Page 19 of Nine of Swords
15
Blade
“I’m not pregnant.”
Something about the way the finality of Sydney’s tone is stronger than her comment tells me she might have a challenge dealing with the next nine months. The thing is, she really is pregnant. I’ve had a sense of it for a while, after noticing some of the more subtle signs as I kept watch. Her loss of appetite, sensitivity to smells around the office, and even the slight amount of weight she’s lost without trying too, yet at the same time, her breasts seemed to spill out from the tops of her bra a little more with every nude pic she texted to me.
This is why I had Aiden take her to the pharmacy. Sydney is in denial. Either that, or she isn’t attuned to the changes I’ve already noticed. What she needs is to see the results in front of her, preferably on a pregnancy stick as opposed to when the kid decides it’s time to pop out of her uterus.
My kid.
It’s my baby too. It’s my business to know these things.
“Grab a few tests,” I tell her. “Let them do the talking. The sooner we know whether you’re pregnant, the easier it’ll be to start planning.”
“But you don’t understand,” she whispers into the phone. “I don’t want to plan. I don’t want children, Blade. This… it can’t be happening.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but… Listen to me. Take the tests. Find out the results. Then call me. Forget about that meeting. Aiden can bring you to me. I can be right there with you when you pee on that stick. And whatever it says, we’ll handle it.”
“I can’t, I don’t want to… I need to do this later, okay?”
“No,” I reply. “You need to take the test now.”
“Wait just a second,” she hisses, then the line goes quiet for a moment. “Are you trying to distract me in the hopes that I won’t go through with the meeting? Because it won’t work.”
“I’m not gonna lie,” I admit. “I don’t want you to go. You shouldn’t be anywhere near that client, after he’s put up so much resistance to letting you know who he is. All that secrecy for all this time, then he suddenly wants to lift the veil and lay out a welcome mat?”
“People have a right to change their minds, Blade,” she says defensively.
“True, but it doesn’t add up. He refuses to let our people select a better meeting location, and he won’t let them clear the site to keep you safe either? And think about the way he push hard to have me reassigned the second I started asking the base unit those questions about his level of access. You have to agree there’s something driving his change in behavior.”
“Maybe you have a point.”
“Trust me, I do. And if you won’t trust me, just do as I say. Just obey your master,” I tease.
“How about you let me think about it?” she asks, her tone lightening momentarily.
“Don’t wait too long. Your meeting starts in just over two hours.”
“True,” she agrees.
“But whether you have a face-to-face with this mystery client or not, it won’t change what’s happening to your body right in front of your eyes. What I’m saying is, suppose you’re not actually pregnant. Wouldn’t you like to find out the cause of all these symptoms? Maybe it’s a flu, or something else. But don’t stand there and continue insisting that nothing’s wrong.”
“Fine. I’ll buy the test now, but I’m going to that meeting. I’ll take the test later.”
“You want to buy a couple. Two or three, because it’s easy to dismiss or mistrust one positive result.”
“How do you know so much about this stuff? Did you knock up one of your prior girlfriends?”
“No. I didn’t. I’ve had my share of being assigned to families, a couple of them with teenage kids, some were married couples hoping to get pregnant. I just know it’s best to know the big picture. If you’re pregnant, that means you’re carrying my child. We might be pregnant, Sydney. I want to be a part of that. You won’t be doing it alone.”
“I… I need to go,” she mutters. “I’ll talk to you when I can.”
She hangs up without another word, leaving me in the dark about whether she will take the time to have a definitive answer on the question of whether or not she’s carrying my child. If she is, no way in hell am I sitting on the sidelines. Beginning with this meeting she’s about to head over to.
Turning the blue rental van I’ve been using into a parking lot near the meeting site, I get in position. I’m going to have her back whether she wants me to or not.
She and that baby she’s carrying are mine to watch over.
