He frowns and glances behind me as Kayla walks out. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I—”
“Now, Brent!” I screech, causing heads to turn in our direction.
“Okay, okay. We’re going.” His gaze flicks to Kayla one last time before we walk away from her. I cling to his arm again, not sure I’ll be able to make it back to our room.
“It’s motion sickness,” I mumble. “That’s why I haven’t felt well, but I didn’t realize it until we were on our way to eat. That’s all I want to say.”
“All right. I’ll get you something to take until the patch kicks in.”
We’re quiet the rest of the way to our room, while I brush my teeth, as I take the pill and Brent puts the patch on behind my ear. I curl into a ball in the middle of our bed and hope to feel better soon while also forgetting what happened with Kayla. Brent sits by my knees with a hand resting on my thigh.
“Someone will have to tell me what happened in that bathroom before today is over with,” he says.
I might as well get that over with so I can be miserable in peace. I rest my hand over my stomach. “I don’t like being forced to tell people.” Brent frowns in confusion, not understanding. I grab his hand, place it on my stomach, and cover it with mine. “I don’t like being forced to tell people,” I repeat.
“Oh, fuck,” he whispers as it dawns on him. “What the hell happened, Jamie?” he asks softly.
“She thought me being sick meant I was pregnant and wouldn’t take my word for it that I knew I wasn’t.” She was so insistent, too. It never occurred to her that I might be seasick, which is odd. That should be her first guess. I mean, hello, we’re on a ship and the waters are rough. I sit up as a horrible thought hits me. “You didn’t tell her and Gregory, did you?”
“What? No!”
“Are you sure? She all of a sudden decides to be nice to me and the first time I throw up on a ship she thinks I’m pregnant instead of the most obvious answer? Maybe she wanted me to let my guard down, so she can knock me down a peg or two.”
Brent grabs my face, his grip firm, but not too harsh. “I did not tell anyone and I can promise you, my daughter would never do such a thing to anyone.” Ugh. There’s that tone.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. And I am. There’s so much regret in me for not believing him the first time he denied it, I almost want to throw up again. “I’m upset and I don’t feel well.”
“It’s okay; I understand.” Brent sighs. He gets up, walks around, and crawls in behind me, holding me close against him. “You’ll feel better soon. See if you can sleep.” He kisses the back of my head.
A few minutes later, as I’m nodding off, he whispers, “I’m sorry, hon.” All I can think is that better be an apology for his daughter’s actions.
Jamie isn’t asleep twenty minutes when I hear our balcony door slide open and a whispered, “Daddy?” I crane my neck to see Kayla. Carefully, I disentangle myself from Jamie and get out of bed to meet her outside on the balcony, closing the door behind me. We take a seat in the blue chairs.
Before she can say one word, I demand, “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“Not everything.” For Jamie to think Kayla purposely made her tell her she couldn’t have kids, there has to be something more to what happened than the very basic details she told me. “Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out,” I tell her.
“Well, I went to check on her like you asked. She was throwing up when I got there and I asked her if she was okay. She couldn’t answer because she was still throwing up. I asked her if I could do anything for her and then I don’t know. I wondered if she might be pregnant and blurted it out. She said no and I asked how if she was sure because,” Kayla hesitates, “even if you’re really careful, you should still take a test, you know. I said something about her eating eggs and throwing up because of that and how it was morning. It could’ve been morning sickness for all we knew and maybe we should find a doctor.
“But she yelled she wasn’t pregnant. Then, she said ‘Oh god’ and I thought she realized she missed her period and I said as much and asked again about the doctor. She came out, yelled at me she wasn’t pregnant and told me she couldn’t have kids, that it was only motion sickness. I feel terrible. She was so upset and looked like she was about to cry and couldn’t get away from me fast enough. I didn’t mean to upset her; I’ve been trying to be nice to her! I didn’t think about motion sickness because she’s been acting fine so far. You believe me, don’t you, Daddy?” Her eyes are hopeful, but most importantly, sincere.
“I do,” her shoulders sag with relief, “but it’s not me you have to worry about.”
“She doesn’t believe me? Why not?” she asks with a touch of anger.
“You can and should apologize to her. However, she’s been skeptical of you ever since you started being nice to her.” Kayla’s mouth opens in outrage and I hold up my hand. “You can’t blame her. If the situation was reversed and someone who had been bitchy to you for the past couple of months, all of a sudden started putting in an effort to be nice and get to you know, you wouldn’t be suspicious and wary? And now that this has happened, her guard is going to go up even higher, I think.”
“You may have a point,” she admits, looking out over the water. “Did you already know? I didn’t incidentally cause her to tell you, did I? Please tell me I didn’t because that’ll make me feel even worse.”
“I knew. I’ve known since shortly after I started seeing her. Since you accused us of starting a new family.”
Kayla winces at that.
And I too kinda forced her to tell me, but I’m beginning to think it’s different for Jamie because in my case, pregnancy was never the topic beforehand and she had no pressure to tell me. Okay, so maybe a little pressure.
“I really am sorry.”