Love In The Fast Lane Part 5

"What? That's fantastic! Congratulations!"

"I know, I can't believe it. I expect the commission is going to be ginormous. So, of course, you will get said pair of Lou Lou's for your birthday."

"That's great news, Em. All around. I have one more client for the day and then you can pick me up and we can go celebrate, ok?"

"Gotcha."

She hung up and Brielle found herself smiling at her friend's success. Seven weeks and she made her first big sale. That was a great achievement for Emma, considering she had no prior real estate experience. Brielle couldn't wait until she was raking in serious cash, too. But all in good time.

Ten minutes later her next patient arrived. "h.e.l.lo Mrs. Morgan. How are you today?"

"If I was fine then I wouldn't be here, now would I," the old lady grumbled.

"Well let's get you in tip-top shape again."

The older woman removed her s.h.i.+rt and lay face down on the ma.s.sage table. Brielle caught a whiff of her perfume and the urge to throw-up overwhelmed her. How strange. The older woman's perfume was in no way rancid and she had never had this reaction to her fragrance before. She placed her hand to her mouth to quell the urge. She rubbed some oil in her hands to ma.s.sage out the kinks in the other woman's muscles but before she could even touch her, the wave of nausea hit again and she barely made it to the wastepaper bin before her light lunch came spewing out.

"Oh, yuck," the other woman tuttered. "You must be coming down with something. I will have Dr. Finley finish me today."

Brielle started to argue that she was fine but when she saw the hard expression on Mrs. Morgan's face she knew it was not a request. She excused herself to go to the ladies' room where she washed her face and splashed herself with cold water. It was probably food poisoning. The lettuce in her sandwich had looked a little on the brown side. Only the thought of food alone made her want to throw-up again.

By the time she pulled herself together and felt halfway normal, it was time to go home so she said her goodbyes to the nurses and walked out to meet Emma.

Emma was just driving in as Brielle walked out and she waved to her friend. As she lifted her arm, spots appeared before her eyes and her head spun. What was going on? As if in slow motion, she saw the pavement coming up to kiss her and then everything went blank.

When Brielle regained consciousness, she was in a hospital bed. Her head was pounding like someone was riding a wrecking ball... Over and over into a concrete wall. She lifted her hand to the source of the pain and felt a large goose egg at the back of her skull.

"Hey," Emma said beside her.

"Hey, what happened?" Oh, speaking did not work well with the mean wrecking ball.

"You tell me. One minute you're giving me the queen's wave and the next you're wors.h.i.+ping the ground in slow motion."

"Really? Slow motion?"

"That's how I saw it, ok? I was panicked."

Brielle tried to smile to rea.s.sure Emma but it came across weakly. "What did the doctor say?"

"The nurse should be in any minute now. They wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not family."

As if on cue, the nurse walked in and checked Brielle's chart.

"Well, how are you feeling?" the nurse was a preppy-looking middle aged woman in every sense. Her uniform was too crisp, her hair too perfect. Brielle imagined she was that way in everything she did.

"Like I took a fall to the concrete and used my head as a cus.h.i.+on."

The nurse smiled kindly, disproving Brielle's theory and contrasting completely with her stiff exterior. "That's an accurate description. From your blood tests it looks like you just had a dizzy spell, it's quite common in the early stages of pregnancy. The good news is that the baby is fine."

Brielle must have taken a real knock to the head.

"Baby?"

"Yes. You're pregnant."

Panic started to squeeze her throat and the look on Emma's face mirrored her own feelings.

The nurse frowned. "Didn't you know?"

"No," she whispered.

The room was starting to spin.

"How is that possible?"

The nurse smiled as though she was smiling at an insolent child; now that was more in line with how Brielle saw her. "I would a.s.sume from unprotected penetrative s.e.x. That's how it normally happens. Should I call your husband?"

"She's not married," Emma answered for her, dazedly, also looking in shock.

"Your boyfriend then?"

They both shook their heads.

The nurse, having a modic.u.m of tact, nodded discreetly and s.h.i.+fted toward the door. "I will give you a moment to digest this information."

