CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DREA
As I sat in an uncomfortable chair, my legs bounced with nervous energy. With a hoodie on my head, I kept my eyes on my lap, ignoring the others in the waiting room.
I don’t know how long I’d been sitting there, trying not to lose my mind. Each time the door opened, I’d jump out of my skin.
“Judith Leyster?” a nurse questioned.
I snapped my gaze off my lap. When no one stood up, she repeated, “Judith Leyster?”
Shooting to my feet, I started across the waiting room. When I reached the nurse, I forced a smile to my face. “I’m Judith.”
“Follow me,” she replied.
There was only one reason why I would be at a Planned Parenthood across town and using an alias–one I’d chosen from a Dutch Golden Age Painter
My period was a week late.
For someone who had been like clockwork her entire life, it was an unimaginable hell. I’d tried reasoning with myself that stress caused missed periods, and God only knows the stress I’d been under in the last month.
I hadn’t dared to risk taking a test at home. Even if Vittoria smuggled it in for me, I ran the risk of it being discovered. Therewas also no way to take one out side the house considering how ever since the bombing at Inferno, Father had my bodyguards practically on top of me. In the end, Vittoria had arranged the appointment for me by calling from the landline at her house. I’d made it to the appointment by hiding in the back of our cook’s car when she went to the grocery store and then taking the bus.
After the nurse ushered me into a room, the world around me slowed to a crawl. My gaze pinged around to take in the exam table and the posters on the wall. I’d never been to the gynecologist. Even after I’d been with Marco, Mother said we would wait until closer to my marriage to go.
When the nurse handed me a cup to pee in, it felt like I was outside of myself watching the events unfold.
Someone else slipped into the bathroom.
Someone else felt the prick of a needle as they took my blood.
It certainly was someone else when an image appeared on the screen, and the doctor pointed out something called a gestational sac.
At the sight of the confirmation, I bolted upright and scrambled off the table. After jerking my pants back over my hips, I threw open the door. The doctor kept calling for Judith, but I was the one running away.
As much as I wanted the tears to come, they didn’t. Instead, there was an odd sense of calm. If I was pregnant, I couldn’t marry Raphael. That thought filled me with relief.
Maybe this baby would be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it was the key to being with Leo.
Do you honestly think Leo is going to want to be with you when you’re carrying another man’s bastard? One who was conceived when you were bound in a marital contract to his brother?
He will never, ever forgive you.
Only then did the tears start to flow.
***
After Ubering home, I went straight to Father’s office. To my surprise, Mother was inside as well.
“Father, may I speak to you?”
“Yes, yes. Come in. I was just about to summon you.”
Fear radiated through me. “You were?”
Nodding, he waved me inside to close the door. After I’d taken a reluctant seat, I stared expectantly at him.
A self-satisfied smirk curved on his face. “Raphael has finally seen the light and wants to proceed with the wedding.”
My lip curled in disgust at the reference to Rafe seeing the light. I knew exactly what Father had done to force Rafe’s hand. Just when I thought he couldn’t sink any lower after the bombing, he sent men to Dublin. After breaking into Maeve’s apartment, they’d mutilated her precious dachshund, Murphy.