Page 74 of Baby Maker

“You didn’t consider it? I guess that’s your ploy with every woman, huh? It works. It made me feel special.” I’m not sure how I’m still standing at this point. Everything that I thought meant something… didn’t.

“It’s not my ploy, Calli, and you know it. We can test you right now. It will only take a moment.”

“Fine.” I wait as he calls to his nurse, following her to the bathroom and peeing in the cup before shoving it in the cabinet to await my fate.

After a few minutes, the nurse walks me back to Dr. Russo’s office, where he slips a piece of paper across the desk.

Negative.

I’m not pregnant with Keegan’s baby. I fight back the tears. Tears I hadn’t expected to feel. “You must be relieved.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t want kids. You regret that weekend, crossing that line. Regret all your time with me. Now, at least you won’t have to worry.”

He sits back in his chair, his face a sea of calm. I wish I had one iota of his nonchalance. I’m a hot mess. Covered in a hot mess. “I wasn’t worried. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, but I can’t watch you have a child with someone else. I can’t do it, and I know that makes me a bastard in your eyes. That’s why I’m stepping back. I want to give you want you want, Calli. Even if it guts me to do it. My partners will take over your case. They’re top-notch specialists.”

“No.”

His eyes widen at my forceful reply. “No?”

“Tell me the results.”

“I just did.”

“Not for us. For Nigel.”

“I don’t know if they’re back.”

Keegan is a terrible liar. He’s admitted that he loathes lying, likely because he sucks at it.

But I’m done skipping around the truth. I need all the cold, hard facts, and I need them now. “Yes, you do. Tell me the results.”

“I don’t think—”

“Tell me,” I bellow, my voice reverberating off the walls.

Keegan brings up my file on the computer, his eyes reading the results. But I know without him saying a word. I can see it in the set of his jaw and the look of pity washing over his features. “His sperm contains a DNA fragmentation index of greater than thirty percent.”

“Speak English, Dr. Russo.”

“The reason you kept miscarrying is that although his sperm fertilized your egg, the sperm wasn’t healthy enough to produce a viable fetus.”

“Not compatible with life.” The words slip past my lips, sounding as hollow as I feel. A one, two punch. Nigel and any future with him are gone. Keegan is leaving. “It’s done. I have nothing left.”

“You have so much. I’m so sorry.”

“Are you?”

His brows raise at my pointed question. “Do you think this makes me happy? Watching your heart break? It’s agonizing for me. I know how much you wanted this. I hate that this is the result. It brings me no joy.”

But, despite the pain of learning Nigel’s fate, there’s another result that hurts worse. “What about the other result? Did you hate that, too?”

“Calli—”

I stand, grabbing my purse. “Don’t answer that. I’ve loved two men in my life. One is buried an ocean away, and the other is leaving my life forever. Good luck in New York. I’m sure you’ll be a smashing success.”

“Please, wait a few minutes. You’re too upset to drive.”

“I’m grand. Just one more nail in the coffin that is my life.” I march to the door, my hand on the knob. I know this is the last time I’ll see the man, and I hate sending him off with anything but well-wishes. “Take care of you, Keegan. You’re the most amazing man. I just wish I hadn’t been too late to realize it.”

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