Piece by Piece

71. New Life

Maxi glanced at the pregnancy test and blinked, hoping that when she opened her eyes again, the result would change.

She couldn't be pregnant again. Kyle was barely one, and her life was in chaos. She had no idea what had happened, where the time had gone after she'd brought the baby home. The only indication of the passage of time was how much Kyle was growing. Despite his rocky start, he was now a happy and healthy baby. Unfortunately, he also appeared to be a spitting image of Davyn, his hair jet black and his eyes settling on the same shade of dark blue.

This caused some malevolent glances from Freider. Even if he did his best to hide his displeasure at how his alleged baby had ended up looking, he slipped fairly often. For the first time, her mother-in-law came to her salvation, cooing over how much the baby looked like Freider's father. Once she saw a photograph, Maxi was shocked to see that Grace was right.

Sirius Grant seemed to have given his entire gene pool to his son, Davyn, who passed it on to the baby she was now struggling to pass off as his brother's. But Freider could not claim anything when the baby looked like his grandfather. Davyn was a forbidden subject of conversation in their house.

Even when more news regarding Snitch Gravel's activity were on the TV from time to time, Freider just switched the channel, and they never mentioned it. He was like a silent ghost, floating in their house.

Unbeknownst to Freider, he also joined them in bed every single time. Even if she'd promised to herself that she would stop, she still thought about Davyn every time Freider so much as touched her. Time didn't help. Being with her husband was becoming harder rather than easier. Freider was also very demanding, so it was hard to dodge and make excuses. Exhaustion worked for a while, as did a medical prohibition, which she'd doubled.

Once Kyle started sleeping through the night, she was out of valid reasons. And as a result, she was now apparently knocked up again. She wanted to scream.

She didn't like being a mother. She was alone and confused and scared most of the time. Her calmest months were while Sophie had helped, but as the baby grew, she'd gone back home, only visiting occasionally. The relationship between her and Freider was civil, but Maxi could feel the tension between them.

"Maybe the test is wrong," she whispered to herself. "I can't be that unlucky." They'd been using protection anyway. Why would she be pregnant?

She didn't want to tell Freider. He'd probably get all excited. She wanted to make sure first, so one afternoon, she left the baby with Grace and headed to the hospital. Doctor Reynolds was on call and agreed to see her even without a prior appointment.

"What seems to be the issue?" he asked once she sat down in his exam room.

"I think I might be pregnant again," she said.

"Oh? Are you late? How long?" he asked once she nodded.

"Two and a half months."

The doctor raised his eyebrows. "Did you take a test?"

"Yes, and it was positive."

"Then I think you can be fairly certain that you are pregnant."

"But I shouldn't be. We're using protection," she whispered.

"I see..." He was now frowning as he pulled his echo machine closer. "Are you on birth control?"

"Um, no. We use... Um, condoms."

"I see..." This time, he sounded even more displeased, and she wasn't sure why. "You know, contraceptive methods sometimes fail, especially if your sexual activity is intense."