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“Don’t carry anything,” he ordered as I leaned down to drag my suitcase.

“Cal,” I sighed as he looked at me sternly, and I knew better than to argue.

I walked in, the familiar smell of our house greeting me as I made a beeline for the kitchen, grabbing the wall calendar. I searched with my finger until I saw the little red dot that showed my period's due date.

Cal stood in the doorway, watching me intently.

“I’ve missed my period,” I whispered as my eyes widened, realizing it was more than that.

Being away distracted me, how did I not remember?!

“Fuck. I’ve missed two.”

Part Two: Chapter Twenty-Six

GRETCHEN

“You need to keep calm, my love.”

He rubbed my knee reassuringly as my leg jigged with nerves, my eyes glued to the black screen above the reception, waiting for my name to scroll along in red pixels.

I was sweating and chewing on my lip, yet Cal was an oasis of calm. He was flicking through a home magazine, turning it this way and that to assess the photographs with interest.

I felt bile rise in my throat and I sipped my water, praying that I was seen soon.

Suddenly there was a soft ping, and there was my name,Miss Gretchen Redswirling on the screen as I felt dizzy with fear.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m right here,” he said, kissing my hand as I nodded numbly, walking down the pale corridor to the room shown on the screen.

I knocked softly out of courtesy and heard a firm voice call me in.

I pushed open the door and smiled, whilst my legs felt like jelly. The doctor was in her fifties, soft grey hair curled under her chin as she glanced at me with kind eyes.

“Hi, Gretchen. What can I do for you today?”

I swallowed and held out my first urine of the day bottle, my hands shaking.

“I have missed two periods. I think I may be pregnant,” I whispered as she nodded, turning back to the screen.

“Okay, what was the date of your last period?”

I answered her questions robotically as she took the sample, dipping a thin stick into it then placing it on top whilst she stood watching it, her hands on her hips.

I stared at the floor, feeling about ten years old suddenly, sitting in the headteacher's office about to be given a dressing down.

“You are indeed pregnant.”

I closed my eyes as I heard her shuffling over to the desk, tapping into her computer as she glanced at me.

“Is this good news for you?” she smiled kindly as I looked at her in shock.

“I’m not entirely sure how I feel.”

She held her hand up as she turned a calendar in her hands then looked up at me.