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“Such a beautiful ring,” said a woman lounging in a wide brimmed hat and crocs across from me. “Are you here with your family?”
“No,” I answered politely enough. “It’s a me-trip.”
“Oh, how nice.” She laughed self-deprecatingly. “I can’t remember what that’s like.”
I’d never experienced this before myself either, but she didn’t need to know that. I hummed and turned a page in my book, making a pointed effort to end the conversation.
“Do you have children?” she pressed.
I peered pointedly over my book. “Nope.”
“Oh? Do you want some?”
How rude.I debated for a moment, but then decided she was a stranger and the likelihood of seeing her again was next to nothing. “That’s a really insensitive question. What if I’m not capable of having any?”
My directness didn’t even phase her.
“With a body like that? Please! And even if the swimmers don’t find a home, there’s some great advances in the medical field that make it possible.” She sat up, really getting into the conversation. I wanted to groan. “My sister, who lives out in Lincoln, Nebraska, had to come stay with me in Tulsa to see thegooddoctors—she had to have some hormone shots, but she got all synced up, and now she’s expecting twins next month!”
Was it common that average people engaged in such intimate conversations? I swallowed thickly. “Thanks, but we’ve got some things to work through first.”
It wasn’t like I’d used birth control since the incident at the opera house. ...Maybe there was a possibility Constantine and I were in for a surprise during our Caribbean honeymoon? I pushed that thought so far down in my mind that it was almost non-existent. A child couldn’t come into this world until we made sure it was safe. What would the Chatty Cathy say if I told her that?
“You must like children, though. Why else would you go on a family cruise ship if you’re alone?”
This woman wouldn’t quit. I wanted to say because my smuggler-slash-assassin husband thought it would be safer to be amongst families if my demented father is in fact hunting me. Instead, I slid my classic novel back into my bag. I wouldn’t be getting any more reading done. “It’s because of all the hot dad bodies to drool over.”
She gasped, her generous chest heaving at my bluntness.
Chuckling at that parting shot, I left the deck chairs to dress. It was time to prepare to go ashore. I hoped my father was there to be slaughtered. Wouldn’t that be fun to tell the suburban housewife? But then, she’d probably explode if she knew how dysfunctional some families could be.
Chapter 68 – Talia
The pregnancy testsstared back at me. With Spanish not being a fluent language, it was difficult to decipher the instructions on the box. I pieced it together as best I could with a mismatch of French and English, relying on the Latin I knew to bridge it. According to the packet, I wouldn’t know if I was pregnant or not yet. Still, the temptation to pay for this test at the pharmacy counter and go straight into the bathroom and dribble over the stick was distracting enough to entice me.
What if...?
