“Sit down!” He bellowed angrily after he shut the door. “You have two minutes.”
She took a deep breath and told him everything about Mr. Craig and made him know how sorry she was about how everything turned out.
The air hung heavy between them when she stopped talking. He said nothing, he just leaned his head back on the back of the sofa.
She glanced up and looked into his face; all she saw was anger, but she was relieved that he had finally allowed her to explain herself.
“I think I should go.” She stood up after about five minutes of silence.
“You claimed he’s nothing to you,” his voice stopped her when she was about to open the door. “But you never mentioned him to me. You told me about all your past relationships and conveniently omitted Mr. Craig.”
She turned back to look at him and said, “I am not proud of that period of my life,” she turned to face him. “I was at my wit’s end then. I felt God had sidelined me; I have been a good girl all my life, and I felt cheated to still be unmarried at age thirty-seven. When I met Mr. Craig, it was as if I was given a chance to rebel against God.”
Her voice shook with her emotions. “I felt I needed to show God that I too can do whatever I like……” She burst into tears.
“I told you everything about my past,” he retorted. “Everything!”
“Kurt, I’m sincerely sorry.” She choked on the tears that were dripping down her face now. “I was afraid…I was ashamed of myself and I’m still ashamed of myself because of that affair. I didn’t want you to judge me by the mistake I made.”
“It wouldn’t have meant anything to me if you had told me.” He told her the truth.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I didn’t want to lose you. I love you so much. I didn’t want you to leave me.”
“That was not because of love. You deliberately lied by omission.” He stood up and pointed at the door. “You know what? I think you should leave.”
Juliet nodded, wiping off her tears, and walked out quietly.
She knew he was hurting, and it broke her heart that she caused it.
Juliet didn’t feel she had to tell Mr. Craig about her pregnancy, but everyone around her insisted it was the right thing to do.
So she went to see him in his office a few weeks after she went to Kurt’s house.
A frown creased his forehead when Juliet finished telling him the reason for her visit.
“Are you saying you are pregnant with my baby?” He looked disoriented.
“Yes,” Juliet’s voice was clear. “I’m carrying your baby.”
“It’s been months since you broke up with me, so how is this possible?” As expected, it was an immense shock to him.
Juliet opened her handbag and brought out two envelopes. One contained the result Kurt brought home for her and the other was the result she got from another laboratory by herself.
“As I told you, I didn’t get to know on time.” She handed the envelopes to him. There is one way to be sure if you are in doubt. We can have a DNA test done now or after the baby is born.”
He nodded and collected the envelopes, still frowning.
“So what about your fiance?” he looked pointedly at her. “What does he think about the pregnancy?”
“He’s not in the picture anymore,” Juliet smiled ruefully, trying very hard not to burst into tears in front of Mr. Craig.
“Really?” He raised a brow. “That’s quite interesting. So he ran because of the pregnancy or what?”
Juliet said nothing.
“I’m sorry,” he looked into her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
She nodded.
There was a knock at the door. The door opened and a colleague of his popped his head into the room and said, “aren’t you going to the meeting? I heard MD is going to be at the meeting.”
“Yea, I will,” Mr. Craig nodded. “I will join you soon.”
“Okay,” the man said and left.
“So,” he rested his back on his seat and looked at her earnestly, “what is the next step now?”
“I’m keeping my baby,” Juliet said. “I just want you to know about the pregnancy.”
He looked pensive.” My wife and I are working on our marriage presently.” He kept quiet and looked from the two envelopes on his table to her face. “I had a talk with her after you broke up with me…” He scratched his chin. “We started counseling last month.”
Juliet gave a dry smile. “That’s good.”
She looked straight into his eyes. “I’m not after your marriage for anything. I want to keep the baby for me. Who knows,” she shrugged, “this might be my only shot at motherhood.”
“But you know I will have to tell my wife at some point if you are keeping the baby.”
“If that is what you want, she replied. “It’s up to you.”
“You know what?” he picked the envelopes and gave them back to her. “I will call you so we can talk better. I have to leave for the meeting. I shouldn’t be late.”
“It’s okay,” she got up and left.
*****
A few weeks later, Juliet peeled her eyes open and waited for a few seconds for the early morning headache that usually plague her as soon as she opened her eyes in the last few days to come up. She counted the seconds until three minutes and felt nothing.
“Thank God,” she muttered to herself, and sat up on the bed with her back on the headboard. She guessed being able to sleep in on a Saturday had helped with the headache.
She smiled and covered a yawn with the back of her hand and reached out for her tablet…
Tasha’s alarm went off at that moment pulling her away from the story. She had set the alarm to remind her of her lecture fifteen minutes before the time. She stood up and stretched her body, glad it was her last class for the day.