Stopping myself from rolling my eyes or laughing at her response, I threw on a bright smile and calmly said, "Well, I was going to tell you this when I was a bit further along, (say, nine months along), but I guess you should know as soon as possible." Just to see her reaction, I lifted my shirt and showed her my stretched beyond natural tummy. "Yes, Teren and I are expecting. Twins, actually," I tossed in for good measure.
Her reaction was pure gold. Her mouth dropped even wider and she went slightly green. Shaking her head, she backed away from my stomach like she was witnessing that scene from the movie Alien. You know, the scene where the creature bursts out of the person's body, leaving a bloody, gory mess behind. As she stared at my skin in horror, I swear that's what she expected to happen. "Why would you do that, Emma?"
Her shocked eyes lifted to mine as I frowned and covered my body again. "We want children," I said, a little defensively.
Shaking her head, her eyes looked at me like I'd just set a match to a winning lottery ticket. "Oh, you had such potential here. I was really thinking you'd take over for me, one day." She shook her head sadly, her thick neck barely allowing the movement.
I bristled at that. "I'm not leaving. I can have children and a career."
The corner of her lip lifted in a smirk. "That's what they all say." She sighed. "When is D-Day?"
My lips turning down, my momentary high dulled, I sullenly said, "June 26th."
She sighed, mentally ticking off how much time she had left with me, then she turned and waddled back to her office, probably to call the temp agency and have them start looking for my replacement. Irritating woman. Once again I thought Tracey was on to something, and Teren's family should just buy the company for me. Clarice wouldn't seem so high and mighty if this pregnant chick was suddenly her boss.
The last biggest change in my life happened not long after Clarice discovered my secret. The last biggest change sort of changed a lot for me, especially how I looked at my husband. In one day, he was brought down a peg in my eyes.
Tracey and I were having a leisurely cup of coffee at a local shop in town. Well, she was having coffee; I was still sticking to hot chocolate. It was mid-morning on a Saturday and the place was starting to pick up. We sat on luxuriously padded chairs in deep crimson and gold fabric. They could have just as easily been in a medieval throne room as a coffee shop. I sighed and relaxed back onto the exquisite chair and glanced around the space while Tracey went over her Hot Ben woes. Contemporary music played softly in the background as dim lighting was suspended over other groups of plush chairs, most in sets of two or three, just perfect for relaxing with a friend or two.
Most of the people who already had their beverages, were sitting in those fancy seats, looking as comfortable as I felt. An older man with a head of thick, dark hair, that any twenty year old guy would die to still have at his age, was having a pleasant conversation with a woman who looked about half his age. Yet again, something twenty year olds would probably love to have at his age.
Just behind where the older man was resting his hand on the woman's knee, I could just make out a pair of forty-something women, eyeing the man contemptuously. They whispered heated conversations as they glared at the woman, not the man, and I thought that perhaps they had each lost a beloved to a younger woman. I hoped that when I reached their age, Teren didn't come to regret his decision to marry me. I immediately discounted that though. What we had went far beyond physical looks.
Tracey's sigh pulled me back to our conversation, well, her conversation. As she sipped her frothy coffee treat, I sipped my cup of hot cocoa, savoring the chocolaty goodness hitting my tongue while she continued on with her theory that Hot Ben was diddling Halina.
After hearing this theory for so long now, I wasn't sure what to say to it anymore. I'd already told her that there was no way it was true (and there really was no way it was true...Hot Ben was terrified of Halina), but she never believed me, so now I just listened. As one of the twins kicked my ribcage, I brought a hand to my stomach, soothing the youngster and massaging the spot that he or she had been kicking repeatedly all morning. They generally rotated and twisted, kicking and squirming in different spots, but things were getting tighter in there as they, and in turn me, got larger, and they had started concentrating on one spot more often. That wasn't as much fun for me.
As Tracey started debating whether or not she should hire a private eye, her hand absentmindedly stroking out a piece of her blonde curls, I fixated on the slightly swaying lamp hanging over a table behind her. It was a deep red shade, the bulb inside just visible under the porcelain, making it glow from within. The shade reminded me of Teren, and the fact that he still wouldn't bite me.
When Tracey mentioned a name and an address of a detective, I fully concentrated on what she was saying. She wasn't just randomly joking around that she should have someone trail her possibly straying beau, she had actually researched it.
"What?" I said, a little startled that she'd seriously do that.
She set down her coffee, the smell wafting up to reach my nose, making my mouth water a little; I did miss my caffeinated coffee fix. "Well, what else am I supposed to do, Emma? Ever since the wedding, he's been so weird." She worried her lip and shook her head, her hair swishing over her shoulders. "I know he's hiding something."
Her eyes watered and guilt filled me. I knew so much that I couldn't tell her. I knew exactly what was wrong with Ben. I knew exactly why he was being weird around her and what secret he was keeping from her. I knew...and I couldn't tell her. There was nothing about the situation that I could share, no comfort that I could bring her. Nothing I knew would make her feel better anyway. She'd just be as freaked out as he was, even worse. She'd be beyond terrified, and would scream to the world that vampires existed. She'd probably end up in a straight jacket.
