Changing Affection

Chapter Thirty-Five

Aubrey sat in the kitchen, sipping on her cup of coffee. Ezra was cleaning up in the bathroom. She wanted to join him, but she was too sore from last night's exercise. Also, she wasn't in the mind for sex at the moment. Her mind was elsewhere. She was waiting for Asher to get back from the small grocery store.

He was the only one allowed to go out. Everyone would recognize both Ezra and Aubrey's faces and they weren't going to take the risk of Jearon finding out where they were. She took a sip of coffee and grimaced at the now cold coffee.

As she stood up and put the mug in the microwave, she heard knocking on the front door. By the pattern of the knocking, she knew that it was Asher. She crossed her arms as she waited for her coffee to heat up impatiently. She heard Asher walk into the kitchen and place bags on the counter beside her.

"I got what you asked for," he quickly handed over a smaller bag.

She grabbed it and held it in front of her. "Thank you."

"Have you been feeling all right?"

Aubrey looked over at him and tried to give him a small smile. "I'm okay."

He gave her a look and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me the truth, Aubrey."

She took a deep breath and looked down at the bag in her hand. "I'll tell you after I do something."

He nodded, understanding as Aubrey walked quickly out of the kitchen and down the hallway into the small bathroom. She closed the door behind her and locked it. Her heart was beating hard as she unwrapped the package from the bag and took the long package out. She sat down on the toilet and sighed as she stared at the package in her hand.

A pregnancy test.

Aubrey thought for a moment that everything was in her mind. That she was late because of all the stress that had happened to her the past couple of months. She was two weeks late and that scared her.

If she was pregnant, what would she think? What would her dad think? What would Ezra think? She leaned back and closed her eyes and sighed. Yes, she wanted to have his children, but she didn't think that right now would be the best time to get pregnant.

They have been careful. Very careful. The only time when he has finished inside of her was back at the house in the bathroom. Although, she thought while she bit down on her lip, they had never worn a condom.

Aubrey took a deep breath as she opened up the box and pulled out the wand. She read the instructions and did exactly what it told her to do. Once she was done, she placed the wand on a towel and waited for the five minutes to be over.

A knock sounded on the door making her jump. "Aubrey?" Ezra's voice sounded from the other side.

She clutched her hand to her chest and sighed. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" His voice was laced with worry. 

She smiled. "I am. I'll be out soon."

There was a pause on the other side of the door before she heard his voice. "Okay." She heard him walk away before she looked back down at her hands. She checked the watch on her wrist.

Almost time, she thought. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. Her watch beeped and her head shot up. She didn't want to look at it, but she knew that she had to. She slowly leaned over the towel and her eyes got wide. She grabbed the wand off of the towel and held it closer to her face.

It was positive.

She leaned back. She had many different emotions going through her head right now. She was happy, of course, but also scared. She was in an extremely stressful situation right now and she knew that stress could cause a miscarriage.

How was she going to tell Ezra?

Should she just walk up to him and tell him?

She didn't know, but she knew that she had to tell him.

She took a deep breath and stood up. She held the wand in her hand as she opened the door. Aubrey jumped as she saw Ezra leaning up against the wall across from the bathroom. He looked up at her quickly.

"What's wrong?" he quickly asked her. He stepped closer to her, but he was stopped by Aubrey holding up the wand in between them. He looked down at it and back up to her. "What's this?" He gently took the wand from her. 

Aubrey watched as his eyes widened. She started to wring her hands together. He was taking too long to answer. She was starting to get nervous about what he was thinking. She wished that he would just say something.

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before he looked up at her. She couldn't tell the emotion that was in his eyes. "Is this-? Are you-?"

Aubrey stepped up to him and placed her hands on his. "This says I am." He was still too quiet for her. She was beginning to think that maybe this wasn't a good idea. She should have just waited to tell him when everything was over. She dropped her hands and stepped back to lean against the wall. "What are you thinking about?"

Ezra shook his head. "So many things," his voice was quiet.

Her stomach dropped a little. "Are you not happy?"

Ezra's head snapped up to her. He took a large step towards her and bent his head down to connect their foreheads. "I'm beyond happy, Princess. I'm ecstatic."

Aubrey let out a shaky breath. Tears started to threaten to leave her eyes. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall down. She felt him wipe her tears off of her cheeks. "I'm glad," she whispered out.

"Are you happy, Aubrey?"

Aubrey nodded. She truly was, but she was still scared.

Ezra placed gentle kisses along her cheeks. "I don't want you to stress anymore, Princess. I promise to protect both you and our child."

She reached up and grabbed his wrists and opened her eyes, looking straight into his eyes "Please don't leave me alone."

"I won't, Princess."