“Yes. Yes I was.”
And she’d had a reminder set in her cell phone to go off at the exact same time every day so she never forgot a tablet. But since her phone hadn’t had a global roaming facility she hadn’t taken it overseas with her.
Draco had used condoms when she was in Italy, but after a couple of nights, and days, Blair remembered a couple of occasions where their passion had gotten the better of them. He’d gone to great lengths to assure her of his sexual health, and she knew for herself there were no troubles in that regard. But this, this was another kind of trouble altogether.
The doctor’s phone trilled on her desk and Blair jumped, her eyes locked on the doctor’s face as he answered.
“Yes, yes. Thank you, nurse.”
The doctor turned to face her. Blair could read nothing in expression.
“You say your last period was in the second week of February?” the doctor asked.
Blair nodded. At least that’s the last time she’d marked it on her wall calendar. She sat rigid in her chair as the doctor referred to a sheet on her desk.
“Hmmm, well, Blair, that would make you about ten weeks pregnant.”
At Blair’s shocked gasp the doctor’s face settled into sympathetic lines. “Blair, I can tell this is a shock. I take it the father isn’t on the scene?”
Blair shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. Pregnant? It was her worst nightmare. How could she have failed so horribly? Risked so much—and lost.
Her mind was numb as she endured the physical examination her doctor requested, and as her appointment came to an end she numbly accepted the slip of paper to order her blood tests.
“Everything looks good so far, Blair. We’ll book you in for a scan to confirm your dates, et cetera, but from the exam and your last period I think we can safely assume your baby’s due date will be around mid-November.”
Mid-November. It seemed so far away, and yet so close too. Blair drove herself back home and curled up on her favorite chair, trying to absorb the reality that she was pregnant—with Draco’s child.
Oh heavens! Draco. He’d be back in two days. How on earth would she keep this from him? He was the kind of man for whom family was everything. She’d understood that early on, when she’d first met him. He’d never support her need to keep working and to keep running Carson’s. The kind of family values that defined him had no place in her world. Her world was constantly in motion, moving from one challenge to the next in her field. Carson’s itself had only been up and running for three years, the last of which being under her sole guidance.
She had so many plans for the restaurant’s development, there was no time for a baby. A baby. It was too much to even think about right now. Her life had tilted off its axis with just one stupid mistake. She needed to take stock, find her feet again, to pour herself into something familiar. Even though it was one of her days off, she decided to go into the kitchen and work tonight. She couldn’t stand to be alone with her thoughts right now.
Blair peeled off the small dressing that had been secured over her vein where the blood sample had been drawn. The last thing she needed when she went downstairs was for someone to ask her why she’d had blood tests. She would deal with her pregnancy, and Draco, when she absolutely had to.
Draco seethed silently as he listened to Blair refusing to see him. Even as tired and jet-lagged as he was, he couldn’t wait to see her again, get her into bed. Unfortunately, she didn’t appear to feel the same way.
It frustrated him intensely that she could be so flippant about the connection between them. Not even with Marcella had he felt such passion.
“Blair, didn’t you miss me?”
“I did. But it’s crazy busy here at Carson’s right now. We’re fully booked for weeks. We even have a waiting list for diners. Can you believe it? To be honest with you, I’m so tired at the end of each night, it’s all I can do to get up the stairs and go to bed.”
There was a brittle note to her voice he didn’t like.
“Are you brushing me off, Blair?”
“Of course not. It’s like I told you. I’m really just too busy to see you, and to be honest, Draco, I just don’t have the energy to put into seeing you right now.”
“So you’re saving all your passion for your work?” he asked lightly, even though inside he was a tumbling roil of rage. “Your dedication is admirable, but what about you?”
“I’m fine. I’m happiest when I’m busy like this. It’s what I’ve always wanted for Carson’s, and the rumor is that Bill Alberts was very impressed with his visit here. His online review is due out later this week.”