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I drop my phone in my bag just as we arrive at my building. I half-way expect to see Alessandro standing out front, but he’s not there. Of course he’s not. He’s probably off on Brotherhood business. I mean, that is the root of most of our problems. If he would justshow up,then things might be different!
Inside my apartment, I drop my bags on the kitchen counter and pull out the pregnancy test. It’s straightforward. Pee on the stick and in one to five minutes, you’ll know if you’re pregnant. Carrying it to my bathroom, I sit on the toilet. My heart pounds the entire time. What am I going to do if it’s positive? What am I going to do if it’s not? When I’m finished, I set the stick on the countertop and wash my hands.
The digital screen on the test flashes, showing the test is progressing. A countdown to my results. God, who thought this was a good idea? It’s literally torturous watching each segment light up. And one to five minutes to get the result? I grab the box the test came in to make sure I read it right. Yeah, that’s what it says. I glance at the stick and my lips part. Oh my gosh. Pregnant.
I take the other test in the box when I wake up the next morning. It shows ‘pregnant’ even faster, if that’s possible. On my phone, I check my period tracking app. My cycles are never regular. Once, I went an entire year without having a period. From what I can tell, the last period I had was a few months before I married Alessandro. Okay, that’s not really helpful. So, sometime between the wedding and the nearly four and a half months that we’ve been married, I got pregnant.
My hand goes to my stomach. I’ve always wanted to be a mother. Even as a little girl, I would carry my baby dolls around and care for them as if they were real. I’d make stories up about my little family, even pretending that I had a husband. And now it’s true. Except I don’t have the perfect family. Not at all.
Alessandro’s face crosses my mind and my eyes water.
I have to tell him, and I will. I just need time to process this on my own.
The next day I leave my apartment to go shopping on the strip. It’s kind of fun being here as a tourist, though it would be even better if Alessandro was here with me.
I’m debating where to go next when I see a familiar face walking toward me.
“Isabetta? Is that you?”
“Greer,” I greet as she gets closer. “I didn’t know you lived in Vegas.”
“Oh, I don’t. I’m here with work.” She grins. “There was a special at one of my favorite bars. It’s a speakeasy and you have to know the secret password to get in for free, so I came in a few days early.”
Ah. Is that what’s making her cheeks so flushed right now?
“That sounds fun.”
“It was. You’ll have to come with me next time.”
I nod, but don’t say anything. There’s not going to be any drinking in my future for a while.
She looks around. “Are you out here, alone?”
“I am.” I wiggle the bag in my hand. “Just doing some shopping and sightseeing.”
“Oh, we must go to one of my favorite stores, then! And lunch! Have you had lunch?”
“I haven’t.”
“I know just the place to take you.”
A bit later, I find myself seated across from Greer in an Italian restaurant. She orders another drink, but I settle with water with lemon.
“My feet are killing me,” she says. “I always forget how much walking there is in Vegas.”
“I had never been before I married Alessandro.”
I don’t mention that this is the first time I’ve been out on the strip since I’ve been here.
She says, “It’s not my favorite place to visit, either, but I’m here a lot because of my job.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m the social media coordinator for Humans Yearning to Protect Earth.”
My eyebrows lift. “Oh wow. That’s really cool.”
Humans Yearning to Protect Earth, better known as HYPE, is an activist group that works hand in hand with other global organizations to protect the world.
