CHAPTER 5

“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. “Would you like to see for yourself?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

She stood and walked to a bed beside an ultrasound machine, then 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.”

“Any problem?”

Dr. Patricia smiled. “Oh, do not worry, darling. Seems you’re pregnant with triplets.”

What? Triplets?

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

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

“Congratulations once 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.

My thoughts jumbled up, I stopped briefly at the pharmacy before sinking into a chair at the reception.

Everything was happening so fast. One moment I’d been at the ball, and now I was pregnant from a one-night stand. Could my life get any worse?

My vision shimmered. 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 grabbed my phone and scrolled through his socials, the last time I stalked him was the day after I left the States.

My stomach dropped as I saw the latest photos on his timeline... He'd proposed to the love of his life, Angelina, in one of D.C's luxury hotels. Each pixel was a dagger piercing my already fractured heart.

I shut the app and stuffed the phone back into my bag.

What was I expecting?

That he’d come running after me, hold me, and tell me it was all 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 myself and the lives blossoming inside me. For months, I’d lived off the payment from the Fortnight Ball, and even that was almost gone.

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 to a job interview.

Tears welling in my eyes, I scurried to the nearest bench at a bus stop, ignoring the stares of people waiting for their ride.

It felt surreal. My hard work, my determination, were starting to pay off.

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