Page 45 of Fool Me Twice

Evie brought her hand up onto the table, her eyes darting from Anya to Reeva as she placed the white strip of plastic between them.

Anya frowned at the pregnancy test, before her eyes fixed on the two bold blue lines in the little window.

“You’re... you’re pregnant?” Anya gasped as she sank back against her chair.

Evie nodded slowly.

“Does Matt know?” Reeva flopped down in the chair next to Anya.

Evie shook her head. “It’s not Matt’s.”

Anya’s eyes widened as it dawned on her. “Peter?” she gulped, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. “How? When? I thought you hated him.”

“I do.”

“But... I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Evie said, forcing down a sob.

“I just don’t get it. How?”

Evie and Reeva turned to look at Anya. Reeva stared pointedly at Anya’s belly. “Okay, okay. I know how that sounded, and I do get it. The attraction, I mean, he’s still pretty hot.” She blushed. “Not that I fancy him or anything,” she backtracked. “But what I don’t get is how you ended up sleeping with Peter.”

Reeva chuckled. “I don’t think they did much sleeping.”

Evie shot Reeva an icy look.

Anya tutted, trying her best to keep a straight face. “Have you told him?”

“No.” Evie shook her head. “And neither can you,” she insisted, pre-empting her next words.

“But he has a right to know, Evie.”

“Why? Because he dropped everything and rushed to my side the last time? No,” Evie said. “I raised Jaxon on my own.” She sat up straighter. “And I can raise this child on my own.”

“But you won’t be on your own this time.” Anya stood up and walked around the table to Evie, enveloping her in a hug. “You’ll have me and Jaxon.”

“And me,” said Reeva, joining in the hug.

“Please don’t say anything to anyone yet.” Evie broke free of their hug to look at both women, to see their faces – she had to be sure she could count on them to keep her secret. At least for now. “I need some time to get used to the idea myself first.”

“Okay,” Reeva said, nodding. “If that’s what you want.”

Evie smiled weakly at her friend. “Thank you.”

“Anya?” She knew it would be harder for Anya to keep her secret. Jaxon was her husband. Evie knew she was asking a lot of her, but she just needed some time to get used to the idea before involving anyone else. Watching the internal struggle play out on Anya’s face, she waited.

“Okay,” Anya finally said. “But you have to tell him soon. I hate keeping secrets from Jaxon and I’m a terrible liar.”

Evie squeezed Anya’s hand. “Thank you,” she whispered, her mind already in overdrive.

Everything seemed real now she’d said it out loud, which also made it very scary. There were so many things to think about. Like, what was she going to do about her classes? Who was going to run them? She couldn’t expect Reeva to do her own and Evie’s, plus Matt had quit.

What about her European clients who travelled from France and Spain for her specialised yoga retreats?

And what about her? Things were going to be a lot different this time around. Back then, money had been tight, but she’d been a lot younger and she’d had the support of her grandparents. She might be financially secure now, but she was also older.

Something hadn’t changed, though. Once again, she’d be raising this child without it’s father.

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