Page 51 of Mister Daddy

“Whatever. You’ll see, it’ll come back false, and then we’ll go out and have drinks because today is a big day for me.”

I lock myself in the bathroom to pee on the stupid stick. Yeah, I slept with Carter without protection, but that doesn’t automatically mean I’m pregnant. Any number of things could be causing my stomach to hurt. My boobs totally aren’t any bigger than they used to be. And I’ll probably start my period in the next few days. I’ve just been under stress, that’s why it’s late. Everything’s fine!

Once I’ve done the deed, I carry the test back into the living room. Jessica starts a timer on her phone, and we try to avoid staring at the thing until it buzzes. Once it does, we look on the count of three.

The damn test is positive.

“No. You got a broken test.”

“I thought you might say that,” Jessica says, reaching into her bag again. “So we brought another. Different brand, this time.”

I take that test too, and it’s still positive.

“Shit,” I say. The girls both nod.

“Have you slept with anyone other than Carter?” Caitlyn asks.

I shake my head. “It has to be his.”

“Why don’t we try calling him again? Maybe it didn’t work because the ship was docked or something. He did say it was his special phone.”

I pull out my phone and move to Carter’s contact. Yeah, okay, so maybe I saved it in my phone even after we realized it was fake. I’m a masochist, I guess.

I put it on speaker and hit call, but we get the same disconnected message. I try the email again, and it’s the same problem. I got fake info from the guy I fell for, and now I’m pregnant with his baby.

Shit.

“We could call the cruise line,” Jessica suggests.

I shake my head.

“If Carter wanted me to contact him, he wouldn’t have told his secretary to give me a fake number and fake email. He obviously doesn’t want to hear from me.”

“Abs, you’re having his baby. I think the circumstances warrant some detective work,” she ventures. I shake my head vehemently.

“I’m having the baby, and he doesn’t need to have anything to do with this.”

The girls nod. “So, you’re keeping it?”

It hadn’t even occurred to me not to keep the baby.

“Of course I am!”

“What about scuba teacher training?”

“Scuba training can wait until after I have the baby. I won’t be able to dive while I’m pregnant. I’ll just reschedule the test for next year. It’ll be fine.”

Caitlyn and Jessica pull me in for a hug. “We’ll be here every step of the way. We’ll be the best aunts to this baby. He or she will be totally spoiled.”

I laugh, although I’m feeling numb. How did I get myself into this mess? Carter is to blame. I want to hate him, but it’s hard.

I’m having a baby. I may not be thrilled with how it happened, but I’ve always wanted to be a mom.

And it’s not like I’m doing it totally alone. I have two best friends and a family that will be more than willing to help me.

This won’t be too bad.

I can do this.