Page 86 of Ashes of Us

Danica stared down at the positive pregnancy test in disbelief, frozen in place.

No, she couldn't be. It wasn't possible.

Putting her face in her hands, she let out a soft sob as she sank to the floor.

She knew it was, though. She and Alex had spent most of the last half of their business trip in Hawaii in bed together, and while they had picked up condoms after their first night and she went back on birth control when they got home, the first night had been unprotected several times.

“Should we get Plan B?” Danica asked quietly as they grabbed a couple of boxes of condoms at the pharmacy closest to the hotel.

Alex paused, an expression she couldn't read crossing his face. “It's up to you.” He said finally, after a long silence.

He hadn't sounded particularly for or against it, so Danica had gotten one and taken it.

Pulling out her phone, she googled why Plan B would fail and saw that if she had already ovulated, she was essentially hooped since it worked by stopping or delaying ovulation.

Her stomach dropped to her shoes as she opened her tracking app and went back to the date, only to see that she had ovulated the day before.

“Oh god.” If that was right, it meant she was already almost seven weeks pregnant.

She'd been having nausea and vomiting in the morning for the last week and had been hoping it was just a weird bug.

She'd found a pregnancy test in the back of a drawer while looking for something else and just did it on a whim to rule it out.

Grabbing her phone, she texted Alex that she wasn't feeling well and told him to go to work without her.

He stopped by on his way out and asked if she needed anything.

“No, I think I just need to rest.” She assured him, leaning into his hug like it was the last one she'd ever get from him.

“I can stay home with you.” He pulled back slightly and looked down at her, concern plain in his eyes.

“No, really, go. I'm just gonna sleep anyway.” Danica smiled as best she could as he kissed her goodbye and left.

She gave it fifteen minutes to be sure he was gone and then ran to a nearby drugstore, buying one of every brand of pregnancy test they had available.

Two hours and more water than she'd ever drunk at one time in her life later, she was staring at eight positive tests.

She sat with her back against the sink, looking at the tests lined up on the edge of the bathtub, and wondered what the hell she was going to do.

Indie nudged her elbow, and Danica automatically lifted her arm so the dog could crawl into her lap.

Rubbing Indie's ears absently, Danica tried to organize her thoughts.

She was pretty sure Alex wouldn't be upset with her.

She had done her best to prevent this exact scenario, so he wouldn't say she was trying to baby-trap him.

She was more concerned about how this would look at the hotel and with the Prestons.

She'd been hoping to keep their relationship on the down low for another couple of months, but that would be impossible when she started to show.

She briefly considered an abortion but found the thought of getting rid of her and Alex's baby made her sick.

If that was what he wanted, she would, but she was very sure he would be pissed if she did it without discussing things with him.

Needing an outside opinion, she pulled out her phone and called Emilia.

“Hey, can you come over?” She asked breathlessly when Em answered. “I need your advice.”

Emilia agreed to come, and Danica carefully collected all the pregnancy tests and went to wait for her in the living room.

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“What's going on?” Emilia asked when she opened the door. “Why aren't you at work?” Danica stepped back and let her in, taking her coat, hat and gloves and putting them away for her as she pulled off her winter boots. “You're as white as a sheet.”

Danica ran her hands through her hair as she walked back to the sofa. “Well, um. Alex and I are together and have been since we were in Honolulu.” She decided to start with that since she still hadn't told anyone they were more than friends.

“No way.” Emilia rolled her eyes and folded her arms, her voice dry. “I can't believe it.” Danica groaned and gave Emilia an annoyed look. “What? You're making it sound like it wasn't inevitable.”

“Fine,” Danica said as she led her over to the table and pointed at the pregnancy tests she had lined up. “Was this inevitable?”

“Oh.” Emilia's mouth dropped open, and she picked up one. “Oh.” She met Danica's eyes, and she could see her panic mirrored in her eyes. “How far along?”

“About seven weeks, I think?” Danica dropped down in one of the chairs with a groan. “I took Plan B, but I had already ovulated, so it was useless.”

