Page 78 of Ashes of Us
“Oh.” Emilia's mouth dropped open, and she picked up one. “Oh.” She met Danica's eyes, and she could see her panic mirrored in her eyes. “How far along?”
“About seven weeks, I think?” Danica dropped down in one of the chairs with a groan. “I took Plan B, but I had already ovulated, so it was useless.”
“Okay.” Emilia chewed her lip and sat beside her. “Okay, well, I don't think Alex will be too upset, and you didn't really drink at all over Christmas and New Year's, so that's one less thing to worry about.”
Danica knew Emilia was trying desperately to find the bright side in all this, and she appreciated it, but she was terrified of what Cecil, and the rest of Jasper's family would say. He was barely cold in the ground, and she was pregnant with another man's child. Emilia seemed to know what she was thinking and reached out, squeezing her hand. “It's none of their damn business, Danica. And you might be surprised by their responses when they find out, they took your side over Amy's, remember?”
“We both know that was different,” Danica mumbled, although she had to admit they had all embraced Cecil's girlfriend almost immediately. But on the other hand, Emilia was right. Her relationship with Alex, or anyone else for that matter, was no longer any of their business, and if they wanted to cut her out over this, fine, she would survive without them. “One thing at a time, I need to tell Alex.” She knew this wasn't going to look good to the hotel employees, but Alex just kept saying it was fine, that he was working things out with HR, and she had nothing to worry about.
“Right.” Emilia smiled and patted her hand. “Do you want to wait, or do you want to tell him now?”
“Now.” Danica stood up and collected the positive tests, bundling them together and putting them in her purse, before hesitating. “You'll come with me, right? Just in case he reacts differently than we think he will?”
“Of course.” Emilia stood up and grabbed Indie's leash. “I'll wait in your office, and if he loses his mind, we'll leave.”
The drive to the office was tense. Danica was trying to tell herself that Alex wasn't going to be upset, but the truth was, she didn't really know. While he hadn't said anything about her buying Plan B, he was the one who brought up birth control the next morning, asking her if she was on any and then saying they needed to buy condoms when she told him no. Of course, he'd said that in response to her panic, trying to calm her down when she realized they'd just had completely unprotected sex several times.
“How did the arraignment go?” Emilia asked. Danica rolled her eyes. Lucy had changed lawyers several times over the last few months, delaying the start of all her trials. She had a laundry list of charges against her and three upcoming trials. David had given Danica the name of a litigation lawyer and passed over all his files to him, and they were suing Amy and Lucy separately. Amy for abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and Lucy for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and a civil sexual assault claim on Jasper's behalf. Lucy was also being charged with rape of an incapacitated person and indecent assault on a person fourteen or older, both of which were felonies, one with twenty years in prison and the other five. She was also charged with breaking and entering, larceny, and trespass for her attempt to steal Jasper's sperm from the fertility clinic.
“They're claiming insanity, so she's been remanded to Bridgewater State Hospital for a forty-day evaluation.” She folded her arms and glared out the windshield. “The DA is confident they will win, and she'll serve significant prison time, but I don't care if she's in prison or a psychiatric facility, I just want her gone.”
They arrived at the hotel a few minutes later, and Danica sat in her seat after they parked, feeling frozen. “We could justgo back and pack my bags. I wouldn't mind living in a warmer state.”
“Danica.” Emilia somehow looked both concerned and amused. “Alex isn't going to be upset or leave you. He has done nothing but support and love you since this whole thing started in July, and now we're almost into February.”
“I know.” Danica shifted, her knee bouncing nervously. “But that's just it, he's been supporting me, but nothing really affected him personally. Yeah, I could have quit, but good Executive Assistants are a dime a dozen; he could have found someone new in a few days and paid them less.”
“Okay,” Emilia shut off the car and turned to face her, reaching out to take her hands. “He absolutely did do things to support you that affected him personally. Not only did he continue to pay you while you were off dealing with everything when he didn't have to, he took time off work to be there for you, even though he had just taken over the hotel chain and was dealing with his own issues with his brother. And, the biggest thing, and he might get mad at me for telling you this, but you need to know just how far this man is willing to go to make sure you're happy: he bought your condo so he could rent it to you.”
Danica felt like all the air rushed out of her lungs. “What?” she whispered. No. He wouldn't do that. But deep down, she knew he would. Like Jasper, Alex wasn't used to not having his way, but unlike Jasper, he didn't wait for other people to come through for him or give in; he worked his ass off and made the right maneuvers until he got what he wanted.
“Don't get mad at him,” Emilia said, squeezing her hands until Danica looked at her. “He told me what he was doing, and I told him not to tell you he bought it for you because you wouldn't move in. And he mostly told you the truth; he just left out part of it.”
“You need to learn the art of giving just enough information that you're not questioned.”Alex's words echoed in her head, and she felt like an idiot. She didn't know why she thought she was exempt from his way of holding onto control, but she should have known better.
“Danica.” Emilia's firm voice cut through the ringing in her ears, and she forced her attention back to her. “I made him lie. He didn't want to; he just wanted to help you.”
Danica shook her head, shaking off her feelings about all that. She had more important things to worry about than splitting hairs about whether or not it was Alex or Emilia who was responsible for keeping important information from her. “Whatever, I don't care about that right now.” She opened the door, got out and let Indie out of the backseat. “Emilia sighed, nodded and got out, following her over to the elevator.
“You know, I could just wait,” Danica muttered as she pressed the button and swiped her card for the administration floor. “If this is like the last two times I was pregnant, I'll probably miscarry in two or three weeks anyway.” Emilia shoved her shoulder, letting out an outraged sound.
“Don't even joke about that!”
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When they stepped off the elevator, Danica passed Indie's leash and the keys to her office to Emilia and stopped in front of Alex's closed door. Knocking gently, she swallowed the nausea that was building in her throat, and she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with her pregnancy.
“Come in.” Alex's deep, smooth voice had an oddly soothing effect on her, drawing her in; her hand went to the knob, and she opened the door without thinking. He looked surprised, then beamed with happiness to see her, a broad smilecrossing his face as he stood up and walked toward her. “Hey! What are you doing here? Are you feeling better?” Danica raised her hand and tilted it back and forth in a so-so motion as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. Alex leaned down and quickly brushed his lips over hers. They had a “strict” no affection at work rule that Alex broke every time they were alone behind closed doors, either kissing her quickly, delicately touching her face, running his fingers through her hair or holding her hand.
“Sort of.” She told him, then, needing physical comfort, she leaned against him, wrapping her arms around him. “Are you busy?”
“Never for you.” He immediately hugged her back, holding her against him and rubbing her back in slow circles. “What's up?” Danica decided just to drop the bomb and pulled back enough that she could look up at him, needing to see his face.
“I'm pregnant.”
She watched as Alex blinked once, and then his lips came down on hers hard as he backed her up against the wall with a thud, then lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he gripped her thighs. She let out a shocked cry, muffled by his mouth, and she quickly put her arms around his neck. There was a bang, and they broke apart to see Emilia standing in the doorway, looking ready to throw hands. She saw them, and her face went beet red.
“Oh my god, I'm sorry! I heard a bang and Danica yelped, and I thought...” She held up her hands. “You know what, it doesn't matter what I thought, clearly I was very wrong, I'll leave you two to it.” Grinning, she closed the door, and Alex let out a low chuckle as he dropped his head on her shoulder and then peeked up at her sheepishly.
