Preston's Luck
“I don’t know. I know that I need to.”
As soon as I pull my boots on, there is a pounding on the front door. He
gets out of bed and pulls his robe on and goes to answer the door.
"Speak of the devil," he says.
"Huh?"
“Where is she?” I hear Kalera ask. Oh, that devil. Frowning, I stand up and walk into the living room.
“Hey sis, what’s wrong?”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” I ask knowing exactly where this is going.
“Why did I have to find out about it in Times Square of all places? Times
Square!” she shouts.
“What do you mean?” I ask because now she’s lost me.
“The giant billboard on the side of a building with your face on it? Fair
Verona? Ring a bell?”
“There’s a billboard?”
“That is so not the point, Tori. How could you keep something like this from
me?
“I don’t know. I guess it was something just for me.”
“We’re twins. There is no just for me,” she says.
“Kalera, that can’t be true.”
“Maybe, but still you should have told me.”
“I know but I needed to know if I was good enough without the negativity.”
“That fact that you think I’d react negatively tells me a lot, Tori.”
“Kalera, please. I’m sorry I hurt you, but I won’t apologize for my feelings.
They are mine and mine alone.” We are twins, but we aren't the person. Not at all. Surely, she can see that.
“So, when is opening night?” she asks, smiling at me.
“Two weeks. And I’m pregnant. Full disclosure you are the fourth person to
know.”
“Fourth?”
“Mom and Preston.”
“That’s three.”
“And me.”
"You talked to mom?"
"Yeah. I needed to hear her voice. "
"I didn't think she'd answer after everything."
"Me either,"
“We’re pregnant together, ya know?” she asks, pulling me into a hug. I’ve been forgiven, at least for now.
"Yep."
After a little while, I head out to rehearsal and Kalera goes home. I should
have known Stefano wasn't far behind. He’s standing there when she swings the door open to leave.
"Call me. I'm gonna tell the girls and you better rustle up nine of the best seats in the place."
"Will do," I say laughing.
I kiss Preston goodbye and head to rehearsal.
That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.EpiloguePrestonOne Week LaterEarly Tuesday morning, I remember that I still need to speak to the clinic about destroying my specimen. Before work, I kiss Tori in the kitchen before heading out. In the Escalade again today, I pull in front of the clinic and swipe my card for the meter. Inside there are people going through everything in filing cabinets. I’ve seen enough feds in my day. Working on Wall Street, it’s inevitable that you’ll see them. No one pays any attention to me, so I walk toward the receptionist’s desk and find it empty. I stand there for a few minutes before I walk through the open door to the hallway. Each patient room is being tossed and the jerk off rooms are closed. I shudder as I walk past it. I can’t believe I even did this, to be honest.
I continue walking down the hallway to the break room. A woman wearing scrubs is pouring coffee with her back to the door.
“Excuse me?”
“You have access to all the paperwork. There’s nothing else,” she says without turning around.
“No, I am not with them.”
“Did you have an appointment today? You should have gotten a call,”
“No. I wanted to speak with Doctor Coulter about not using my specimen,” I say.
“No chance of that,” she says dryly.
“What do you mean?”
“We are under federal investigation. You’ll have to enter a claim to get your sample back. Unclaimed samples will be destroyed.” That makes sense honestly. One of my best friends, Royce, and his girl Narina had a happy accident here, but that doesn’t mean it was right.
“Where do I make the claim?” I ask, not wanting to take any chances that mine falls through the cracks. I was dead serious about Tori being the only one to carry my seed.
“One of the agents out there will have a form for you.”
“Thank you,” I say turning and leaving the room. I catch an agent and fill the form out, allowing it to be destroyed. With that off my mind, I head into work which gets me that much closer to going home to my girl.Another week passes and I’m sitting in the front row center in the theatre on opening night of my girl’s play. She’s so passionate about this role. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She has not only me mesmerized, but the entire sold-out audience. My friends and their girls are sitting next to me, we take up the whole row practically. From the moment she steps on the stage, I follow her every move. It’s not hard to see why she loves this. She moves effortlessly about the stage, all eyes on her.