Page 9 of A Baby for Christmas
5
Robin
The school bellsrang to indicate that the last class of the day was over. The last class of the week, really. It was Friday and thank God for that. I loved my job, but I'd been horribly distracted ever since the winter break was over and school had started upagain.
"Have a nice weekend, Mr. Taylor," one of the girls I taught said to me before filing out of theclassroom.
"You too," I gave back without really taking notice of her. The only thing I could think about when I looked at the children in my class these days was whether or not I was going to be a parent soon. I'd been a terrible teacher this week, but today was the day. Today I was going to find out if my little stint with Ben had resulted in a baby ornot.
Just before the end of the winter break, I'd ordered some test sticks online, but I knew there was no point in taking one early, so I'd made myself wait. In a few hours, that wait would finally be over. Honestly, I was excited and terrified at the same time. What if the test was negative? What if itwasn't? Sure, I'd played up all my confidence in front of Ben, but there was a difference between entertaining an idea and actually going through withit.
Lost in thought, I gathered up my things and walked out into the hallway, nearly running straight into one of my colleagues. "Aaron! Sorry! I didn't see youthere."
"Don't worry. Nothing happened." Aaron gave me a smile. He was the only other teacher at this school was my age. Well, one year older than me. He'd been a year above me back when we'd attended school here. He'd been a real dick back then too, but he'd matured with age, as many alphas did. "You seem a little out of it lately. Is everything allright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Feeling self-conscious, I tucked a lock of hair back behind my ear. "Just went through a break-up over the winter holidays." I had no idea why I said that. It was true, yes, but not something that Aaron needed to know. Maybe I just wanted to distract him from whatever else might be going on with me. If Iwaspregnant, I didn't want my colleagues to know for a long time. Rumors were going to spread like wild fire once the word was out. I sort of planned to go on paternity leave around the time shit really hit thefan.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine who would break up withyou."
Was Aaron Keller trying to flirt with me? "Maybe I broke up with them," I suggested. That wasn’t what had happened, but Aaron didn’t need to knowthat.
For some reason, my words seemed to amuse Aaron. "Poorguy."
"Who?Me?"
"No, whoever you were dating." There was a glint in the alpha's eyes that I knew all too well. I should leave now. It was never a good idea to flirt with colleagues. Not that I'd had a lot ofsmartideaslately.
"They deserved it, I assure you." Pulling out my smartphone, I made a big show of looking at the time. "I should really get going now. Have a nice weekend,Aaron."
"You too, Robin." He gave me another smile that was a littletoofamiliar. If there'd been any doubt about his intentions in my mind, it had just been erased. He would leave me alone for now, but he was going to make a move on me sooner or later. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Aaron wasn't unattractive with his dark curls and his strong jaw, but as I left the school building that day, I had other thoughts on my mind. In fact, I wanted the whole world to shut up for a while as I made my wayhome.
As soon as I reached my apartment, I discarded my bag by the door and went for the bathroom. Part of me had wanted to take this test first thing in the morning, but in the end I’d felt I needed to get through work first. No matter the result of this test, I probably wouldn't have been able to focus at all if I’d done itbeforehand.
But now it was time. I had the weekend ahead of me and no major obligations. Taking one of the sticks I'd bought out of the bathroom cabinet, I got ready to pee onit.
When I was done, I waved it around a bit, as if that would make it work faster. I knew better—this wasn't the first time in my life I'd peed on a stick. So far, none of them had turned out positive, so I shouldn't have been expecting too much, but for some reason, I was more hopeful this time. Like I could justfeelthat this time was going to be different, that I waspregnant.
Wishfulthinking?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. And then I looked at the teststick.
It waspositive.
In my shock, I dropped it and it clattered on the tiles, bouncing against the garbage can before it came to a halt, face down as if too excited or too embarrassed to face me. Hastily, I picked it up again just to make sure I'd seen right. Yeah, it was definitelypositive.
A wide grin broke out on my face. I was pregnant! Finally! Putting the stick down by the sink, I danced through the bathroom as if I wasn't a grown-up. Who cared about being a grown-up? I was going to have a baby! It wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't care. I wasecstatic.That ruptured condom was the best Christmas present ever. I needed to thank Ben forthat.
Speaking of, I should probably tell him about this, shouldn't I? Even if he didn't want custody of the kid, he would probably want to know that I was pregnant with his baby. I wasn't going to expect him to take any sort of responsibility—he hadn't asked for this, after all, but I was going to keep him up todate.
Besides, he was my best friend. Who else to tell buthim?
6
Ben
Robin surprisedme with a visit almost as soon as I was off work on Friday. He often dropped by unannounced just to hang out, but this time, I felt there was something more to his visit. Barely contained excitement shone in his eyes, as if there was something he just couldn't wait to tellme.
He didn't come out with it right away, though. Instead he danced into my living room and asked me how the dog wasdoing.
