2. PREGNANCY TESTS

Grace held the sink as she threw up virtually everything in her stomach, until she could taste acid on her tongue.

Wow, great. She thought to herself. Falling sick just when she had to clear her room. She knew Da'ana would definitely make good of her promise, so even with her eyes struggling to focus, she managed to leave the bathroom, meeting Simon at the door.

"I'll help you clear your room." Simon told her at once, wrapping his hand around her waist as they stood side by side. Grace's eyes watered.

"Aw, man, what would I possibly do without you?" She whispered, throwing her arms around him. He held her close for a while with a grin on his face,

"Absolutely nothing, mate. C'mon, let's go." Then they pulled away from each other and began to head towards her room.

While Whitney and Da'ana engaged in a conversation where they laughed on top of their voices, Simon helped Grace pack her things, doing everything in his power to cheer her up as he did.

The minute they were about finally exit the room, Grace clutched her stomach again and ran to the restroom, where she struggled to throw up… probably her womb now, because there was nothing else in her stomach.

Simon was standing by the door when she turned around.

They watched each other in silence for a few seconds until Simon said, "I'll get someone to get pregnancy strips for you."

Grace shook her head frantically, not wanting to believe it, "There'll be no need for that, I'm not pregnant."

With that, she turned around and bent over the sink, rinsing her mouth and splashing some water on her face.

"You can never be too sure, Grace. You've been having unusual cravings and sleeping a bit too much as well. You need to make sure." Simon advised, but Grace just walked past him, not saying a word.

Tears hung on her eyelids, and she began to think of the possibility that maybe she was truly pregnant. Would her pregnancy be enough to change her husband's mind?

Da'ana eventually came around to make sure Grace had vacated the room, and Simon went off to look for someone to get the pregnancy strips.

She was grateful for him. He was kind of a best friend to her, even if the rest of his family loathed her.

A knock on her door an hour later told her that the time had come. With her heart pounding in her chest, she stood up from her bed, shut the crime-based novel she'd been reading and walked to the door.

"Ma'am." She opened to one of the male helps in the house. "Master Simon asked me to give this package to you."

She nodded and took the package from him, "And where is Simon?"

"He said he had to run an errand."

"Okay. Thank you." She said with a forced smile before shutting the door and walking straight to her washroom. She took a deep breath, saying a short prayer in front of the mirror before starting the test.

"Oh God, no…" Her voice broke after the second strip test. Two lines.. she was pregnant.

Vincent returned from work later that night, and Whitney literally threw herself on him, planting kisses all over his face. Grace and Vincent locked eyes across the hallway, and he kept his dark, inexpressive eyes on her even as Whitney captured his lips.

Jealousy stung Grace like a wasp, and she turned around, briskly walking off… to wherever it was that she would not see them. She could hear Whitney laughing behind her and she forced herself not to cry, as her emotions were getting even stronger. It was the pregnancy hormones, she thought.

She went out to the wine farm and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of nature. That used to calm her… not so much now.

"You are only a trophy wife. You of all people should have known exactly what that means before now, the fits of jealousy should come to an end." Grace heard her husband… well, soon-to-be ex husband say from behind her.

She did not bother to turn around, simply going straight to it, "I have something to tell you. No guarantee that you will believe it, given the current circumstances, but I just… I have to let you know."

"That?"

She finally turned, almost losing her courage as soon as her eyes met his cold, shut-out ones, but she eventually managed to open her mouth again.

"This afternoon, when I—"

"Vincent! There you are. I was wondering where you ran off to." Whitney appeared from nowhere, and she grabbed his neck and tried to kiss him. He moved his face just before she could, then asked,

"Is there a problem?"

"I have to show you something. Come?" She sounded calm and collected, like she did not care that he had just swerved her kiss.

Vincent locked eyes with Grace again, and in her bright orbs there was plea. Her forehead creased as she silently tried to reason with him to stay and hear her out.

After almost a minute of decisive silence, he finally made a choice.

"Shall we?" He asked, and with that, took the hand of his new mistress, Whitney, and they walked hand-in-hand, out of the farm.

