Page 82 of Glitterati Omega

“I didn’t want to tell anyone just yet.”

“You’re not out of the first trimester yet?” Alina sounded shocked. Her gaze rested firmly on his middle.

Rupert curled in on himself. “Not quite, no.”

“Oh,” Alina said. “Oh, Roo, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to make you say anything before you were ready.” Her face twisted in pain. “How much longer?”

He looked at the ceiling and counted. “Two, maybe three weeks?” He glanced at Winston, who nodded. Rupert swallowed. He’d never carried past ten weeks.

Elise and Alina didn’t stay much longer. There were excuses about early flights and Rupert maybe being tired, but Elise was clearly upset Rupert had not taken her advice, and Alina didn’t seem to know what to talk about now that the cat was out of the bag. Rupert’s own tongue was tied, his thoughts drifting to what-ifs and maybes. It was better to part ways, to try and forget the whole mess.

“You seem nervous,” Winston said, catching him by the wrist when they were getting ready for bed later. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Rupert tried to twist away.

Winston caught him around the waist and dragged him into an embrace. “If you’re worried about your figure, don’t be. I was a bit surprised, because you’ve mostly been in nightgowns the last couple of weeks, but I think you look quite nice.”

Rupert squirmed away. “It’s not that,” he murmured. “It’s just … I realized I’m about nine or ten weeks pregnant now, and I’ve never carried longer than ten weeks.”

“Oh,” Winston said. He looked like he’d been struck.

Rupert nodded cautiously. “So I … it’s just very nerve-wracking. It snuck up on me.”

Winston leaned over and kissed his cheek. “How do you feel?”

“Aside from nervous? Sick and tired. Which is about the same as every other day lately.”

Winston nodded. “That’s good then,” he said.

“Yes,” Rupert agreed.

Winston picked up one of hands and gave it a squeeze. “I think we’ll be all right,” he said.

Rupert offered him a soft smile, wishing he could be as confident.