From Substitute Wife to the CEO's Obsession novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: Twelve Weeks
"Sit down," Lorena said. "You're in front of the water cooler."
Ignacio sat in the chair beside hers and put his hands on his knees.
Around them the couples went on whispering.
"You didn't tell me," he said, very low.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you would have stayed." She kept her eyes on the folder. "You would have moved into the east wing and eaten dinner across from me, and you'd have done it out of duty."
"Yes," he said. "I would have stayed."
"That's why."
He did not argue.
A nurse called her name, and Lorena stood.
"Do you want to come in?" she asked.
She had meant it as a test.
He was on his feet before she finished.
The doctor with the short silver hair looked at him, then at her, and said nothing about it.
"Lie back," she said. "This will be cold."
The screen came on.
The shape that had been a flicker at eight weeks was a small curled person now, with a round head and a curved spine.
It kicked.
Lorena heard Ignacio's breath stop at the foot of the bed.
"Twelve weeks and two days," the doctor said. "Heartbeat is strong. Measurements are good. Here is the nose."
"It has a nose," Ignacio said.
His voice had gone rough.
Lorena turned her head.
He was gripping the rail at the foot of the bed with both hands, and he was not looking at her.
He was looking at the screen and nothing else.
The doctor printed two pictures and gave him one without being asked.
He folded it once, carefully, and put it in his inside pocket.
Outside the clinic a stone bench stood under a jacaranda tree, and Lorena sat down on it before her legs decided for her.
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