Pregnant? All the blood drained out of her head. Tess dug her fingers into the vinyl of the exam table and fought back a fresh wave of nausea. “But we used protection every time. I’m on birth control!”
“Unfortunately nothing is 100% effective. You said you were traveling a lot. Possibly you didn’t take it at the same time every day? There’s a three-hour window.”
Had she missed that window? Maybe. “But I just had a period a few weeks ago.”
“That also happens sometimes. Was it lighter or shorter than usual?”
“I…I thought that was from stress.”
“More likely implantation bleeding. Calculating back four weeks earlier, at a guess, I’d say you’re seven or eight weeks along.”
“I…what? But I wasn’t with…anyone until six weeks ago.”
“We calculate the due date from the first day of your last period. It tends to be more accurate that way.”
“This can’t be happening.”
“This is clearly a shock.”
Shock didn’t begin to cover it.
“You’ll want to schedule follow up with an OB for a prenatal visit. Taking your birth control in the early weeks of pregnancy isn’t usually a risk for miscarriage, but they’ll want to confirm everything is as it should be.”
“Oh God. Oh God.” Tess covered her belly with both hands, as if that would somehow make all this real. Pregnant. With Mitch’s baby.
“Hey, hey.” Miranda’s voice softened. She set the iPad aside and laid a hand on Tess’s leg. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to scare you. There’s no reason to think anything is wrong. It’s precautionary. Are you and the father in contact?”
Tess whipped her head up, wondering if the truth showed on her face. “I—yes.” Jesus. What if she hadn’t come here? What if they’d never had this chance second meeting? She’d be dealing with all this alone, not even knowing the last name of her baby’s father.
“Okay. You’ll need to know his medical history for that first appointment, or as much of it as you can manage. I realize he’s in Europe, so that might be difficult. It’s not generally the kind of news you want to share over the phone or in an email.”
No, he’s right here in town. She could tell Miranda right now. But to what end? She didn’t know this woman. And it seemed absolutely wrong to tell anyone before Mitch himself.
Miranda hesitated. “Or maybe you would prefer to consider other options?”
Tess lifted her head.
“There is, of course, adoption. And termination.”
Termination. Tess flinched at the word. “No.” No matter how big a shock, how big a change, how unwelcome this was, terminating this pregnancy would one hundred percent terminate whatever she was building with Mitch. She couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t.
They spoke a little while longer, with Miranda making some suggestions and offering to give her a referral to an obstetrician in Lawley. Numb, terrified, Tess took the information and got ready to head to the check out. At the last second, she turned back to Miranda. “You can’t tell my father.”
“Everything we discussed here is protected by doctor-patient confidentiality.”
“Okay.” Tess blew out a breath. “Okay.”
Somehow, she made it out of the office and back into the used Honda she’d picked up that morning. Then she just sat in the parking lot, staring at the planner in her lap as her mind spun. Needing to get back on track, she flipped it open, staring at the details of her life. Nowhere in any of the rigidly lined, carefully written pages did it say anything about getting knocked up. So how did this even happen?
Her brain offered up a vivid memory involving her ankles on Mitch’s shoulders. Well, okay yeah, she knew how it had happened. But she’d been careful. She’d done all the right things. Except for going way off-book by having an affair in the first place. She opened the pages to the week she’d spent with him in Scotland. Blank but for the sprig of heather she’d pressed between the pages. Because nothing about that week had been planned.
She flipped to her five-year plan. All business and travel. There was nothing on here about having a baby or even finding a guy. There was no room for it in the obsessively detailed list of goals and steps. Was she really going to screw up her entire life, toss out her entire plan, because of that one unplanned week?
And, dear God, what was Mitch going to say? How would he react? It was one thing to cuddle up with your friends’ baby. You could give it back to them. It was a whole other thing to have an actual life dependent on you.
That was a stupid question. No matter how he really felt about it, he’d ask her to marry him. That was the kind of man he was, how he was made. He’d see that as the right thing to do. And it would utterly destroy everything building between them.
Dropping her head to the steering wheel, she fought back the knot of tears in her throat. She needed to get back to the house. Mitch had client meetings all afternoon. She’d go home, fall apart, and then figure out what to do. Lifting her head, she took another breath, then another as she started the car. But maybe she’d see if Wishful had an office supply store first.