Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 394

The silence around that table lasted three heartbeats, and then my mother's voice cut through it like a blade.

"Pat. Is it true? Are you really pregnant?"

Her hands shook where they lay on the tablecloth, and her voice trembled on the last word. I looked at Vivian, at the smile she was no longer bothering to hide behind her hand, and I felt the trap close around me. Every pair of eyes in the room pressed down on my shoulders, Kingsley's among them, wide and unreadable.

I wanted to say no. But I could not. The child was real, and I was not ready to spend the cost of the lie.

"Yes, Mom." My voice came out steadier than I expected. "I'm pregnant with Kingsley's baby. I was planning to share the news with all of you after the wedding, but I guess Vivian beat me to it."

My mother burst into tears.

Not the practiced, delicate tears Vivian had cried over the necklace. Real ones, fat and streaming, her hands flying to her mouth as she stared at me like I had handed her the moon. Then she was on her feet, around the table, pulling me into her arms and sobbing into my hair.

"Oh, Pat. This is the best day of my life." She pulled back, cupped my face in her wet hands. "It has always been my dream to see your baby, to hold my grandchild from you. I always knew you were destined for greatness, even when you were still a little girl. And look at you now. You're perfect. You have a career, you have an amazing husband, and now a baby on the way. All that's left is the wedding. Every mother deserves a child like you."

"A boy or a girl, Pat?" my aunt called out, beaming.

"Have you picked a name yet?" my uncle added.

"Congratulations, dear! We always knew you would do well," a distant cousin I barely recognized chimed in.

They crowded around, all talking at once, congratulating me like they had never said a single cruel word about my life, like the past hour had not happened at all. Even my father dabbed at his eyes with a napkin.

I could not take it anymore. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but Kingsley spoke first.

"Actually, I would have to leave."

"Really?" My mother's face crumpled. "So soon?"

I began to drive.

I was hungry. It was way past lunchtime, and I had not had an appetite earlier in the day, so I pulled up in front of a quiet restaurant and walked in. Kingsley followed silently behind me.

I sat down at a corner table and looked around for a waiter, and that was when he spoke.

"So, Pat." His voice was low, careful. "You're pregnant with my child?"

"No." I kept my eyes on the menu, on words I was not reading. "Yes, I was pregnant. But I had an abortion."

"What?"

His voice cracked through the quiet restaurant, loud enough that heads turned. I looked up and met his eyes, and I watched the color drain out of his face.