A single tear rolled down Grace's cheek, and she let the rest follow suit, staying out in the chill farm in the darkness… and she stayed there still, even when it started to rain and thunder. Even when she fell to her knees and blacked out.

_______________

"Are you crazy? Planning to get yourself killed? Is that it?"

"No, Simon, I… I don't want to die, I'm sorry. Okay? I was just feeling so down, I had to shut it down somehow. The emotions were too much to bear." She replied, and Simon came to sit beside her immediately, wrapping his arms around her as she cried.

"I can tell him if you want."

She raised her head at once, "No. No, please. I need to tell him myself. Please, just let me do this."

Reluctantly, he nodded with a sigh, "Alright, but you don't have much time. Hopefully, a baby would change his mind, act fast."

He kept her company until he had to go to work. She wished she had work too.. she never wanted to be a trophy wife; she wanted to be a real wife, and support her husband. Apparently, it was the last thing Vincent wanted.

Grace tried to get to Vincent some more, so she could tell him about the pregnancy, but Whitney was always there. No matter how stoic and inexpressive he was to her, he would always be hanging around him somehow.

The level of desperation was too alarming, Grace had only ever seen something similar on Da'ana; when money was involved. And she loathed it.

It was on the fifth day of the ultimatum that she finally got her chance. She found him in the library, thankfully alone this time.

Of course he heard her approach, no matter how light her footsteps were. The man was too alert.

"To what do I owe this disturbance?" He asked in a voice that was empty and cold. Funny how she used to think that a man who spoke like this was capable of love.

She swallowed, then started to speak, "I need to tell you something. I have been trying to say it for a while but you were never alone."

"And why can't it be said in the presence of others, Grace?" He turned around now, his river green eyes piercing through her skin, literally.

Grace stuttered, "I.. It's a private conversation."

"Get on with it, I was just leaving." He urged, his jaw flexing as he tried to hold back from giving his wife a well-deserved once over.

The thing was, Grace was too sexy for her own good. She could wear anything and make the piece of clothing look like a death sentence. Only her chest area which he could see revealed too much cleavage already, he could not risk looking like a fool by attempting to give her a once over—he knew it would be far from once.

Her brown eyes, button nose and perfect lips complimented her facial features so well, too. She was so beautiful. But she spelled disaster, and he needed her gone as soon as possible.

Grace spoke now, "I took a pregnancy test because I was feeling funny after uh … you know, and it came out positive. I'm pregnant, Vince, I took the test a couple of times too."

He just stood there for sometime without saying a word, watching her as if he was waiting for a camera reveal or something.

"Are you… are you going to say anything?" She eventually asked, overwhelmed with nerves. He still did not reply until after a good while, and then he said,

"Who lied to you? Told you that a pregnancy would change my mind? Hmm?"

Grace shook her head frantically, stunned that he could even think that she would do something like that.

"I am not lying. I've had the symptoms and I also ran a couple of tests.. I'm pregnant, why would I be lying about that?"

"Because you were foolish enough to fall in love with me?"

They both just stared at each other after that, not breaking eye contact for what seemed like hours, until he sighed, "Tomorrow. I will have my driver and a guard take you to the OB-GYN, and a proper test will be conducted. If I find out that you are lying to me, Grace, you would be left on the streets from the OB-GYN, and kiss whatever cash I planned to give you goodbye."

With that, he flicked the stick of cigar in his hand off, and threw it to the side, all while watching her. She nodded solemnly, silently praying that the baby had not, for her sake, mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night.

"Hey, baby! I've been looking for you." Whitney's voice came from nowhere, but Vincent just ignored her, walking past like she had never even announced her presence.

Somehow, that felt so good, Grace thought. At least, Vincent never ignored her like that.

She turned around, trying to curb her smile, meeting Whitney's glare.

"Stay away from him, pest. How desperate can you be? Ugh.." She whirled around after saying that, and stormed out of the library too, hot on Vincent's trail.

Grace sighed. She did not know what she planned to achieve with this pregnancy, but maybe she was desperate. Maybe she hoped this pregnancy would change his mind on her leaving…

Even if he might never love her.