CHAPTER 4

“You’re pregnant.”

A gasp left my lips. “What?”

“You’re pregnant,” the doctor repeated and handed me a paper from the hospital laboratory.

I collected it. A thousand pins pricked beneath my skin as I sat across her desk. I scanned the paper, and my breath caught.

What? Pregnant from that one night three months ago?

“Congratulations, Ms Parker!” the doctor added, a smile curving her lips.

I shook my head. “No... no, no. This cannot be happening. I'm not pregnant.”

“Oh, you are dear,” Dr. Patricia said as she stood. “Would you like to see for yourself?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

She walked to a bed beside the ultrasound machine and gestured at me to come over.

With trembling steps, I crossed over to her.

“Please, lie down, Ms. Parker.”

I drew a deep breath and laid down. Carefully lifting my T-shirt, she applied a jelly substance on my belly and spread it around with a transducer.

Almost immediately, the monitor came up with a black and white image I couldn't translate.

“You see,” the doctor said, eyes focused on the screen. “The test was right. You’re about three months pregnant.”

But I couldn’t understand a thing on the screen.

As though she read my mind, she adjusted the monitor and pointed at a small pulsating object. “There is your baby, and this is her heart.”

My vision blurred as I stared at the tiny life growing inside me.

Dr. Patricia blinked. She readjusted the transducer and looked again at the screen.

“Hold on a sec.”

“Is there any problem?”

“...Well.”

She smiled.

“Ms. Parker... unless I'm mistaken... you're carrying triplets.”

My heart seemed to forget how to beat.

What? Triplets?

Had I heard wrong?

My gaze flicked back to the monitor, and I saw them too. Three tiny hearts were pulsing on the screen.

Just when I was still processing the news that I was pregnant with one child, I was pregnant with three.

“Congratulations again, Ms. Parker.”

A bittersweet taste glided down my throat.

“Are you on any prenatal vitamins?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then it’s time for you to start one.” She cleaned my belly and helped me back on my feet. Rounding her office table, she scribbled down something on a piece of paper.

“Here. Get this from the pharmacy on your way out.”

I collected the paper, still struggling to grasp that I was carrying the children of a man who humiliated me.

I offered the doctor a reticent smile and walked out of her office.

With my thoughts in a whirl, I stopped at the pharmacy before collapsing into a chair in the reception area.

Everything had fallen apart. Three months ago, I'd been working as a server at the Fortnight Ball. Now I was carrying triplets after a one-night stand with a man who probably wished he'd never met me.

Could my life get any worse?

My throat tightened so much it hurt. I pressed my palms against my eyes, as if I could hold myself together.

This burden... I couldn't possibly carry it alone. I had to confide in someone. Who?

My thoughts drifted to the father of my unborn children.

Straightening, I pulled out my phone and opened his social media page. The last time I'd looked him up was the morning after I fled the States.

My breath caught as his latest post filled the screen.

Alec Rivera knelt beneath a crystal chandelier, dressed in an immaculate tuxedo, smiling in a way I'd never seen before. Across from him stood Angelina, radiant in a white gown, both hands covering her mouth in disbelief.

Swipe.

Another photo.

He was slipping the ring onto her finger.

Swipe.

They were kissing as photographers crowded around them, flashes exploding like fireworks.

‘Congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Rivera!’

My throat tightened until it hurt to breathe.

Thousands of comments poured beneath the post.

‘The perfect couple.’

‘A billionaire fairy tale.’

‘She got her happily ever after. How sweet!’

Every word felt like another knife twisting deeper into my chest.

Three months ago, he'd looked into my eyes and whispered that he wanted to see me again.

Now the whole world was celebrating the woman he'd chosen instead.

My fingers trembled as I locked the screen and shoved the phone back into my bag.

What had I expected?

That he'd come looking for me? Tell me everything had been a misunderstanding?

No.

Men like Alec Rivera didn't look back. Especially not for women like me.

Grabbing my bag, I headed out.

The breeze tousled my hair as I walked down the streets of Port Harcourt. I had to figure out how to provide for the three lives blossoming inside me.

I’d sent out countless job applications. But not a single firm had gotten back to me.

My phone vibrated with a notification.

Reluctantly, I fished it out of my bag, and my eyes widened with shock. It was an email from Allwell Group, an aerospace company.

They were inviting me for a job interview.

Tears welled in my eyes.

I scurried to the nearest bench at a bus stop, ignoring the stares of people waiting for their ride. My fingers trembled as I stared at the email.

It felt surreal.

After months of rejection, my hard work and determination were finally beginning to pay off.

For a moment, despite everything, I allowed myself to believe that perhaps—just perhaps—things were finally falling into place for me.