“My boobs don’t feel right. They don’t exactly hurt, but they ache or something,” she whined.
“Maybe you’re about to start your period,” I suggested.
Pure terror washed over her face as she asked, “Oh shit. What’s today’s date?”
“The eighteenth.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit!” she shouted as she stood up from the bed and reached for her phone, quickly searching her calendar. “Shit! I was supposed to start on the ninth, and with all this lockdown stuff, I didn’t even think about it. Cass, I’m almost two weeks late!”
“Tired, sick to your stomach, and the boob thing… Ah, hell, Henley! We’ve gotta go get a pregnancy test! Now!” I screeched. I took her hand and led her out into the hall, pulling her toward my room, so I could grab my purse and keys.
“Maybe it’s just stress,” Henley blurted out. “Or the flu… maybe I have the dates wrong. Maybe I had my period and didn’t notice it.”
“Yeah, like that’s possible. There’s only one way to find out what’s going on,” I told her as I headed for the car. Neither of us spoke on the way to the drugstore. We were both lost in our own world of thoughts, and I was too stunned to speak. I was having a hard time believing my little sister could actually be pregnant. When we got inside the store, Henley followed me over to the aisle with all the pregnancy tests. I grabbed several different brands and headed over to the checkout lane.
“Why are you buying so many? Don’t we just need one?” Henley asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do this before. Just figured it was better to be safe than sorry.”
Once the clerk gave me my change, I grabbed the bag and we raced out to the car. I started the car, and I was just about to put it in reverse when Henley asked, “Do you think Maverick will be okay with this?”
Surprised by her question, I asked, “What do you mean okay with this? Okay with what?”
“What if he doesn’t want to have a baby with me? We haven’t been together long… and we’ve never really talked about having kids. And with everything that happened with JW, he may not…” her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes.
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now. Maverick loves you, Lee Bug. You’re his ol’ lady, and if you are having his kid, he’s going to be over the moon about it.”
“You really think so?”
I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, “No doubt in my mind. You are worrying over nothing. Besides, we don’t even know if you are really pregnant yet.”
“I hope you’re right, because…” she started. “I really want this.”
Once we got back to the club, we took our bag of goodies and went straight to Henley’s room. She took no time rushing into the bathroom to take the first test. Through the closed door, she yelled, “It says to pee on the stick. What if I pee on my hand?”
“Then you wash your damn hand. Now, hurry up and pee!” I laughed.
“I’m trying. Stop rushing me!” she fussed. A few seconds later, I heard the toilet flush, but Henley didn’t open the door.
“Lee Bug?”
“Cass… There’s already a plus sign,” she murmured. “I’m taking another one.” There was a brief moment of silence before I heard her stirring around as she yelled, “Two lines. I got two lines on this one.”
I opened the door and found her standing there, staring at the pregnancy tests with a huge smile on her face. Her expression said it all. I rushed over to her, hugging her tightly as I said, “I can’t believe this is really happening! I am so happy for you.”
She buried her face in my neck as she cried, “I’m going to have a baby. Maverick’s baby.”
“Yeah, little momma, you are. You’ve gotta tell Maverick.”
“I don’t know. I’d really rather wait and tell him in person. Do you have any idea how long they’ll be gone?” she asked with concern.
“No more than you do. Cotton didn’t really say much about it.”
Her eyebrows furrowed as she asked, “So he didn’t say anything to you about Sara?”
Feeling like she’d just punched me in the gut, I sighed and said, “No, and I didn’t bring it up either. I figured if he wanted me to know he was leaving with his old girlfriend, he would’ve told me.”
“That is so not cool, Cass. He basically claimed you as his old lady, and then doesn’t have the decency to tell you what’s up,” she huffed.
“That’s just it. He didn’t officially claim me. We slept together and…”
Henley raised her hand, stopping me before I continued, and said, “It was more than that, and we both know it!”
“I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway. He’s halfway to Alaska by now, so I’ll just have to wait and see if he comes back to me,” I told her, trying not to let her see my heart was breaking at just the thought of him not coming back to me.