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CHAPTER 32
Iwas in paradise,but I was absolutely miserable. Between crying and vomiting, I was pretty sure that I was dying. At least I had been sure until Tibby and Eloise forced a little brown paper bag into my hands.
Now, I sat on the toilet in the ensuite bathroom of my bedroom and I was gripping a positive pregnancy test in my hand. I stared at it, willing it to all be a joke and that it was actually negative. This had to be a prank pregnancy test that Eloise and Tibby had given me. But the more I stared, the more I realized that my luck really had run out last week during the party.
“Madeline...that’s your third pregnancy test you’ve done, I don’t think it’s going to change.” Tibby said from where she was sitting on the bathroom floor next to Eloise. The two had been sitting with me for almost an hour as I took test after test.
Tossing the test on the counter, I buried my face in my hands. “What am I supposed to do now?” I wanted to cry and grin at the same time. Grin because a piece of Adair or Rio was growing inside of me, and cry because I had no idea where I stood with them at the moment.
I had decided to leave my phone back in San Francisco, and I was definitely regretting it now.
Eloise leaned forward and slid her hand into mine. “Do you know how far along you are?” She asked.
I shook my head miserably. “No, I just figured that I was stressed. My last period was in...” I thought about it for a moment. “January? I think?”
Even then I wasn’t sure. Things had been so busy with getting fired and Adair’s campaign that most days I barely had time to breathe, let alone think about my period.
“Youcouldtalk to them.” Tibby said, playing devil’s advocate. “It’s been a week since we got to Cancun. I know that you miss them.”
Ididmiss them. Even Marcus, though those feelings were still completely raw. Everytime I thought about him and closed my eyes, I could still see his angry face and feel the way he’d yanked his hand out of mine. I could also hear Charlotte’s last words to me,‘does he still do that thing with his tongue?’She had wanted to mess with me, and she had definitely succeeded. It still made me irrationally angry to think about. At least now I knew why my emotions had been out of whack over the past few months.
“Let’s just get through the vacation.” I said, putting all of the pregnancy tests into the brown bag and rolled it up. “Can we keep this between us? At least for now?”
Ric had been a thundercloud of anger ever since he had picked me up from the party. He had taken one look at my tear-stained face and had gotten out of the car to go inside and kick the shit out of my pack. Only my pleading with him had kept him from causing a scene. Luckily, being on vacation had softened him a bit and I didn’t want to ruin that.
While Tibby, Eloise, and I had locked ourselves away in my bathroom, everyone else had taken Cherry and Vivienne to the private beach that was in front of our rented Villa. I could hear Cherry’s squeals of delight float in from the cracked bathroom window.
“For now, yes, but you’re going to have to tell Ric eventually.” Eloise stood and helped Tibby to her feet. “We’re here with you through whatever, Madeline, no matter what you choose to do.”
My throat tightened with tears, and I briefly wondered how I’d been able to ignore my whacky emotions for so long. “I love you guys,” I said in a wobbling voice and let Tibby and Madeline hug me, their chocolate and strawberry scents wafting down around me in comforting waves.
Unfortunately, that comfort was almost immediately replaced by another bout of nausea. After another round of dry heaving, I spit into the toilet and pressed my face into the cool tile of the wall.
“How long am I going to be nauseous like this?” I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go without being able to keep food down.
“I was sick for almost my entire pregnancy.” Eloise replied cheerfully as she rubbed my back.
I definitely needed to make an appointment with the doctor as soon as we got back to San Francisco because I wasn’t sure if I could handle this for much longer.
“Madeline! Come swimwith us!” Cherry waved wildly from her place atop Theo’s shoulders. They were standing in the water as Tibby floated on a swim ring covered in pink flamingos in front of them. Aria, Matteo, and Cobb were on the beach playing volleyball against Leon, Owen, and Dominic while the rest of us lounged in the shaded cabana. We were in week two of our vacation and only had a couple of days before we flew back to California. I had just under a week before I had to face the mess that I had left behind, and I was no closer to figuring it out than I had been when we left San Francisco.
“I will in a bit!” I called back. Truth be told, I hadn’t been swimming much ever since I found out I was pregnant. Every morning that I looked in the mirror, I swore that I saw a pooch of distended stomach. Even though Eloise and Tibby had assured me that it wasn’t noticeable, I was still paranoid that Ric was going to find out and try to fly home early to kick the crap out of my alphas. So, I kept my swim cover up on most of the time, and only swam when Ric was otherwise occupied.
Eloise and Vivienne were curled up on the towel next to me with Link snoring lightly behind them. I reached over and tickled my niece's belly, causing her to giggle wildly. I could imagine myself having a little girl with chubby cheeks and legs just like Vivi had.
“For what it’s worth, I am glad you came on vacation with us. I missed having you around so much.” Eloise pushed her sunglasses out of her eyes so that I could see her face.
“I am too.” Spending a week on the beach with my family had been exactly what I needed, lingering morning sickness aside. I had been able to take a step back and look at everything that had happened through a less emotional lense, and had come to the conclusion that I just really missed Adair, Rio, and even Marcus. Even if Marcus had been the reason for all of my heart ache over the past couple of weeks.
“Lunch was dropped off!” Ric called from the porch of the villa. Suddenly there was a flurry of people drying off with towels and shaking the sand out of their swimsuits before we headed together as a group to eat.
Sitting at the long table on the patio, cartons of food from the nearby resort were divided up. I sat with my chicken noodle soup, jealous of the crispy chicken sandwich that Owen was currently eating next to me. But I knew that as soon as I ate anything that even remotely smelled like grease that it wouldn’t stay down for long.
“Still got that stomach bug, huh?” Owen asked as he bit into his sandwich with a gusto.
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
I was a crappy liar, but Owen was too involved with his sandwich to notice.
