Preg..what?

Chapter 6

After calling out for help but to no avail, I concluded that I was all alone and I had to help myself.

It felt like the affected foot was beginning to bloat and the pain increased with each passing second.

Rowan had booked an executive room and so it was no surprise that there was no one within earshot. To make matters worse, the bellboy may not come around until it was evening.

So much for suggesting a trip, I said to myself and began to carefully stand on my feet. 

Propping myself against the wall for support, I managed to drag myself to the telephone to call room service. 

“Room service. How may we help you?”

“I need medical attention, I think I have a sprained ankle and it's hurting really bad,” I cried, pressing my eyes together in pain and holding my affected leg. It seemed like I had made the situation worse by placing weight on it. 

“Executive floor, room 116.” 

I let the telephone slip back to its holder even before I could hear a reply. The pain seemed to be moving from my legs to the other parts of my body and the image of Rowan and Camille that formed in my head just made it feel even worse.

Minutes later, three medical attendants walked into the room, one of them rolling a wheelchair. They were quick as they carefully pulled me up from the floor yet they were not in a nervous rush, the thought of this calmed me down a little.

As they wheeled me through the quiet hallway to the elevator, one of them continued to say softly, “It's alright. You'll be fine. Just hang in a few minutes longer, okay?”

Little did they know that the main issue on my mind was not my sprained ankle, I was more concerned about what Camille's reasons were for faking an accident to the point of even causing physical harm to herself.

Probably to get Rowan's attention? No surprise there.

I'd seen the way debutantes flocked around him, hungry for the slightest bit of attention, I'd seen socialites make flirtatious glances and try to start small talks at him at exclusive events, only to be responsed with nothing more than an emotionless, uninterested nod of the head in greeting and perfunctory replies.

But surely it would be more than getting his attention…

In a matter of minutes, I was wheeled into a hallway with white painted walls and tiles, and even the smell had changed.

“We'll call a doctor to attend to you immediately,” one of the attendants said and they both dispersed.

I sat there waiting, the smell of antiseptic alone nearly made me throw up. 

Suddenly one of the doors to a room opened and a doctor walked out, a few papers resting on his arm. The sight of the other person that emerged would have knocked me off my feet if I wasn't seated.

Rowan followed behind the doctor. He now had a shirt on over his towel.

I must have let out a loud gasp as I sighted him because they both looked in my direction and Rowan's expression darkened. He looked away from me and back to the doctor as though he had no idea who I was.

Not that I expected a special treatment anyway.

“Thank you, doc,” he said and walked back into the room but not without giving me a cold, spine-chilling glare.

I badly wanted to go over there and explain what had really happened but the throbbing pain in my ankle was too intense. The anger and heartbreak I felt bubbled violently within me.

“Hello, sir, sir!” I called for the doctor's attention.

“How're you doing ma'am? Is there someone attending to you right now?” He asked empathetically and I nodded.

“I er, wanted to ask how the lady in that room is doing. She's a…friend.” the word left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

“Oh, she had a terrible fall and scraped her arm over a sharp surface, but her baby's fine. We will conduct further tests anyway to be sure.”

My heartbeat seemed to freeze. The doctor completely lost me at the word baby. 

Camille was pregnant? How? When? But her husband is dead… so whose child is it?

Could it be that…

No! I banished the thought as soon as it reared it's ugly head. It can't be. 

I tried to stand to go into the room but the pain in my leg was much worse now, leaving me the only option of calling Rowan.

The phone rang and rang without response. 

How ironic, I thought after the fourth call went unanswered. He was well aware that I was just outside the door, yet he deliberately shunned my call meanwhile, during the past few months when Camille and his other business associates had called him, he wouldn't even let a second pass before springing up to answer.

I put my phone in my pocket and sighed heavily, just as another doctor walked up to me.

“Sorry for the delay, ma'am. I hear you have a sprained ankle.”

I simply nodded because I couldn't find the strength to speak anymore.

The doctor wheeled me into another room and as he cleaned the skin of the affected area and massaged the bone, I just stared into thin air.

As much as I forced myself not to wonder what Rowan and Camille were possibly doing, my inner dramatic spirit wouldn't stop conjuring erotic images for me.

He's young, she's young, they're alone. I don't need to tell you what's going on.

The silly little devil's mistress told me.

What's more? I hear she's pregnant!

“You're a really strong woman,” the doctor's words interrupted our conversation and I blinked a few times as I took the flight back to reality.

“Your leg's not so bad but it might hurt. Yet you didn't even let out a little cry.”

The sparkle in the doctor's eyes made me feel like I had broken a record.

“I took care of a patient around your age just minutes ago. Unfortunately she had a fall and she screamed so much while we cleaned up her wound…”

“She's pregnant.” Somehow, it was a question, like I was trying to confirm from the doctor if the news I'd heard was true.

His brows rose and I saw a glint of realization. “Well that explains things. She was being extra cautious I suppose, first pregnancies are usually like that. At least her husband was of great help, holding her the whole time.”

I couldn't help the scoff that escaped my lips. “That's my husband,” I revealed with a bitter smile.

Color drained from the doctor's face immediately he heard my words.

“I'm… I had no idea,” he stuttered but I stood before he could finish his apology.

“It's fine. And thank you,” I smiled briefly and limped out of the room.

Holding her the whole time…

I had found my least favorite five words.