"Wait," Brielle called. "I meant how is it possible if I have an Intrauterine device?"

"When did you have it fitted?" the nurse asked.

"A year ago."

She regarded Brielle thoughtfully but with a look of pity in her eyes. Oh, the contrasts again. "The IUD is usually very effective but two in every one thousand women have a possibility of becoming pregnant within the first year of its insertion. The likelihood is that you had rough s.e.x and it moved."

Brielle looked away. Despite the throbbing in her skull, she had the sense to be embarra.s.sed. She was such a priss about these things, she couldn't imagine sitting and casually discussing her past s.e.xual encounters with this stranger. Her mind was reeling.

"Look," the nurse said with a gentle hand on her arm. "This is obviously very unexpected for you so take a moment to let it sink in. I will make an appointment for the doctor to have your IUD removed due to the pregnancy. But, think about what you want to do. You do have options." With a sad, gentle smile, she turned and left them alone.

"You ok?" Emma asked her friend.

"No." Brielle couldn't even think straight. What was she going to do? She had cla.s.ses in two weeks. She did a quick calculation in her head and realized that the baby would be born before she was even due to write her final exams. And then what? How was she going to take care of this child and start up a practice? She had to tell Nate.

Nate. Her stomach squeezed in anxiety.

How would he react? He hadn't said goodbye when he left. h.e.l.l, he hadn't even tried to contact her in two months so why should he suddenly care. But still, he had a right to know. She groaned. What was she going to do?

When Brielle awoke the next morning, her vision blurred and her head continued to pound. The news from last night crept in and she instinctively put her hand over her belly. She was pregnant. She was carrying another human being. Well, it probably wasn't a human just yet. For now it was probably just an 'It'. But still, she was carrying a living creature.

In the ensuing few hours the doctors and nurses came in and out, taking out her IUD, helping her into the shower, making sure she ate, which she proceeded to vomit.

By the afternoon she was weak and drained. Emma came to see her and brought a Tigger stuffed toy and a balloon.

"What, no flowers or chocolates?" She asked drolly, clearly letting her ill health get the better of her mood.

"I know that you puke at the whiff of air so flowers won't do and from what the nurse just told me, you haven't kept anything down all day."

"I feel miserable. Is pregnancy supposed to be this bleh?"

"You're asking the wrong person. The good news is that the Doc said you can come home with me. They successfully removed your IUD so it's bed rest for you till you feel better on your feet.

That did cheer her up because the clinical smell of the hospital made her nauseous. "Thanks Em... So, why the Tigger? You buying baby things already?"

Emma smiled lovingly at Brielle, "No. It's to cheer you up because he's bouncy and trouncy and fun fun fun." She made a show of it by dancing around in mimic of Tigger.

Brielle giggled, "Ow, don't make me laugh. My head may just explode and then you'd have to clean up the brain matter off the walls."

"Come on, kiddo. Let's get you dressed and go home."

A few days later Brielle was feeling in better spirits. The pounding grip on her brain had pa.s.sed and the goose egg on her head had gone. Now, to deal with the life growing within her.

"Have you decided what to do about the baby issue?" Emma asked, with the uncanny ability to read her mind.

Brielle shrugged. "I just can't believe that it's real. We had unprotected s.e.x one time and I thought the IUD was a solid course of contraception. But it's happened now and I can't just ignore it."

"You do have options you know."

"Yes, but abortion is not one of them," Brielle was vehement. "No matter how unexpected this is, this child was conceived out of my own s.e.xual choices and I won't get rid of it like a dirty mistake."

"Good girl." Emma announced proudly.

"I thought about adoption, too, but I don't think I could ever live with myself, knowing that my own flesh and blood is out there and that I just gave it away."

"Blood of my blood."

"Ok Daenerys storm born."

"You know what you have to do first though, right?

"I can't call him, Em. How can I go to him with this when he basically ran away from me the last time we laid eyes on each other? How will he react to this?"

"You won't know until you speak to him? He needs to step up and take responsibility. It's your duty to let him know, regardless of his reaction."

