AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m sure she doesn’t think I’m serious when I ask her. I’d sell my soul for a chance to convince her how good we’d be together.
And then an idea strikes me like a hammer on a bell.
I loosen my tie a little. Then I pick up my whisky glass.
“There is an addendum to my decision,” I tell her. “Or is pudendum?”
She snorts and pushes me away. “What sort of addendum?”
“I said I wouldn’t do anything in a cup. But I am prepared to get you pregnant the old-fashioned way.”
“Hux, come on, this isn’t a laughing matter.”
“I’m not laughing. Look at my face.” I point to it. “I’m deadly serious.”
She rolls her eyes. “Jesus.”
I lift a hand to cup her chin and turn her face so she’s looking at me. “I’m serious,” I repeat. I release her chin, but her gaze remains fixed on mine.
We study each other for about twenty seconds.
Then, eventually, she says, “Nope.”
I’d expected that, and I’ve prepared my argument. “Okay. Let’s look at it this way. From what I understand, at the clinic you’d have two choices of insemination, right? Intra Uterine Insemination and In Vitro Fertilization?”
She narrows her eyes. “How do you know that?”
“I’m a man of the world. I know stuff. So, what’s the success rate of IUI?”
“Seven to ten percent per cycle,” she says. I knew she’d have all the stats in her head. Not only will she have read up on the process because that’s what she does, she’s also developing some kind of fertility drug at her company, so she’ll be well aware of the facts and figures.
“And of IVF?”
“Fifty-five percent on the first try.”
“But there are risks, right?”
“Yeah… multiple births, premature delivery, low birth weight. A few others. And it does involve taking fertility drugs, which I’m wary of.”
“So… what’s the success rate of getting pregnant the old-fashioned way? If you have sex around ovulation?”
Her lips start to curve up. “Around thirty percent.”
“And the risks?”
“All right, smart arse. I know what you’re saying. But it’s not going to happen.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want another relationship.”
“Why?” I ask again, softly. “I know you’ve never forgiven me for what I did, but what happened with the others that’s made you so anti-men?”
“I’m not anti-men,” she protests. “I happen to like them very much. And I have forgiven you. It’s purely a self-defense mechanism.” She looks at her glass and turns it in her fingers. “Do you know what a non-healing fracture is?”
“No.”
“It’s when the pieces of a broken bone don’t grow back together. Bones usually start rebuilding after they’ve been set. But sometimes bones don’t produce new tissue, leaving an aching pain and weakness.” She presses her hand to her chest. “That’s my heart, Hux. It’s been broken so many times that it has a non-healing fracture.”
