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‘Yeah.’ She was still shivering, cold sweat on her brow, and Greg wrapped her in his dressing gown, guiding her back to the bed.
‘Here, lie down for a minute.’ He propped the pillows up and she relaxed back into them, wishing that they’d swallow her up. Not quite the awakening she’d been planning on treating him to.
‘Can I get you something? A glass of water?’
‘No. Thanks, I’m okay.’ She shrugged. ‘Don’t know what happened there.’ Though she was beginning to fathom it out and she tried to ignore the conclusion that was staring her in the face.
Greg’s face was clouded in thought. Apparently he too was beginning to fathom it out. ‘How late are you?’
‘What? Who says… ?’
‘How late?’ His voice was firm, almost as if he was talking to a difficult patient.
‘Don’t be like this, Greg.’ He couldn’t know. She didn’t even know so how could he possibly know?
‘Okay, then. You can clear this up in a second. All you have to do is tell me that I’m imagining things.’
‘You’re… ’ She couldn’t. Or, if he was, then it looked as if he was imagining the same things that she was. The things that she’d, put down to stress and the missed meals and sleepless nights of the last two weeks.
‘Jess, stop this. You refused any wine last night, you’re sick this morning. What’s going on?’
‘Nothing. Nothing. I just didn’t want the wine. It smelled a bit off.’
‘It was fine.’
‘Maybe it’s just a stomach bug.’
‘How late?’
‘Two weeks. And a couple of days.’
‘How many days?’ His voice was gentle, but Jess didn’t dare look up into his face.
‘Four.’
‘Is that usual for you?’
‘No, I’m… You can usually set your watch by my monthly cycle.’
‘I’m assuming you haven’t done a test?’
‘No. I thought I was just a bit run down.’
‘This isn’t like you, Jess.’ He wrapped his arms around her, letting out a long sigh. ‘A test would only take five minutes and then we’d know.’
‘Yes. Then we’d know.’ What if she didn’t want to know just yet? She might just want to hang onto the possibility that she was right, without having to actually face any of the hard questions that was going to pose. But now that Greg was involved, it changed everything. ‘I’ll stop on my way home and get a test kit from the chemist.’
‘Jess.’ He let out a huff of exasperation. ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do. I’ll pop out now to the all-night chemist and get a test kit. Then we’ll get it done, and… well, we can work out what comes next when we know what the result is.’
Somewhere, deep inside, she was glad. Glad that Greg had forced the issue. That he’d been stronger than she was, and that he’d cared enough to be gentle, too. ‘Yes. All right.’
He reached for her, grasping her by the shoulders and looking straight into her face. A pulse beat at the side of his brow. He wasn’t as calm as he sounded. ‘It’ll be okay, Jess. We’ll work this out together.’
She gulped back the tears. He was sticking by her, this far at least. Or perhaps he was just taking control. She preferred the former.
‘Okay?’ He wasn’t going anywhere until she gave him a ‘yes’.
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