Doing the only thing I could, I extended my hand out to her, placing it on her arm sympathetically. "I'm sure it's not you, Trace. He loves you, adores you even."
She looked at me doubtfully, her beautiful face held in a frown. I set down my cocoa and grabbed her arm with my other hand. Letting my face brighten and look hopeful, I exclaimed. "Why don't you and Ben, and me and Teren all go-"
A woman walking past us, brushed up against my shoulder and stopped walking. The place had been picking up pace and several people had walked back and forth as Tracey and I sat on a main path to the counter, but those people, even the ones that had inadvertently touched us on their journey for more beverages, had only apologized briefly before continuing their journey. This woman stopping and facing us, made me cut off in my conversation and stare up at her.
She was my age, seemingly, with straight, shoulder length hair. She wasn't a drop-dead beauty like Tracey, but she had a certain girl-next-door quality that made men take notice of her, including the male barista that I could see checking her out from the corner of my eye. She was slim and tall, with small features to match her small curves. Her eyes were a grayish blue color and were narrowed in confusion as she looked at me.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, as Tracey finally took notice of her and twisted her head to look. "Did you say...Teren?" I nodded, confused as to what this woman wanted. Her eyes widened and she sputtered on her next sentence. "Teren...Adams?"
My eyes narrowed as someone I didn't know, a female someone I didn't know, mentioned my husband's full name. "Yes," I said slowly, curiosity nearly killing me.
Her mouth dropped open as her entire posture relaxed. "Oh, wow. There's a name I haven't heard in awhile." Her hand came up to her mouth for a second as she looked between the two of us. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just heard you mention that name, and it's so unusual, I just thought, what are the odds, right?" She shrugged as a bright smile lit her lips. I sort of hated thinking that my husband made anyone else smile like that.
"Yeah, it is...different." Curiosity eating me alive, I finally managed to say, "I'm sorry, who are you?"
The woman shook her head, her face becoming apologetic. "Oh, I'm so sorry, how rude of me." She extended her hand to me and I lightly took it. "Carrie, Carrie Davids." She smiled brightly again, like I should know exactly who she was now. Glancing at the ring on my finger she added, "Are you Teren's wife?"
I smiled that I indeed was. "Yes, Emma Adams." I stressed my new last name, just to make absolutely sure this strange woman knew who I was. "And...how do you know Teren?" I added as casually as I could. Tracey beside me was silent, but when I flicked a glance at her, I could tell her pessimistic mood lately had already labeled this woman standing before me as Teren's side action. I ignored Tracey, focusing on the girl again. Teren wasn't cheating...I was certain of that. Pretty certain, anyway.
She flushed a bit, her hand running through her hair nervously. "Oh gosh, I'm just being all sorts of rude today, aren't I? Sorry, you just caught me by surprise with that name. I mean, I never expected to hear that name here, of all places." She shook her head. "The odds, really?" I threw on a barely contained smile, since she still hadn't answered my question and noticing, she quickly said, "High school. We went to school together in Virginia."
I immediately relaxed as the relationship to my husband became apparent. Tracey beside me snorted, clearly she didn't buy that, but I still ignored her. Brightening, I threw on a genuine smile. "Oh, I've never met anyone who grew up with him. It's nice to meet someone from his past." A part of me was a little surprised this girl even remembered who he was. Didn't they say that most people would only vaguely remember him? She'd picked up on him by only his first name.
The woman smiled at me, her face clearly rewinding back into that past. "Yeah, we had some great times. You're very lucky...he's a great guy." She said that last part wistfully and that tension came back to me. Just how had she known my husband? Before I could ask, she added, "Do you live around here?" She looked around like Teren might be here too. I mentally smiled that he was visiting his family at the ranch. Bringing her eyes back to me, she said, "Do you think we could all get together while I'm in town?"
Relief flooded through me that she didn't live here. Sighing with a fake reluctance, I said, "I'm not sure. He's very busy with his work."
She brightened at that. "Oh, did he become a writer? He was so brilliant in school."
My smile left me that she knew him so well. "Um...yes. He writes for a magazine here." Not knowing how I felt about meeting this woman, I slapped on a friendly smile, my hand automatically going to my stomach, as yet another child knocked me from the inside. "Well, I'll be sure to tell him you say hello." You can be sure of that. I had many questions for that boy.
She didn't react to my clear dismissal. Instead her eyes went to my stomach and I swear her face paled. "Are you...is that...?" She looked up at me, her eyes unnecessarily moist. "Are you expecting ...Teren's child?"
My brows furrowed at the look on her face. I couldn't even speak. Luckily, or unluckily, Tracey answered for me. "Yep. He knocked her up good...twins. Right around the time they got married." She stressed married, like she was trying to warn away this could-be home wrecker.