I reach for the first test and pick it up; two dark pink lines stare back at me. I reach for the second and flip it over—a blue plus sign. Ohmigod, could thisreally be happening? My heart is racing when I grab for the last one. I’d be shocked if it said something different, but it doesn’t matter because the bold word spelled out on the screen is clear as day.
PREGNANT
“Well?” Dahlia snaps impatiently. “What does it say?”
I look up at her in the mirror with tears in my eyes and smile as I nod.
“Really?” she gasps, moving forward to look at them herself. “Ohmigod!”
“I know!” I reply as she wraps me in another hug. “But not a word. I want to tell Rhys myself.”
“Technically it’s treason that I know before the King”—she hums—“so I’m onboard with this plan.”
“Jesus. You’re all really treason happy here, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
The outer door opens and I hear a bark before Rhys calls out, “Hen, are you in here?”
I panic and open a vanity drawer, shoving all the tests inside. I don’t know why I do that. I should tell him right now, but I don’t. How weird is that?
Dahlia looks at me like I’ve lost my mind and honestly, I think maybe I kind of have because what is happening right now?
“I’m back here,” I call out.
Rhys walks in with my animals following behind him. I scoop up my kitty and cuddle him to me after giving my dog lots of love to smooth over being gone so long.
“What are you both doing back here?” he asks, and I freeze.
I’ve never been good at lying. Dahlia however, is apparently a pro because she rolls her eyes at me from behind Rhys’s back before jumping into the fray. “She has a new lip gloss that I just loved, and I wanted to see which it was so I could buy one too,” she says.
“You’re here because of girl shite?” he asks.
“Umm… yes.”
“All right then,” he says, placing a quick kiss to my lips. “That was all I wanted so I’ll leave you to it.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Was there anything else?” he asks.
Dahlia waves frantically from behind his back, gesturing for me to open my mouth and tell him that I’m lying because I’m pregnant with his royal baby who is apparently robbing me of use of all of my gray matter.
“No,” I answer quickly. “Nothing else that I can think of.”
“All right. Love you,” he says. And with that he heads back to his office with my dog in tow. Leo is still in my arms.
“One,” Dahlia shouts after the door clicks closed. “I canno’ believe you didn’t tell him and that I had to lie for you!”
“I know, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Insanity, that’s what bloody well came over you,” she shouts. “And two, it’s weird you have a cat named after the man I’m shagging and I’ve just now realized it.”
“He almost died for me,” I say with a smirk on my face. “It was only right.”
“Speaking of shagging,” she shouts again. “Why didn’t you bloody tell your husband that you’re pregnant?”
“I don’t know!” I shout back.