Marry Your Baby Daddy by Maryann Reid

Author:Maryann Reid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 2005-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

23. GIOVANNA

“Hi, Giovanna, come follow me,” Dr. Wedler said, as he held the door open for her. Late last week she had taken a blood and urine test, and now she was back Thursday morning for her results. Her period had arrived but she still wasn’t feeling herself.

She sat down on a plastic chair in his tiny office and folded her hands on her knees.

He flipped through her files and looked up. “How have you been?” He wore a crooked smile. “Still working hard as ever?”

“As always. I’m like the Energizer Bunny these days. I am working on several cases right now. Actually, after this I have to go to court,” she said, looking at her watch.

“Okay, then let’s get to it,” Dr. Wedler said, putting on his glasses and opening a green folder. He scanned it, then took his glasses off. “You’re pregnant.”

Giovanna felt as if all the breath had left her body.

Dr. Wedler’s smile faded. “Giovanna?”

“I have my period.” Giovanna had been spotting for the last several days. “You can’t be right—”

“Giovanna, you can have a period and still be pregnant. But I assure you, you probably won’t get it next month.” His eyes searched her face. “You’re a thirty-five-year-old woman who became pregnant just like that for a second time. It’s pretty rare.”

Giovanna forced a smile for Dr. Wedler, who smiled, too.

“There, that’s much better,” he said. “Congratulations!”

Dr. Wedler left, but Giovanna stayed, her feet feeling as if they were bolted to the ground. Pregnant? I have a one-year-old baby. Why? She had always used protection when having sex, except the night Isabella was conceived, and the last time she and Douglas made love. Eventually, Giovanna opened her eyes to the reality. She was too embarrassed to call anyone just yet. Here she was, thirty-five, with a second child coming who wasn’t planned like Isabella. Her sisters would be overjoyed, and so would Douglas. But she had a decision to make and she couldn’t do it alone.

Walking up Fifty-seventh Street to catch the One train downtown to the courthouse, she touched her stomach. An electric feeling passed through her hands. Giovanna looked up at the high noon clouds and imagined Grandma June sitting high and pretty on one, smiling at her news. She wanted to smile, too, but it was too soon.

Giovanna called Fatima on her cell. “We need to meet right away. I’m not too far from Rickey’s,” she said. Fatima was in the city shopping for shampoo products for her home salon. And in the next half hour they were both at the corner deli on Sixth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street. When she walked in she found Fatima sitting alone, staring into space. Her long locks were arranged in an artful twist on top of her head, making her dark brown-speckled cheekbones stand out.

“What’s up, Ms. Thing?” Fatima said. The gold bangles around her wrist jingled together as she waved.

Giovanna sat down and grabbed one of Fatima’s sandwiches.

“I got us some turkey sandwiches. Cool?” Fatima asked, unwrapping hers.

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