His Unexpected Baby by Jamie Knight

Chapter Twenty-Five - Skye

Somehow, through the aid of unseen forces, I’d managed to get myself into work on the bus. My tummy was rebelling, but I figured it was because of the combination of stress and no breakfast.

“Oh dear,” Sam said, as I signed in, although he had enough discretion to make no further comment.

It had been a few weeks since Simon and I decided not to see each other anymore. I really thought it would have gotten easier, but it didn’t.

The pain was fresh every time I happened to see him at the office. I tried to focus on why we had decided to do it, so the sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain. But I always circled back to thinking there was no good reason not to be together, no matter the cost.

Sadly, though, that wasn’t solely my decision to make. And I didn’t want to do anything harmful to Simon.

It came on like a freight train. I’d been at work for maybe an hour. There had still been a gift there, as there had been the last several days. Secret Santa was part of the office culture, after all, and it would have looked weird if my own gifts had just stopped. Besides which, I knew Simon loved to give them to me.

It felt like a punch in the belly and I knew I was going to puke. The bathrooms were outside the office space, out in the hall with the elevators.

I only counted myself lucky that the bathrooms didn’t require a key or I don’t think I would have made it in time. After completely losing the breakfast I never ate, I zombie walked back into the office, feeling as dead as I must have looked.

“Skye,” Inga said, as I passed her desk.

I looked, and she signaled for me to get closer, as though we were being watched. I complied, trying not to make a show of leaning in.

“Today at lunch, go get a pregnancy test,” she whispered to me.

I wanted to ask what the heck she was talking about, but she had already gone back into mechanical mode, typing madly at her terminal. There was no point in trying to talk to her when she was in that state, so I just went back to my desk.

I got two whole pages done by lunch, which was still a bit of a record for me. Inga’s words bounced around in my head like a lacrosse ball.

It seemed crazy but mostly because there was no way I knew of that she could tell if I was pregnant or not. I certainly wasn’t showing or anything.

There was the puking, of course, and I was sure I had looked as sick as I’d felt. But that could have been anything.

Still, despite my doubts, I went down to the drug store where I’d gotten the card, trying my best to keep my head down in case there were any co-workers there. The last thing I needed were more tongues wagging.

It felt colder than usual in the staff bathroom when I returned to the office. At least going by the shiver running through me as I waited for the results of the test.

It was one of the ones that was absolutely clear. I’d bought two just in case. It didn’t matter.

A little blue plus sign had appeared on both. I was most definitely with child and there was no doubt as to who the father was, considering I’d had sex exactly twice, both times with the same man.

I knew I should tell him. He was the kid’s father and had a right to know. Had the circumstances been different, I definitely would have, even risking going to his office to tell him the good news.

As it was, the risk was too high. It would take only one co-worker with a big mouth to overhear and since we weren’t even seeing each other anymore, it seemed like too big of a risk for no good reason.

Because we were still under investigation and I knew there was an office spy— likely Amber— I didn’t even want to risk anyone watching me getting into his car or seeing us in public at all.

I guessed Inga knew, both about Simon and our baby, but I felt like I could trust her. I highly doubted she was the one who had turned us in.

Still, I certainly had enemies. I had to continue to be careful, despite this new development.

The idea of single motherhood petrified me, but sadly it seemed like the only option available.