Chapter Four

Jenna 

This has to be a mistake. 

I stare at the paper in my hand, my fingers trembling and crumpling the edges. My gaze lifts to the man wearing a white coat at the other end of the desk, his smile too wide for my liking. 

“Congratulations, Miss Martins,” he says. “You’re two months pregnant.”

Pregnant?  

I came in for a checkup because I’d been having persistent nausea and stomach cramps. 

“Now,” he clasps his hands eagerly, while my head swims, “our hospital is equipped to handle your prenatal care. I can refer you to an OB/GYN.”

He reaches for a pen and a paper, scribbling something down on the paper. Then he hands it to me. “It’s just down the hall. You can’t miss it.”

I stand on shaky legs that threaten to give out as I slowly walk out of his office, leaving the door ajar. 

My thoughts spin wildly as a chill wracks through my bones as I stagger through the hospital in a haze, heading for the big signs that point to the “EXIT,” like a zombie puppet. 

I haven’t slept with anyone in months. 

I shake my head as I shove the note and the report into my bag, refusing to accept it. 

But as I walk into the open air, it hits me all at once. I stumble and almost fall, slapping a hand across my mouth. My one night stand in Milan. The man with the sandy blond hair and a heart wrecking smile I just couldn’t resist. 

My thoughts race back to that night, sitting at the rooftop bar, ready to drown out my thoughts and ending up in a suite with a man who whispered my name like it was poetry on his tongue. 

Did we use protection?  

I can’t remember. 

But he’s the only person I’ve been with since Tom. And the dates match. It was a little over two months ago. 

It was supposed to be a one-time thing—a way to get back at my ex-husband. 

I left while he was sleeping, getting on the early flight back home. And then I told myself to promptly forget about him. 

How ironic.  

The words echo in my head until they lose all meaning, dissolving into a deafening roar.

My knees nearly buckle as I stumble through the parking lot. I don’t remember unlocking my car or climbing inside. The second the door slams shut, something inside me shatters.

A sob rips out of me, then another—loud, raw and uncontrollable. 

My forehead drops against the steering wheel as I gasp for air, but every breath catches on another violent cry. My whole body convulses with it and my shoulders shake so hard they ache. 

I claw helplessly at my shirt as if I can somehow stop my heart from pounding out of my chest.

“No… no…” I choke out, the words dissolving into broken sobs.

Tears stream down my face faster than I can wipe them away, blurring everything until the world beyond the windshield disappears. My chest burns, my throat feels scraped raw and every breath comes in ragged, hitching gasps that only feed the next wave of crying.

I don’t know how long I stay there in my car, sobbing uncontrollably, unable to think, unable to move, as my entire world seems to collapse around me.

But when the sobs subside, I pick up my phone with shaky hands, my chest heaving as my uneven breathing fills the air. 

Another awful realization hits me. 

I don’t know anything about him except his first name, Dante. If that even was his first name. We were just strangers with no obligation to each other, so he could’ve lied to me. 

Where do I begin? 

I could walk back in and ask for a second test, but I already knew. I’d suspected it deep down…I just didn’t want it to be true. 

The nausea, the fatigue, the lack of appetite. 

Another tear slides down my cheek, but I brush it away quickly. 

“Get it together, Jenna,” I whisper furiously. I dig into my bag for the pregnancy result, forcing myself to read the words on it. 

I had to face reality. 

I made a mistake, but the consequence was staring me right in the face.

If I couldn’t find my stranger from Milan, then I’d have to do the hard thing. 

Alone. 

I glance down, tentatively placing a hand on my stomach. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, through the knot at the base of my throat. “For bringing you into the world like this. But I promise, I’m going to take care of you. I’ll do all it takes to make sure you don’t ever worry about having a second parent.”

My phone buzzes as I turn the key. 

I glance at my screen as it lights up, seeing an email from the bar in Milan, offering a discount for my next vacation. 

A wild thought pops into my head. 

I could contact them. See if they have any details for the man who bought me the drink that night. 

I reach for my phone, but I don’t send them a reply. Instead I swipe to delete it and toss my phone to the passenger’s seat, permanently shutting down that chapter of my past.