A Bittersweet News

RENEE

It took me thirty seconds to understand what Nicole said. Thirty seconds, during which the entire world slowed down. Every heartbeat pounding hard against my chest increasingly solidified as a single word echoed over and over in my head.

Pregnant.

I was carrying a child inside me. Robert’s child. Our child.

My goodness! In nine months, I’d be a mother. For nine fucking months, I'd carry a living, breathing human inside of me! As I took it all in, a moment of clarity hit. This explained the weight gain Sally noticed, my persistent nausea, and the morning sickness. The feeling in the pit of my stomach that came when I overate or drank alcohol. This explained it all. Everything was starting to make sense.

I also remembered a conversation with Robert the day before about having mini-us’s someday. It’d seemed like an idyllic fantasy at the time, but now the reality was so much crueler.

"Oh, my God." My voice cracked as tears streamed down my cheeks, mixed with the sweat and drie