. This was a huge mistake!”
Akim stroked the back of her hand, trying to reassure her. “We don’t know that yet, Maddy. Don’t jump to conclusions. All she wants is a second opinion about something. That doesn’t mean it’s something bad.”
“But what if it is?”
Akim squeezed Maddy’s hands, forcing her to acknowledge him as her heart went wild with fear. “Maddy. Look at me. We’re going to be okay. This child is going to be okay. You need to calm down, for his or her sake.”
Maddy took several deep breaths, trying to listen to his words and make her body relax. She held on tightly to his hand as they waited for the technician to return, which she finally did, with another doctor in tow.
“Hello there,” the older man said, his tone pleasant and entirely unworried.
Maddy nearly screamed. What were they doing? What was wrong with her baby? She had to know!
“Ah, a first-time mother I see,” the man said, barely repressing a grin.
“How could you tell?” Akim asked.
“I’ve seen that anxious look a thousand times before. Please, don’t be concerned. I’m just going to take a look to confirm what my colleague has found before we say anything for certain.”
The doctor rolled the ultrasound machine back up and Maddy revealed her stomach once again. She held tightly to Akim’s hand, more grateful than ever that she had found the courage to ask him to come with her. Dealing with this uncertainty alone would have been unbearable; having Akim there was a lifeline she hadn’t known she would need.
The doctor sprayed some more of the gel along Maddy’s belly before rolling the wand along her stomach, first on one side, then the other, as he carefully watched the ultrasound screen.
Finally, Akim spoke. “Well, doctor? Is the baby okay?”
Maddy could hear his own anxiety, and in a weird way, it soothed her to know that the Sheikh felt the same worry for their child as she did.
The doctor broke into a wide grin. “The baby is absolutely fine. In fact, all of them are.”
Akim and Maddy stared at him while they processed that statement.
“What do you mean, all of them? Are you saying we’re having…twins?”
Ophelia chuckled. “You could say that, it’s just that you’re going to be having two sets of twins at once.”
Maddy felt Akim drop her hand, and she looked back at him. He was
staring at the technician in complete shock.
“Well, I can see this news is a lot for you to take in, but, like I said, it looks like all four babies are perfectly healthy. With quadruplets, we will have to be especially careful monitoring this pregnancy. It’s very likely you’ll need to take early maternity leave and that we will have to perform a C-section to deliver all the babies safely. Would you like to see them on the screen again, now that the number is confirmed?”