"If you won't do the procedure, I'll switch to another hospital."
"And while I'm at it, I'll get a paternity test done too. In my nightmare last night, this kid didn't even call me Mom. He called me a bitch! Said I was nothing but a delivery service!"
I turned and headed for the door, pulling out my phone to book the procedure at Central Hospital.
"Bella! Wait! I'll write up the order!"
Molly's voice came shrill behind me.
Because she couldn't afford the gamble.
The moment a test proved the baby wasn't mine, everything between her and Jude would come crashing into the open.
Smiling, I turned around and settled back into the chair.
"Then I'll trouble you, Dr. Lambert!"
Face white, she wrote up the order, then pulled out the surgical consent form.
"A family member has to sign for the procedure. Have Jude come down here!"
"You call him. Don't you two have each other on speed dial? Saves me the phone charge!"
Something unnatural flickered across Molly's face, and she explained with the guilt of a thief caught in the act.
"Bella, Jude and I grew up together. We added each other to our family speed dial ten years ago. Don't read into it."
That same sugary, two-faced act.
Before, I'd thrown countless fits over how close she and Jude always were.
But every time, Jude brushed me off, saying the two of them were no different from brother and sister.
And since I was still counting on Molly for my IVF, all I could do was swallow the discomfort.
Molly dialed the call and handed me the phone.
"You tell Jude yourself. I can't be the one to say it!"
She didn't want to play the villain. She wanted Jude to despise me even more. I wasn't about to let her have her way.
I stayed silent, and Jude assumed it was Molly.
"Nana, we can't let her beat us to—"
The guilt jolted her. She cut him off, voice spiking.
"Jude, get to the hospital, now. Your wife is insisting on an abortion! Yes, she wants it done right away, and she wants a paternity test too..."
Jude got there fast, his forehead drenched in sweat.
He was supposed to be at work, and from the company to the hospital was thirty minutes even with no traffic.
And that was assuming no traffic.
But from Molly's first message to him walking through the door, only ten minutes had passed.
Which meant he hadn't rushed over from the office at all. He'd already been near the hospital.
I looked at his rumpled shirt, at the suspicious stains on his black slacks, and my stomach churned.
Seems he hadn't gotten his fill last night, afraid of waking me.
So he'd snuck off on his lunch break for seconds with Molly.
Forcing down the nausea, I pointed a trembling finger at his pants.
"Jude, weren't you at the office? How did you get here so fast? What have you been doing behind my back?"
Panic flashed in his eyes, and he scrambled for an excuse.
"Bella, I happened to be meeting a client nearby. When I heard you wanted an abortion, I knocked over my drink. That's all this is."
I didn't bother exposing his clumsy lie. I just handed him the surgical form.
"Oh. Then sign it."
Seeing that I really meant to go through with it, Jude's eyes went red with desperation.
"Bella! Everything was fine. Why an abortion all of a sudden? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"Nana said you had a nightmare last night and now you want to abort the baby?"
I rubbed my temples, impatient.
"That's right. He called me a bitch, said I was just a delivery service, said I wasn't his mom. You think I can stomach that?"
"You know me. I've always believed in fate! I have to abort him, and then see whether he's even mine!"
Jude swallowed nervously and asked, uncertain.
"Besides dreaming about the baby, was there anything else?"
He was testing me.
I gave a faint tug at the corner of my mouth, deliberately knitting my brow as if to remember, then shook my head.
