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River chewed the inside of her lower lip as she patiently waited for his reaction. She watched him intently as his expression morphed from confusion to wonder to shock to anger to helplessness.
He looked up at her, his eyes narrowed, a frown etched upon his beautiful face.
He turned the stick around, pointing at the two red lines she had stared at all day today.
He shook his head, refusing to believe what was in front of him in plain sight. "You cannot be pregnant!" He growled.
River sighed as she leaned back on the couch, her fingers combing her wild dark brown curls.
"And yet here I am." River closed her eyes, hearing his heavy footsteps hurry towards her.
"Johnson, how the hell are you so calm about this?"
River blinked her eyes open, studying her very best friend, sweat beading his forehead and lips quivering. It was safe to say that he was more a nervous wreck about this situation than she was right now.
She reached for his hands and rubbed circles on the back of them, tugging at them to make him crouch down in front of her.
"Because I am happy." River blew out a breath. "I know this comes with a lot and I mean a lot of repercussions, but I think that the joy and excitement I feel about this whole situation just outweighs them all." A smile tugged at her lips as she finished.
Surely, she was in a pickle here.
She had four problems at hand now.
First and foremost. River didn't know who the father was, as ridiculous as that sounded. She knew that it was the man she had slept with almost two months ago, and that made her roughly seven weeks pregnant. She hadn't slept with anyone within a three-month span before him and none after him.
But the problem was, neither did she know his name nor did she remember his face, because he had disappeared in the morning after before she had woken up.
The only thing she did remember were his caramel eyes because he looked at her with so much intensity that she could not take her eyes away from him. Everything else was just a vague memory. It was as if his stare was engraved into her mind.
And River was a forgetful drunk. Not something she was ever proud of, but this had now put her in a situation where she couldn't let him in on a fact that he had a right to know and where her child would have to grow up not knowing who his or her biological father is. And that made River feel a teeny tiny bit uneasy and guilty.
Her second problem was breaking this out to Sebastian, her best friend and house mate. She had told him now. Mission accomplished?
But she still hadn't told him about the first problem.
Third, telling her family.
Her father died of lung cancer when she was twenty-two so it was just her, her mom and grandmother now.
While Lilith Johnson was a chilled-out lady and would absolutely lose her mind with happiness when she hears about her great-grandchild, her mother Susan Johnson was not going to take it well. The criminal lawyer was cold-hearted to the world but she went ballistic over every small aspect of her daughter's life. River had a messed up past and Susan had always blamed herself for it. And she had promised her husband that she will protect and love her daughter on the behalf of the both of them at all cost. Now she was going to blame herself. But for what?
Fourth problem, River was doing her residency now. She didn't know how her head, Dr. Philomena Rose, was going to take this news. Surely, she could drop it now and pick it up again later. She knew she couldn't work now because her first trimester looked quite promising, what with her not being able to keep even water down. She didn't think a twenty-five-hour shift was the brightest idea. She was just upset that she will not get to work with the legendary Dr. Rose when she gets back to finish it.
There. Other than that, she was very happy, and undoubtedly excited for her child.
She was doubtful and confused about a lot of things and she did not understand many of her feelings but the only thing that she was so sure of was the fact that she wanted her child and she couldn't be happier. And she already loved him or her with the whole of her heart. To hell with timing and all that shit.
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||Two weeks later...||
"Twins?"
River nodded, drinking her cup of green tea, scrunching up her face in disgust and keeping it aside, gagging internally as she downed the muck.
"Drink it." Sebastian glared at her, passing her the cup back and passing their other best friend, Jacqueline Meyers, the sonogram which showed two bean-shaped masses marked A and B.
Her little babies!
River's heart swelled up with pride just at the thought of carrying her little cupcakes.
She didn't know she would be blessed with twins. Something she had wanted all her life!
And a part of her - call it motherly instinct - told her that they were a boy and a girl.
She knew she shouldn't be too quick to assume but she just knew!
"How far along are you?" She asked, looking at the picture in awe.
"Nine weeks." River smiled, cringing again when the yucky liquid touched her taste buds.
Why was she made to drink this shit? Oh how she missed dear old Starbucks! But coffee was a big no-no during pregnancy. River preferred juice but over-protective Uncle Sebby had decided he was worthy of a double doctorate in maternity care now that he had stacked his room with all kinds of pregnancy and baby care books and she was not to argue with him on what she got to eat and what not.
This man needed to get a life!
Though she had to agree, it was quite cute how invested he was about his nieces and/or nephews as long as it was not about the shit that he made her eat and the yoga and meditation sessions. She knew it was all for her sake but she was just nine weeks pregnant. She didn't want this for thirty-one more weeks!
"This makes it so much more real." Jacqueline bit her lips, her eyes not leaving the sonogram. A happy tear escaped her eyes. River could see she was as excited to be a godmother as she was about becoming a mother.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. "It was real for me from the moment she started throwing up her meals and complaining how loud I breathed and craving just that flavor of ice cream that wasn't in the house."
River grinned at him as she stealthily placed the mug of yuck back on the table. His eyes darted to the ceramic and back at her, his face tensing, preparing for another long torturous sermon.
She grabbed the mug and downed the drink it in one go.
"Blech!" River scrunched up her face as she brought the empty mug down on the table.
She really wished there was a switch to turn off taste buds just for times when she had to drink and eat gross stuff like that!
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sebastian said, as if talking to a five-year-old and she narrowed her eyes at him before sticking her tongue out and making another "Blehh!" sound.
"Meyers, can't you come stay with me?" She turned to Jacqueline. "Shane can go stay with Cole."
Cole Harris was Jacqueline's boyfriend of years. He worked at a tattoo parlor downtown. He was the typical bad boy while she the good girl. Personally, River did not like the vibe the dude gave her but he was devoted to Jacqueline and she guessed that was all that really mattered.
Jacqueline shook her head, laughing. Of course, she wasn't leaving her boyfriend. Cheesy relationships.
As if you don't fancy that! River's inner voice snorted.
River rolled her eyes. Couldn't the little bitch in her head give her a break?
Now that she thought about it, she didn't think she had the option of a romantic relationship anymore. She always ended up breaking up within months of dating because of one, her job and two, her eccentricity and she was also bit of an aromantic. And now with the twins coming along, she really didn't think she was going to try for stable relationships because she didn't want them to get attached to anyone only to lose them later on.
She decided that she was going to drop all of her romantic fantasies and just have casual relations from now on. Well, it wasn't like any of her past relationships were really romantic or stable in the first place.
She really wanted to look for the father of the children. The guilt ate away at her for depriving all three of them of their bond but how was she to find someone who visited The Loft a few months ago with only the detail known being his intense caramel eyes. She was not going to pretend to be Prince Charming from Cinderella and find him solely based on the eye color. And what was the chance the man she found was the father – well, there was always a paternity test which could be taken to prove it – and what if the father didn't want to be in their lives? A lot of questions swarmed her mind all the time.
But if, by some miracle, this guy did turn up, and wanted to be part of the kids' lives, she wanted him to at least see the memories that he had missed. So, she had decided to record all those special moments. She did think that all moments involving her beautiful babies will be special but she had thought this out the day she got to know that she was pregnant and had a recording of the pregnancy test as well. And she had also gotten the first sonography session on camera as well that day.
And even if the father never turned up, she would still have all these beautiful memories with her. So, it was a win-win for her.
But then again, what was the probability of him ever turning up? And even if they did meet again, what was the probability of them remembering each other or realizing what their relation was?
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