“I don’t remember?” Shareena said, making it sound more like a question then a real answer. “How is this even possible… we always used protection except…. Oh my god.”
“I’m guessing you just remembered something?” Miranda said quietly.
“We weren’t careful once. It was just once though.” Shareena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I mean, I know it can happen, but…. I can’t even…”
“Well, let’s get you in for an ultrasound, and then I can refer you to a midwife or doctor of your choice, and you can discuss your options.” Miranda said in a very non-judgmental way. Writing a couple of prescriptions on her medical pad, she ripped them off and handed them to Shareena. “This is for the ultrasound, take it across the hall to radiology, and have them schedule you. Here’s the proof of pregnancy to get you into a doctor or midwife, and this is for labs, which is next to the ultrasound office. Good luck Shareena. If you need anything, just let me know, okay?”
“Thank you,” Shareena said, picking up her bowl, and feeling in complete shock.
“Oh, wait, here’s one more. Here’s a prescription for some prenatal vitamins. Although, I highly recommend you buying gummy ones instead. I’ve heard women have had less trouble with them than the horse pills you get from the pharmacy.” Miranda said and smiled at her.
Shareena took the last prescription and it took her a few minutes to walk out the door to start moving forward with her next step. In a daze, she had no idea what her plan was, or how to even tell Charlie.
Oh god, telling Charlie. She closed her eyes and groaned loudly to herself. This was the last thing she wanted to do.
Chapter 4
A couple weeks had passed, she’d had confirmation of her pregnancy via the blood test, and her first ultrasound. She’d seen the heartbeat, and that the baby was viable. She was offered to council her on her options. She was keeping the baby. She hadn’t planned on having a baby but now that she was going to have one, she couldn’t do anything but keep it. Now she just had to figure out what to do. Her one-bedroom apartment and her cat would need to get a bigger house of some sort, she had a decent amount of savings and good credit. She could probably buy a small house. She was planning on raising this baby alone, but she knew she shouldn’t make any real plans until she’d spoken to Charlie.
Shareena was inviting Charlie over for dinner tonight. She set her table with candles, and a white cloth and was ordering pasta, salad and garlic bread from an Italian place down the road that had amazing food. They even delivered. When she got the table all set, she put a bottle of apple cider in the middle. It was a non-alcoholic drink, so she could have some too.
When Charlie arrived a little while later, she let him in and he kissed her, backing her up until she hit the wall and she moaned into his mouth. She loved his strength, his stocky build, he wasn’t scared to use his strength when it came to sex games, and she loved the way he made her feel.
“Hungry?” She whispered to him between kisses.
“Smells good, almost as good as you,” he told her as he pressed kisses against her mouth and his hands wandered all over her, gently squeezing and touching her.
“Let’s eat, and we need to talk before we do anything else,” Shareena told him. She hoped he’d still be in the mood for sex after she dropped this big bombshell on him.
“Eat? We can do that. What is there to talk about?” Charlie asked her, tilting his head to the side curiously as he took a step back and cleared his throat. He adjusted himself and then followed her to the kitchen to eat.
He sat down and grabbed a bowl of the pasta to load up his plate, then some bread. He eyed the salad, but skipped it and Shareena raised a brow at him and then smiled. She loaded her plate up and it was the first time in a couple weeks she actually felt hungry.
“Cider?” She asked him holding up the bottle after pouring herself a glass. “If you prefer, I have beer in the fridge.”
“Cider is fine,” he told her and then started to eat his food. He closed his eyes and sighed in bliss as the food touched his tongue. It was good and he could appreciate a fine tasting meal.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Shareena started to stay and then felt like a cork was lodged in her throat. She didn’t know how to bring it up or even say it. Honestly, it just needed to be spit out.
Charlie shrugged and waited for her to continue talking. He picked up his cider and took a sip.
“I’m pregnant.” She just said it, and then regretted it. He started to choke on his cider and sputter, she jumped up from the table and pounded on his back. She felt bad, it wasn’t probably the best way to state what was going on.