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She lifted her chin, willing it to hold firm. “It’s probably best if you moved out at this point. We co
uld do with some space.” Then she decided to echo Odele. “It’ll plant the seeds for when our breakup is announced.”
Rick’s expression tightened. “Can’t forget to spin it for the press, right?”
Ten
Chiara looked in her bathroom mirror. It had been a month since her breakup with Rick. A sad, depressing but uneventful month...until now.
She looked down at the stick in her hand. There was no mistaking the two telltale lines. Two lines that were about to change her life. She was pregnant.
The irony wasn’t lost on her. She’d been wrestling with how to combine a career with her desire to start a family. Now the decision had been made for her.
As she disposed of the stick in the bathroom’s wastepaper basket, she thought back to the last time she and Rick had been intimate—and her mind whirled.
She’d recently discovered that she’d expelled her contraceptive ring. It had probably gotten dislodged during rigorous sex, and then gone down the toilet afterward without her knowing it. Preoccupied with her breakup with Rick, she hadn’t dwelled too much on it. But now...
Chiara looked at herself in the bathroom mirror as she washed her hands. She didn’t look any different—yet.
She’d spent years trying not to be pregnant. She had a career to tend.
But while it wasn’t the best of circumstances, it wasn’t the worst, either. A baby. She was in her early thirties, financially independent, and had an established career. She’d always wanted a child, and in fact had started worrying that she couldn’t see how it was going to happen. It had finally come to pass, but in a way she hadn’t planned or foreseen. She’d been drawn to the Serenghettis, and now she was pregnant with an addition to the family. If things had been different—if Rick had loved her—she’d have been overjoyed right now instead of shadowed with worry. Still, she let giddiness seep through her. A baby.
She walked into her bedroom and sat on the bed, taking a calming breath. Then she picked up the phone receiver, toyed with it and replaced it. She had to tell Rick, of course...but she just needed time to process the information herself first. This wasn’t avoidance or procrastination. At least that’s what she kept telling herself...
She got up, paced, went downstairs to poke around in her fridge and then came upstairs again to stare at her phone.
When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she called Odele and spilled all to her manager.
Odele was surprisingly equanimous at the news.
“Don’t you know this means I’ll be too pregnant to take on another action movie?” Chiara demanded, because she knew career suicide was at the top of Odele’s list of sins.
“You wanted to stop doing them anyway.”
Chiara lowered her shoulders. “Yes, you’re right.”
“What was Rick’s reaction?”
“I haven’t told him yet. I’ve been working up to that part.”
There was a long pause on the line as Odele processed this information. “Well, good luck, honey. And remember, it’s best to eat the frog.”
“We fairy-tale types are supposed to kiss them, not eat them,” Chiara joked weakly. “But okay, I get your point about doing the hard stuff first and getting it over with.”
“Exactly.”
“I just...” She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I’m prepared to make that call to Rick.” Just yet.
“I’m always here to help.”
“Thanks, Odele.”
The next day, Chiara wasn’t feeling calm exactly, but she’d come down from her crazy tumult of emotions. She ventured out to her doctor’s office for a consultation, having gotten herself an early appointment after there was a cancellation.
She didn’t go into detail with the staff on the phone. She knew how juicy a piece of gossip a pregnant actress was, and medical staff had been known for leaks despite confidentiality laws. Out of an abundance of caution, she wore sunglasses and a scarf when she showed up for her appointment—because the paparazzi also knew that staking out the offices of doctors to the stars was a great way to get a scoop, or at least a tantalizing photo.
Dr. Phyllia Tribbling confirmed she was pregnant and assured her that everything was fine. She told her to come back when she was a few weeks further along.
