Chapter 76
-BLAIR-
:
A little over two weeks had passed since I signed the divorce papers.
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Grayson had not called. Not once. No text. No stupid one line check-in. No demand for me to return for the rest of my things. Maybe he’d gotten rid of it all. Possibly thrown it all away like nothing.
The divorce papers I had signed in his living room might as well have been the last conversation we were ever going to have.
Every day that passed without his name on my phone made the days long and my nights even longer.
The articles did not help.
They kept coming, each one worse than the last.
I stared at the most recent one, feeling my heart squeeze tightly. I was finding it hard to breathe the more I
read.
Lily Sinclair spotted arriving at the Shaw estate for the second time this week. Sources say the childhood sweetheart has been a regular guest since Monroe moved out.
Of course she was there often. Twice a week? I’m sure it was much more than that.
There were photos of her car in the driveway. One blurry shot of her at the front door.
I knew I was only hurting my heart by reading this. Still, I read them anyway.
Then I closed it and sat with the same hollow ache I had been carrying since I threw the ring at his chest.
It was all affecting me now. My health was taking a direct hit.
Last night I started puking and since then, I have not stopped.
First the late dinner I barely ate. Then water. Then nothing, just the dry, miserable heaving that left me sitting on the bathroom floor at my parents’ house wondering if grief could actually turn into this. I’d heard depression affects your health but this was bad.
I was still in bed with the covers pulled up when Olivia walked in without knocking and set something on the nightstand.
A box.
I stared at it. “What’s that for?”
She folded her arms, expression careful. “You missed your period.”
“I-”
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14:48 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“And it has been more than two weeks since you and Grayson had unprotected sex.”
Where was she going with this?
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She did not look away. “And now you’re puking almost every hour. You’re practically living in the bathroom. Take a test. Just to be safe.”
The room seemed like it was spinning.
I sat up too fast and had to swallow against another wave of nausea. “Olivia. I have been stressed. I have barely slept. People puke when their life falls apart. That does not automatically mean-”
“It doesn’t automatically mean anything,” she agreed. “That is why there is a test and not a baby
announcement. But I can count, Blair. Things aren’t adding up how they should. You need to take this test. It’s better to know now than much later.”
I suddenly remembered that night even though I wanted to forget it.
We hadn’t used any condoms. I also didn’t take any pills afterward. I’d just left it at that.
“He asked for a divorce,” I said, as if that fact could cancel out the possibility of me being pregnant. “He has not contacted me in two weeks. Lily is practically moving back into the house according to the internet. This would be-”
“A mess,” Olivia finished. “Yes. Which is why you are going to pee on the stick instead of waiting for your belly to start growing.”
I looked at the box like it might explode. “What if it’s positive?”
“Then we handle it. Together.” Her voice gentled, but she did not take the box back. “You are not doing that part alone. First we find out if there is a part. If there is even anything to worry about. You might not even be pregnant. Let’s just be safe.”
I pressed a hand to my stomach without meaning to. There was nothing to feel…not yet.
“He would think I did this on purpose,” I whispered. “To trap him.”
“He doesn’t get to think anything until you know. And are you forgetting that he’s the one that asked you to consummate the marriage?” Olivia said as she sat on the edge of the bed. “And if he does decide to be an idiot about it, that is still not a reason to stay ignorant. You have been walking around sad for two weeks. Now you’re sick. Come on, it’s time you take the test.”
Another round of nausea hit. I breathed through it, eyes on the nightstand.
Two weeks of no contact.
Articles about Lily in his house.
Divorce papers with my name already on them.
And now this.
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14:49 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
I picked up the box. It felt heavier than it should have.
“If I take it,” I said, “you stay outside the bathroom. I cannot do a live audience.”
“I will be right here,” Olivia said. “Not in there. Right here.”
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I stood on shaky legs and crossed the room with the test in my hand, the hallway stretching longer than it was.
Behind me, Olivia stayed extremely quiet, like she already believed I was pregnant. That scared me.
I wasn’t ready for this. Not with the way my life was already falling apart.
In the bathroom I locked the door, set the test on the counter, and stared at my own reflection.
Pale. Tired. A woman who had signed herself out of a marriage and then spent more than fourteen days waiting for a man who had told her, clearly, that he wanted someone else.
If the test was negative, I could keep calling this sickness what it was…heartbreak.
If it was not…I didn’t even want to think about that. It had to be negative. It had to.
I opened the box. Then took out the test.
Come on, Blair. It’s just a pregnancy test. You can do it.
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Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.