Page 130 of My Favorite Boss

“Yes.”

“Emotional.”

“Yes.”

“Has she been ill?”

“Her appetite is off.” I frowned. “Why?”

“And Dr. Wilson gave her these?”

“Yes. What is it?”

He shook his head in amusement. “Buddy, I have no idea how to tell you this… She may be anemic, but your girl is also pregnant.”

I gaped at him. “Impossible. She’s on birth control pills.”

“Which is not one hundred percent effective. Even if you wear a condom, plus the pills, she could still get pregnant.”

“What?”

He grinned. “The only sure way not to get pregnant is to practice abstinence. Which I know you haven’t been doing.” He tapped the picture, enlarging it. He showed me the labels. “Along with her other supplements, these are prenatal vitamins. Dr. Wilson would only give them to her if she was pregnant.”

I sat frozen. Pregnant.

Magnolia was pregnant?

She hadn’t told me. Why hasn’t she told me?

Sam looked at me, serious. “Did you tell her you didn’t want kids? The whole you wouldn’t make a good dad bullshit concept?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why she hasn’t told you. Why she’s distancing herself. She thinks she’s going to have to do this alone.”

He studied me. “Is she right, Bane?”

I thought of Magnolia pregnant. Rounded and glowing. Carrying our child. My child.

The intense feeling of protectiveness and need overwhelmed me. I had to get to her.

“Fuck no.” I jumped from my seat. “Pay for the drinks. I owe you.”

He grinned, waving me off. “Go get your girl.”

Her apartment was dim when I let myself in. Quiet. I shrugged off my coat, looking at Magnolia asleep on the chaise. Evidence of her tears was on her damp cheeks. She was clutching a blanket, a frown on her face. The unopened bag of food Darryl had brought her was on the coffee table.

All the way here, I kept going through all the information in my head. The signs I missed. I was horrified, thinking of the thoughts Magnolia must have been having all this time. How alone she must have felt. The insecurity and worry for the future. Add in the grief she was feeling—no wonder she was so emotional and exhausted.

And yet, with all the concern and fear in my head, one thought kept pushing through.

She was pregnant. With my child.

And the idea of it made me so incredibly happy, I could barely contain it.

I bent over her, kissing her cheek, nuzzling the damp skin, tasting her sadness. Her eyes fluttered open, widening when they saw me. “Bane?”

I smiled. “Alex. Only Alex from now on.”