The Man of my Dreams by Gladys Quintal Read Free Book Online

at the empty plate and smiling.
    She glanced down at my lunch which she'd just devoured.
    “Nah probably just that time of month," she said, smiling and oblivious. “Let’s get out of here.”
    We went outside into the fresh air to enjoy our last fifteen minutes of freedom. It was another beautiful sunny day, so we decided to soak up some free vitamin D while it lasted. I recalled what Maria had said. When was I due? With all that had been going on, I'd completely lost track of my cycle. She was probably right, though. I'd been feeling tired and I did get a queasy stomach just before getting my period. And I didn’t feel sick now, so it couldn’t be food poisoning. Hopefully I had some tampons in my handbag just in case it decided to come while I was still at work.
     
    I walked inside to a quiet house. It really did seem empty now that my friend was no longer present. I had to figure out how to keep going without him. It would be hard, but I had to do it.
    Coffee and a bath, think about dinner later . I turned the taps to run a bath then put the kettle on. I made my coffee and went back to check the water temperature—perfect. I grabbed the coffee and thought I'd have it in the bath. Multitasking! I climbed in . . . heaven. A good soak is just what I needed after today. I went to take a sip of coffee and my stomach churned. Not again! I really started to feel sick and jumped out of the bath, running to the toilet to once again throw up. This time I felt really ill, literally sitting on the floor retching and hugging the toilet. Great. I really am sick. I wrapped the towel around me and lay down on my bed. I was asleep almost immediately.
    I woke in the morning feeling a little better . . . until I stood up. Immediately I was back to hugging the toilet again. I rang work and told them I had food poisoning or a stomach bug and wouldn’t be in today. Maria rang a little while later.
    “Do you need anything, Hun? It couldn’t be the mac cheese, coz I'm fine. Maybe you should do a pregnancy test?”
    “What? No, I can’t be pregnant! Paul and I always used protection."
    “But what about your mystery man, did you use protection with him?” she said, laughing.
    “Honestly, Hun, you're a nurse. You know that nothing but abstinence is 100%."
    She was right. I'd been tired and vomiting and God knows if my period was overdue or not. Just great, wouldn't that just be my luck? The guy knocks me up and then leaves me because he doesn’t want to have kids. Or maybe . . . ? No! That was crazy! My dark haired man wasn’t real and unless this was a phantom pregnancy, it would have to be Paul’s. That was, if I was pregnant at all.
    The chemist was really busy and I was having trouble finding the home pregnancy tests. I finally grabbed one and took it to the counter. Why did I feel so self-conscious? It wasn’t like I was doing anything wrong, but I felt almost guilty as if everyone was looking at me. God, I was 33, not 15, so why was this such a big deal? No one here even knew me.
    I took the test out of the box and read the instructions. I'd never taken a pregnancy test before. Okay, pee on the end bit, put the cap on . . . and wait. The results should show within three minutes. That was easy enough. The plus sign came up almost immediately. Positive. God what was I going to do now? I couldn’t tell Paul. I'd just gotten over him and he'd made it quite clear he didn’t want children. Could I do this myself? I was scared, but also a little excited. I'd always wanted kids and by a strange twist of fate, I was finally going to be a mother. I put my hand on my stomach.
    “My baby," I whispered. Yes, I could do this.

Chapter 9
    Recurring Dreams
     
    “It was positive. I’m pregnant.
    “Maria stared at me in disbelief.
    “Oh my God, Hun, are you okay? What are you going to do? Have you told Paul?”
    “I'm fine Maria. And no, I'm not going to tell Paul."
    I put my hand on my stomach and smiled.
    “This is my baby. He