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Dr. Rhodes smiles. “You’ll let me take care of that when your due date comes around. I’ve delivered twins and triplets aplenty before, Olivia. Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you transition to working from home within the next couple of weeks, okay? You’ll need to spend more time in bed and dealing with as little stress as possible. It sounds impossible, I know, but stress is the main complication in absolutely every pregnancy if left uncontrolled.”
Yeah… easier said than done.
“I’ve got a huge project coming to a close soon,” I tell the doctor. “I’m not sure I can work from home.”
“You might not have a choice. If you think your bump is showing now, wait until you get closer to that due date. It’s like walking around with a beer keg strapped to your belly. Your back, your hips, your knees and your ankles will take the brunt of that damage. You should make sure you can at least work from home. Legally, you have rights as a pregnant employee.”
“Oh, it’s not about the boss not wanting to help me,” I reply. “It’s that…”
“She really wants to finish that project,” Rick adds when he sees me faltering.
My mind is already sliding into a mess of thoughts as I wonder whether I should tell Will about this or not.
Would he care? Would he say anything? Would it even change what isn’t between us anymore? I doubt it. He has chosen his path, and I am sticking to mine.
It pains me to think this way. I wish I could just see him lighting up when he… but he’s not even here. I’m chasing shadows again, and hurting myself in the process. I have to stop.
No, Will doesn’t need to know.
This is my challenge.
And I am… terrified.
CHAPTER24
OLIVIA
Dr. Rhodes was right and then some.
The last month of my pregnancy coincides with the last push for the FEMA bid. We had to push it into the winter since the engineering side of things was taking longer than expected. It’s okay, though. It gives me the time I need to transition into a work-from-home setting without losing sight of the devices. Tony visits me every day to make upgrades on my prototype, which I then use to devise different simulations into the Asclepius software. It is coming along beautifully.
And I have barely left the house lately. Mom keeps coming over every Friday, but Rick is the one who makes sure to check on me every evening. Dad’s recovery is a lot slower than they had hoped, so my little brother is trying to take some of the pressure off our mother instead. The rest of our family is scheduled to fly in for Christmas, and with my due date being December twenty-second, the general consensus is that we’re gonna have a baby in the family picture this year.
To say that I’m nervous would be one hell of an understatement. I’ve been living off stolen glances of Will from my last days in the office and off memories of our moments together. It is astonishing that such a short encounter could do this much damage to us. To me, in particular. But then again, this isn’t really… damage. I’m becoming a mother, just not in the circumstances I would’ve liked. The days go by like a soft buzz.
Finally, I’m getting up from my seat to go in front of several representatives from FEMA to present Asclepius. I’ve got my monologue and demo features ready. Zara and Will are standing in the front row of the auditorium, alongside our potential clients. The stage lights are focused on me and the large screen behind me, where Tony is ready to use different devices he helped me put together for the display. The twins keep kicking, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna go straight into labor if I bend over suddenly. That’s how swollen I feel.
“Are you okay?” Zara whispers as I head for the stage.
“Yeah, why?” I ask.
She gives me a quick, confused look. “You’re an oversized watermelon about to deliver the performance of a lifetime. I’m worried about you.”
“Your hair looks like crap,” I reply bluntly, then head up the stage.
She knows I’m joking, but she still runs a hand through her short hair as I wobble my way up the steps. Will won’t take his eyes off me, either. He never does. Whenever he’s around, he looks at me with a mixture of emotions I can’t quite read. I’ve been isolated for quite a while, though, and I worry that my perception may have been skewed. I give him one last glance before I smile at the FEMA executives.
Two men and one woman in sharp black suits, already seated and holding presentation folders in their laps, along with smaller Pad versions for them to try out with once I’m done talking them through the entire system and its features. It took weeks to put the presentation together, and I’ve had some fabulous input from the board, so I’m confident I’ve got this under control.
I only hope I can talk as stand for as long as I need to. The little ones are already pressing on my bladder. This is it. The moment I’ve been working towards. My project has come to life, and now… I must find a good home for it. I cannot fail.
Will gives me a subtle nod as I accept a mic from one of the assistants. We haven’t said much to one another lately, but I guess we’ve been communicating with our eyes more than most. It’s a shame we can’t get our minds to connect as well. I nod back and turn my sights on the prospective clients.
“Good morning, and welcome,” I say as the Asclepius logo appears on the screen behind me. “The reason why we brought you out here today is to simply tell you that we need to improve emergency and disaster outcomes, and that Bucklow Tech has the best possible solution.”
And with those words, I glide into my presentation, doing my best to ignore the squirming twins and Braxton-Hicks contractions that have been bugging me for the past week with infuriating persistence. December twenty-second is still a couple of weeks away, but Dr. Rhodes said it would get increasingly uncomfortable and disrupted by false alarms. I power through, for that is where I’ve focused most of my strength.
That is where my resolve has settled.
