Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“I’m okay,” Celia assured her. “At least, I think I am. It’s kind of a shock coming back and realizing that I have to tell Peter I’m not going to marry him on the actual day of our wedding.” The consultation with Commander Sylvan had taken awhile—it was now 1 AM in the morning on Christmas Eve and she was supposed to be getting married at noon.
“You look kind of pale,” Kat observed, frowning. “Is it just that you’re worried about Peter?”
“Well, no,” Celia admitted. “I feel strange—off somehow. It’s hard to explain, but it started as soon as we exited the wormhole for the last time.”
“What started?” a new voice said. Looking up, Celia saw Kat’s friend Liv coming into the exam room. She was wearing a white lab jacket and she looked sleepy but professional.
“Oh—are you a doctor?” she exclaimed. “I had no idea!”
“Guilty as charged.” Liv gave her a friendly smile. “Now start again please—it sounded like you were telling Kat about a problem?”
“Oh, right. Well…”
Celia went over the details briefly—how they had gone through the wormhole as it was in the act of destabilization and how she had felt strange immediately afterwards.
“I threw up and now I feel bloated and weird,” she admitted. “Almost like I do when I’m having my period—except I’m not on my period and I shouldn’t be for another couple of weeks.”
“But didn’t you just skip more then three weeks forward in time?” Liv asked, frowning. “In which case, you actually skipped your period. Or else you missed it.”
“Madre de Dios, you’re right!” Celia bit her lip. “Does that mean…no. No, it couldn’t mean that,” she muttered to herself.
“Couldn’t mean what, doll?” Kat asked anxiously.
“Well, it’s just that the reason we were traveling through wormholes instead of folding space in the first place was because Peter and I had unprotected sex—remember? You’re the one who told me to take them,” Celia reminded her.
“Unprotected sex? With who again?” Liv asked, leaning forward.
“Er, with my fiancé,” Celia said. “But also with…with Hold and Fierce,” she admitted. “I didn’t mean to do that though—it just happened. I mean, we were put in a situation where we had to, uh, do it,” she tried to explain.
“Don’t worry, doll—there’s no judgment here,” Kat assured her.
“None at all,” Liv agreed. “So when did you have unprotected sex with your fiancé?”
“I want to say a week ago but I guess it’s more like a month ago now,” Celia said. She shook her head. “This time jumping thing is so weird!”
“And what about with Fierce and Hold?” Liv asked.
Celia bit her lip.
“Last night. So…three weeks ago, I guess.”
“Okay. And did you have sex with both of them at once? I mean, did you Bond with them?” Liv asked her.
Celia shook her head.
“No—we were supposed to do that when we got back here and had access to some Bonding Fruit.”
“Oh, I can get you some of that!” Kat opened her purse and pulled out a little vial of something that looked like apricot juice. “Here you go—Bonding Fruit extract. I always carry some with me, in case my guys and I want to go someplace exotic on the fly. I’d hate to be caught without the means to have fun with them.” She giggled.
“Thanks Kat, but I’m still working on the other problem,” Liv remarked. She looked at Celia. “I think maybe we’d better give you a pregnancy test.”
“A pregnancy test?” Celia felt shaken. “I…I guess that makes sense,” she said at last. “I mean, all the time in the back of my head I’ve been thinking…wondering…”
“Here—just pull up your sleeve.” Liv was already getting her equipment ready. Quickly and skillfully she pierced Celia’s vein and drew two vials of blood which she popped into a small machine about the size of a coffee maker.
The machine hummed and buzzed to itself for a few minutes as they all watched in tense silence. Then a single flower slid out of the silver slot and into Liv’s palm.
“A flower? Your pregnancy test gives you flowers?” Celia asked, frowning.
“Yes—isn’t it neat?” Kat smiled. “And look—you got a pink one! You know what that means!”
“No, I don’t.” Celia felt nearly faint with worry. “Dios—please, hurry up and tell me!”
“A pink flower means you’re having a girl,” Liv explained, smiling.
“A…a girl?” Celia bit her lip. “But I thought Kindred almost always had boy babies.”
“They do,” Liv admitted. “Though there are rare exceptions. If you’re worried about being able to Bond with your guys while you’re pregnant, don’t be,” she added. “It’s perfectly safe at this stage in the pregnancy. And Bonding Fruit has actually been found to be good for the unborn baby.”
“I’m not worried about Bonding. Can…can you tell who the baby’s father is…or fathers?” Celia asked, hoping against hope.
“That’s why I drew a second vial of blood.” Liv pressed another button on the machine and a tiny strip of paper unspooled from it. She glanced at it for a moment and then passed it to Celia. On it was her name and a few printed words.