Page 273 of Ricardo

A sob leaves me.

I cover my mouth, but it comes anyway.

Victoria wraps her arms around me carefully, and I lean into her because I cannot hold myself upright alone.

For a moment, I cry against her shoulder.

When I finally pull back, Victoria reaches for a tissue and presses it into my hand.

I wipe my face.

My fingers are still trembling.

“What do I say?”

“The truth.”

“That I took a pregnancy test while his son is in the hospital?”

“That you have been sick. That you were scared. That you took a test, and it was positive.”

“What if he's angry?”

“He won't be,” she assures me.

Downstairs, the voices rise again.

Ricardo’s voice cuts through the others.

I cannot make out the words, but I know him.

I know the edge in him.

“He’s angry now,” I whisper.

“Not at you.”

“I’ve never seen him like this.”

She tucks my hair behind my ear. “The one he loves most in the world was threatened.”

I breathe in shakily and look at the test on the counter.

Still positive.

“I need to tell him.”

“Yes,” Victoria says softly. “You do.”

I look down at myself. Ricardo’s shirt. Bare legs. Shaking hands. Hair still tangled around my shoulders.

“I can’t go down there like this.”

“No,” she says, standing with me. “Shower first. Then change. I’ll tell Ricardo you want to speak to him.”

Chapter Thirty Six

Ricardo