Page 57 of Where the Wattles Bloom

He looked at her as though she was absolutely nuts, but then his expression morphed to something entirely different as realisation dawned. He opened his mouth and she could see the myriad questions swirling behind those blue eyes.

But, true to his word, he didn’t voice any of them.

‘I’m pretty sure I could … squeeze one out.’

Rowena’s relief was immeasurable. ‘Thanks,’ she murmured as she passed it over, leaning into the bench as every muscle she owned unclenched.

He glanced at the wrapping for long moments. ‘I take it, it’s fairly self-explanatory?’

‘Yup.’ Rowena nodded. ‘Remove the wrapping. Uncap the end. Pee on that bit. Look at it in three minutes.’

‘You want me to bring it out here so we can find out if I’m pregnant together, or you want me to wait in there?’

Rowena wasn’t sure if he was trying to lighten the situation for his sake or for hers, but she really wasn’t in the mood for humour. ‘Wait in there for the three minutes.’

‘Okay … well.’ He tapped it against his palm a couple of times, staring at it like it might well be a poison pill. ‘I’d like to say I’ve done weirder things, but I reckon this tops it.’ He glanced at her. ‘I guess I’ll see you in about three and a half minutes.’

*

Had it been possible to wear a hole in hardwood floorboards in three minutes, Rowena would have managed it as she paced back and forth outside the closed bathroom door. Red, as if sensing her agitation, had joined her, his nails clicking on the floorboards.

When the door opened after what felt like an eternity, it startled the hell out of her.

‘Good news, honey,’ Lachlan said, holding the test up. ‘I’m not pregnant.’

Rowena’s heart just about banged right out of her chest as she stared at the little window boasting only one stripe.

She frowned. ‘It’s negative?’

He gave a confused kind of half laugh. ‘Ah … yep.’

‘But … it can’t be.’ She snatched it out of his hands and stared at it, squinting to see if she could detect any kind of faint second line.

None.

She stalked past him to the bathroom, flicked on the light above the vanity mirror and stared at it again.

Still only one.

‘Ro?’

She was pregnant? She was actually pregnant?

‘Ro, honey?’

Rowena flicked a glance at him in the mirror, barely registering his endearment as their gazes met. He was standing in the doorway, all big and calm and lovely, his expression careful.

‘You want to tell me why I just took a pregnancy test?’

Stupid hot tears welled in her eyes at his tentative request. She owed him an explanation. She knew she did. But … right now, despite the evidence staring at her for the past five hours, she was a little blindsided.

Also, quite suddenly, she knew she was going to be sick.

‘Oh god,’ she wailed.

Whirling away from the sink, she took the three paces that separated the vanity and the toilet, bent over the bowl and promptly threw up, deep guttural retches that felt as if they’d come from her toes.

He was behind her then, his hand on her back. ‘Can I—’