“Okay.” Emilia chewed her lip and sat beside her. “Okay, well, I don't think Alex will be too upset, and you didn't really drink at all over Christmas and New Year's, so that's one less thing to worry about.”

Danica knew Emilia was trying desperately to find the bright side in all this, and she appreciated it, but she was terrified of what Cecil, and the rest of Jasper's family would say.

He was barely cold in the ground, and she was pregnant with another man's child.

Emilia seemed to know what she was thinking and reached out, squeezing her hand.

“It's none of their damn business, Danica.

And you might be surprised by their responses when they find out, they took your side over Amy's, remember?”

“We both know that was different,” Danica mumbled, although she had to admit they had all embraced Cecil's girlfriend almost immediately.

But on the other hand, Emilia was right.

Her relationship with Alex, or anyone else for that matter, was no longer any of their business, and if they wanted to cut her out over this, fine, she would survive without them.

“One thing at a time, I need to tell Alex.” She knew this wasn't going to look good to the hotel employees, but Alex just kept saying it was fine, that he was working things out with HR, and she had nothing to worry about.

“Right.” Emilia smiled and patted her hand. “Do you want to wait, or do you want to tell him now?”

“Now.” Danica stood up and collected the positive tests, bundling them together and putting them in her purse, before hesitating. “You'll come with me, right? Just in case he reacts differently than we think he will?”

“Of course.” Emilia stood up and grabbed Indie's leash. “I'll wait in your office, and if he loses his mind, we'll leave.”

The drive to the office was tense. Danica was trying to tell herself that Alex wasn't going to be upset, but the truth was, she didn't really know.

While he hadn't said anything about her buying Plan B, he was the one who brought up birth control the next morning, asking her if she was on any and then saying they needed to buy condoms when she told him no.

Of course, he'd said that in response to her panic, trying to calm her down when she realized they'd just had completely unprotected sex several times.

“How did the arraignment go?” Emilia asked.

Danica rolled her eyes. Lucy had changed lawyers several times over the last few months, delaying the start of all her trials.

She had a laundry list of charges against her and three upcoming trials.

David had given Danica the name of a litigation lawyer and passed over all his files to him, and they were suing Amy and Lucy separately.

Amy for abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and Lucy for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and a civil sexual assault claim on Jasper's behalf.

Lucy was also being charged with rape of an incapacitated person and indecent assault on a person fourteen or older, both of which were felonies, one with twenty years in prison and the other five.

She was also charged with breaking and entering, larceny, and trespass for her attempt to steal Jasper's sperm from the fertility clinic.

“They're claiming insanity, so she's been remanded to Bridgewater State Hospital for a forty-day evaluation.” She folded her arms and glared out the windshield.

“The DA is confident they will win, and she'll serve significant prison time, but I don't care if she's in prison or a psychiatric facility, I just want her gone.”

They arrived at the hotel a few minutes later, and Danica sat in her seat after they parked, feeling frozen. “We could just go back and pack my bags. I wouldn't mind living in a warmer state.”

“Danica.” Emilia somehow looked both concerned and amused. “Alex isn't going to be upset or leave you. He has done nothing but support and love you since this whole thing started in July, and now we're almost into February.”

“I know.” Danica shifted, her knee bouncing nervously. “But that's just it, he's been supporting me, but nothing really affected him personally. Yeah, I could have quit, but good Executive Assistants are a dime a dozen; he could have found someone new in a few days and paid them less.”

“Okay,” Emilia shut off the car and turned to face her, reaching out to take her hands.

“He absolutely did do things to support you that affected him personally.

Not only did he continue to pay you while you were off dealing with everything when he didn't have to, he took time off work to be there for you, even though he had just taken over the hotel chain and was dealing with his own issues with his brother.

And, the biggest thing, and he might get mad at me for telling you this, but you need to know just how far this man is willing to go to make sure you're happy: he bought your condo so he could rent it to you.”