The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(81)

As soon as the nausea passed, Charlotte picked herself up off the bathroom floor and got dressed. She needed to know for sure. She picked the least conspicuous outfit she had and headed to a pharmacy around the corner. She took one of each available brand of test and shoved them into her shopping basket, rearranging some other items she didn't need to hide the tests. The whole time, she kept looking over her shoulder, waiting for some paparazzo to snap a picture of her buying the pregnancy tests, but she made it back to the house unnoticed.

Back at the house, she locked herself in the bathroom and took the tests, one after another. Each test used different symbols, but they all reached the same conclusion. Whether smiley face, blue line or plus sign, they all said she was pregnant.

She put the tests back in the plastic shopping bag, wrapped it up as tightly as possible and shoved it in her purse. She got her phone and made a call.

"Hey," Charlotte said, "we need to talk right now."

"Is everything ok?" Callie asked. Charlotte hadn't spoken with her since the fateful trip to North Carolina.

"Um, it depends on what your definition of ok is." Charlotte paused and summoned the will to say what came next. She took a deep breath and blurted it out. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God that's incredible!" Callie shouted on the other end of the line. "Ahh! I knew you two love birds would fall for each other and start making babies. How did Jack react when you told him?"

"He didn't."

"What do you mean he didn't?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"Oh," Callie said. Charlotte waited for her to say something more, but she didn't. She just stayed silent. Her silence spoke louder than any words could.

"The primary is in two weeks, and I don't want to distract him. This is going to blindside him. He doesn't, under any circumstances, want kids. It's his worst fear. If I tell him, I have no idea what he'll do. What if I cost him the primary? It's the whole reason we're together. I can't risk that."

"You need to tell him," Callie said.

"I can't. He doesn't want to have a kid, and I don't know what to do," Charlotte said.

"He said he didn't want a marriage either, and look at the two of you. I've seen the way he looks at you. There's no way he's not totally in love."

"This is different," Charlotte protested. "You don't understand. He doesn't want kids at all. It's not even a question. I know how he'll feel about this."

"How do you feel about this?" Callie asked. "Forget about Jack for a moment. How are you? This is a huge life moment."

"I don't know how to describe it yet. Charlotte thought back to the afternoon she had followed Jack down to North Carolina, back to the jealousy she felt when she saw Jack with Maria and little Jack through the window.

"Are you ok?" Callie asked. "If you want, I can clear my schedule and hop on the next flight to Boston."

"I'm fine, really," Charlotte said. "I can take care of this. Thanks for the offer though."

"That's what best friends are for. I love you to death, so don't fall apart on me, ok?"

"Of course," Charlotte said. Her phone started beeping at her. Jack was on the other line.

Charlotte felt the adrenaline rush through her veins as she looked around for any traces of the pregnancy tests.

Everything is set. Don't worry about it, she tried to tell herself.

"Charlotte, are you still there?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, I have to go," she said. "Jack's calling."

"Tell him," Callie said. "He'll understand. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks," Charlotte said. She switched over to the other line.

"Hey, honey," Jack said. "How's everything going? Are you feeling any better?"

Charlotte straightened herself up and took a deep breath. This was the moment. All she had to do was tell the truth. She sucked in a deep breath.

"Everything's fine."





Chapter 31

For the first few days, Charlotte tried to muster the courage to tell Jack. In part, she wanted to tell him because it was the right thing to do. This was his child as much as it was hers, and she wasn't going to be able to hide the pregnancy from him forever. But she also wanted to tell him because she wanted to share her feelings with him.

Whenever she felt especially excited or afraid or any of the hundred other emotions she ran through on a daily basis, she wanted to tell him. She wanted him to share in every little moment. She wanted to go through all of this with him by her side. Instead, she found herself pretending like everything was fine.

Charlotte tried to rationalize it to herself. She tried to tell herself that it was for the best, that her job was to keep him focused on the election, but she knew that wasn't what he'd want. She knew he wanted to know every detail of her life just as he wanted her to know every detail of his. She had demanded that of him when she followed him to North Carolina, and now she was holding out. She wondered if she was setting herself up for ruin.

Charlotte had reason to be hopeful though. As February wore into March, the weather started to change. The deep cold lifted, and the first signs of spring started to creep out. The piles of snow that had accumulated through the New England winter were starting to disappear, and the grass was pushing up through the gray husks of snow left in the shadows. In a few weeks, it would be warm again. The snow and ice would be just a memory.