Page 4 of My Master
It had been overwhelming. It had been like her childhood, waking up after nightmares with pulsing headaches. Except where there had once been a blackness in her memory, everything was clear as day now.
To keep her distracted, Antonio had taken her away, kept her busy and eventually, the nightmares had stopped.
And now it was his turn.
Maybe I’ll go to the doctor’s tomorrow,she thought absently as she walked to the movie theatre.I’ll do it while Antonio is with his dad, that way he won’t worry.She smiled happily to herself as she walked along the sidewalk.
She got to the movie theatre a while later and bought her ticket and a tub of popcorn. By the time the movie was over, she walked out of the theatre with snotty napkins and red eyes. It had been a tragic love story about a girl who had gotten pregnant with her boyfriend’s child but he had been too involved with all of the wrong people. In the end, he was killed and she was all alone with her son. It was a sad story that had put her in a crap mood. She was in need of some serious drug store snack food.
She made her way to the drug store and walked the aisles. In the end she settled with a small pack of cupcakes, a bag of nacho Doritos, skittles, and a small can of Sprite. She also swung by the hygiene aisle to buy deodorant and body wash. When everything was safely in her basket, she started to walk to check out her items when something on the shelf caught her eye, something that reminded her of the movie. It was in a little pink and white box, a pregnancy test.
Ezzy stared at it, thinking about the movie. The girl in it hadn’t noticed she was pregnant until she had started to get dizzy, throw up, and of course, when her period never came.
Period.
Esmeralda thought for a moment. When had she had her last period? She couldn’t remember. Ithadbeen a while ago, she couldn’t remember when exactly, she just had been too busy to focus on things like that. On impulse, she pulled it off the shelf and threw it in the basket.
* * *
Positive.Positive. Positive.
Esmeralda Ortiz was positive.
She stared at the little pink plus sign with tears trickling down her face. She was positive. She couldn’t believe it. Ezzy placed her hand against her stomach and pushed lightly against it. A baby, she thought. There was a baby growing inside of her.Her baby,Antonio’sbaby,theirbaby; the idea still didn’t register fully.
All she knew about vampire/human pregnancies was that they didn’t really differ from a human/human pregnancy. Natural Borns could bear and father children like any human and in this case, her baby could either be born human or vampire.
Esmeralda pressed her hand tighter against her stomach then another thought occurred to her. How would she tell Antonio? She had to, he had just as much part in this as she and it’s not like she could keep it from him for long. Soon he’d notice.
Of course, she thought, she didn’t have to tell him right away. Just until he worked out his problems, until then she wouldn’t tell him. She’d just wait. It wasn’t like he was going to pop into her mind anytime soon.
Lately he hadn’t been eavesdropping because that would risk a connection he didn’t want. It would allow her to tap into his mind easier and there was something that he didn’t want her to see. Sure, it hurt her to know that they were Soul Mates and he couldn’t confide in her with certain things but she was still trying to let him come to it on his own terms and when he was ready he’d come to her. For now she had to practice her patience and try to keep this from him as best as she could.
The opening of a door drew her attention away from the pregnancy test. “Ezzy?” It was Antonio.
Ezzy quickly grabbed the pregnancy stuff and shoved it under the counter next to the tampons and pads, a place she knew he’d never look, and went out in the hall to greet him. She plastered on a smile and hoped he wouldn’t sense her nervousness.
“Hello.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. He hugged her briefly. “How was your day?” she asked.
He sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair. “Stressful. My father wants me to inherit the business.”
“But you won’t.”
“No. I won’t.”
Esmeralda understood. Antonio still felt bitterness towards his father. It was, after all, Mr. Santiago who had banished Antonio when Damien had convinced him that Antonio was on the Blood Drug and killing humans. Antonio couldn’t seem to forgive him for that. She didn’t blame him. She wouldn’t have been able to forgive him either.
“So what did you do today?” Antonio asked her; obviously he was done talking about his father and decided to change the subject. Typical. He took her hand and led her downstairs and they both sat down on the couch.
Esmeralda thought of the pregnancy test, hidden in the cabinet in the bathroom. She swallowed. “I—uh—went to see a movie.” She cursed herself for sounding too obvious. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice her nervousness. He actually seemed interested as he pulled her to his chest and ran his fingers through her hair.
“What movie did you see?”
“When nothing else matters.”
“What was it about?”
Esmeralda took a deep breath. “A girl who got pregnant by her boyfriend, but he was involved with a gang and had a lot of problems that he was trying to get over. In the end, he died because of it and she was alone with his child.”