"I know," she said resignedly. "But I wouldn't even know how to reach him."

"Lucky for you, I did some research." Emma stood up and walked around her couch to retrieve her cordless phone and the notepad beside it. "Here, I found the contact details for his PR Company." She handed both the phone and the notepad to Brielle. "Call him."

Brielle's stomach heaved at the pending action.

"Take a breath, babe. If you intend to raise this child, then you have to do this."

Brielle nodded and dialled the number scrawled on the notepad. It rang and rang. Feeling hopeful that she wouldn't have to deal with this right now, she was about to hang up when a female voice on the other end answered, "Williams PR Enterprises. How can I direct your call?"

"Hi hi," Brielle stuttered. "I'd like to speak to Nathan Wolfe, please."

"Sorry ma'am, none of our clients are based in this office."

"Oh, right, of course." Brielle felt like an idiot. It's a PR firm, they do the representation of the client. "Can I speak to someone who is handling his portfolio?"

"May I ask what it's in connection with?"

"It's, um, a private matter."

"I see," the receptionist sounded annoyed. "Well, Mena Williams handles Mr. Wolfe's portfolio and she is out the office at the moment. Can I take a message?"

"Yes, can you please ask her to contact me, it is quite important." Brielle pa.s.sed on her details and hung up. "What a snotty b.i.t.c.h."

"Now now," Emma soothed, "no swearing in front of baby bean."

Brielle instinctively touched her hand to her stomach. "You're right. She's the gatekeeper, it's expected that she'd be like a pit bull. Well, I will wait 'till his PR people contact me to get in touch with him."

Three days later and the PR Company had still not returned Brielle's call so she decided to call again. She was cras.h.i.+ng at Emma's place for a few days before cla.s.ses resumed the following week and she went back to onsite housing.

"Good day, Williams PR Enterprises, how may I direct your call?" the pit bull answered.

"Mena Williams please."

"Miss Williams is in a meeting at the moment, may I leave a message for her?"

"Yes, it's Brielle Woods calling again, I need to speak with her urgently."

"Well, as I said, she is in a meeting at present Miss Woods and I cannot take her out of that meeting to take this call. I shall ask her to call you back."

"Oh, like the last time she returned my call?" Brielle countered snidely. Pregnancy hormones were making her snipey.

"I merely relay the messages, Miss Woods, I cannot force the recipient to return your call. I will let Miss Williams know that you called. Have a good day." And then she hung up before waiting for Brielle to reply.

"Calm down, Bree," she chastised herself. "She's just a snotty receptionist." But the truth was she felt her panic increase with each pa.s.sing hour. She needed to get this off her chest, she needed to share it with Nate and have a plan for this child's future. She decided to Google him and try to find a way to get his contact details directly.

Forty-five minutes later she'd reached a dead end. His contact details were tightly locked away from public record. What she did learn was he was a highly successful driver, had won the t.i.tle of Rookie of the Year two years prior and was the highly antic.i.p.ated winner for this year's cup. He was accident free and had amazing handling on and off the track. She also learned that he was every bit the player she thought he was. Photographed with a different model at every other event, Brielle's heart dropped. His online profile alone told her that he was not going to fall into this fatherly role willingly. What was she really expecting of him? That he'd be thrilled with the news and come rus.h.i.+ng back to play happy homemaker with her?

She needed to think straight and start planning a future for her child... alone. She needed a game plan. Pregnancy and prenatal visits would be expensive and she needed some semblance of a strategy. Where did her studies fit into all of that? This was her final year. Maybe she could take a year off to have and care for the baby and resume next year. She could do that. How would she afford it and a baby? Where would she live?

As the panic started to rise again she tried the PR Firm one more time. "Mena Williams please."

"She's available Miss Woods," she spewed her name out like it was distasteful. "You're going through."

Some awful elevator music played through the phone as she waited for Miss Williams to answer.

"Miss Woods?" she answered. Her voice sounded friendly and mature, so unlike her pit bull. "What can I do for you today?"