Olivia nibbled on her thumb nail. “Just promise me you won’t get mad at me.”
“What?” Eyes wide, Emily shook her head. “Don’t get mad at you? What did you do?”
“Em, just promise me you won’t get pissed.”
Emily crossed her arms, her stomach twisted in knots. “Okay, Olivia, even though you haven’t told me what I shouldn’t be pissed about, I promise I’ll try not to get pissed. Is that good enough for you?”
Olivia slowly nodded and blew out a puff of air. “I…” She paused, glanced around, and swiped a hand through her hair. “I called the Maury Povich show and—”
“You what?” Emily gasped, her eyes wider. “I told you not to call them, Olivia. How could you do this to me? Like it’s not embarrassing enough not knowing who the father is, you want me to air my shit on national television?” Emily stood, yanking her purse from the table. “We’re not doing it.”
“Emily, wait!” Olivia jumped to her feet, following Emily toward the exit. She grabbed Emily’s arm and whipped her around. “You’re not listening to me. There’s more.”
“More?” Emily questioned, her brows furrowed. “What, did you tell them what positions I like during sex? Maybe you went as far as letting them know I made out with Candice Weathers at the graduation party while I was drunk?” Without waiting for a reply, Emily pulled her arm from Olivia’s grasp, turned on her heel, and continued weaving through the crowd.
“Emily!” Olivia called. “There’s another paternity test available, and it’s noninvasive.” Emily skidded to a stop. With her lips parted and shock running through her system, she turned around. “It’s true,” Olivia continued. “It’s a simple blood test. You don’t even have to go on the show, and you guys can have the results in less than ten days.”
Emily swallowed, her heart pounding faster. Olivia started for the table and Emily followed. Feeling as though she’d been sucker punched, Emily dropped her purse, pulled out a chair, and stared at Olivia. “Tell me what you know,” she breathed, trying to calm down.
“I’m sorry I called the show,” Olivia whispered. “It was going to be a joke. I wasn’t even gonna give them your real names. I had Olive Oil for you, Popeye Rodriguez for Gavin, and Norman Bates for Douchecock. I figured I’d put the tickets in a card since you wouldn’t let us throw you a shower.”
“Liv, I’m not worried about the show.” She sighed, attempting to compute how twisted, yet hysterical her friend was. “Just tell me what you know.”
“It’s called a noninvasive prenatal paternity test. The woman from the show said some company, DNA Diagnostic Center, performs them at their labs across the United States. They need a blood sample from the mother and a blood sample from one of the potential fathers.” Olivia shrugged. “That’s it.”
Emily shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. “How can that be? Everything I read online about the amniocentesis said you need amniotic fluid to perform DNA testing prior to giving birth.”
Olivia took a sip of her frozen Frappuccino and leaned back. “I really don’t understand it myself. She said something about fetal cells in the mother’s bloodstream. That’s it, Emily. Within ten days of the lab receiving the samples, you can go online to the DDC’s website, and you’ll have your results.”
Ten days. Ten. Simple. Quick. Days.
Emily brought her hand to her mouth, her voice a whisper. “My God, why didn’t my doctor tell me about this months ago? This whole time, we could’ve known.” Her heart seared. Their nightmare shouldn’t have lasted as long as it had. Hell, at that point, Emily felt all kinds of fucked up about taking her doctor’s word for it without doing further research.
“It’s a relatively new test, and let’s be honest, your doctor’s relatively old. His office is a throwback to the seventies. Shit, he still performs sonograms.” Olivia slid her chair closer to Emily and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Maybe he didn’t know about it. Either way, you do now.”
Emily swallowed, trying to process what’d been dumped in her lap. There was truth in Olivia’s statement. Emily now knew about the test and soon Gavin would, too. They couldn’t take back the sleepless nights over the last several months. They couldn’t remove every second of the agonizing wait they’d endured. Six and a half months of worrying whether or not she and Gavin would spend the rest of their lives tied to Dillon couldn’t be undone. Armed with new information, Emily wasn’t about to let another wicked, unknowing minute tick by. Standing, she grabbed her purse, popped a kiss on Olivia’s head, and with a scared and heavy heart, headed out the door to go tell Gavin.
She only prayed their long-awaited answer would be the one they so desperately wanted to hear.