Embittered Ruby by Nicole O'Dell

them would wake up to find the fire fizzled to embers and lead the other to bed. So grown up. So happy. Family.

Chapter 10
    T hey expected her to do
what
on that stick? Eww. What if she got some on her hands? Carmen pinched the pregnancy test between her fingers, her gaze traveling from the cotton end to the toilet seat. She tipped the box over and shook it. Were there gloves in there somewhere? Nothing. It was her, the stick, and the toilet.
    Well, the test wasn’t going to take itself. She placed the plastic end between her teeth while she shimmied her jeans to a heap on the floor. Now or never.
    Okay. Now what? Three minutes until she could read an accurate result. Carmen capped the end, put the test down on the sink, and perched on the edge of the cold porcelain tub, which she’d yet to use in the five weeks they’d lived there, preferring the shower down the hall. She set an alarm on her new iPhone to go off in three minutes. Carmen didn’t want to stare at the stick and watch for the digital display to read P REGNANT or N OT P REGNANT . She just wanted one big reveal after the allotted three minutes had passed. But, as with all important things, the waiting was the hardest part. Three minutes stretched in front of her and blended into eternity.
    Carmen hoped she was pregnant…didn’t she? Hadn’t a baby been the goal? Then why was she shaking? So much rested on Nate’s reaction to the news. If he didn’t man up, Carmen’s whole plan would backfire, and she’d be left to handle it on her own. Then what would she do? Did they still make those teen mom TV shows? She could get on one of those. The McConnells would want to crawl into a hole. It would almost be worth it just to hear Hillary’s reaction.
    Was it too late to back out? Carmen tapped her foot and bit her nail. Hadn’t three minutes passed yet? Didn’t they make those morning-after pills for people who forgot to use protection the night before? What about two-week-after pills? No, even she knew she’d passed the time for measures like that.
    If she truly was pregnant, she had only a few options. Have it or don’t. Easy choice between those. She drew the line well before abortion. Ideally, she’d marry Nate and have the baby. If only it were solely her choice to make. She couldn’t force him, and the fact Carmen could end up doing it alone remained a viable possibility. She probably should have thought all the possibilities through before the three-minute clock of doom started ticktocking its way into her future. As though it were the clock’s fault. It had to be someone’s fault—anyone’s but hers.
    She didn’t feel pregnant. If she truly were, wouldn’t she be throwing up or something? Then again, she kind of had been constantly nauseous the past couple of weeks And she was definitely late…and she was never late.
    BUZZ
.
    The cell phone vibrated as the alarm sounded its annoyance. Carmen clutched it as she turned it off. Too bad someone else wasn’t there who could look at the results for her. Did it really matter though? She knew what the test would show. But once she confirmed it, there was no going back…ever. She’d be changed for the rest of her life. No matter the outcome. Nate could slough it off. He could walk away. But she couldn’t run from this one.
    Cheeks puffed as she exhaled, Carmen reached across the countertop, her bangles clinking on the gold-flecked laminate, and picked up the test with a tissue. She turned it over slowly and closed her eyes for a brief moment before looking.
    The tiny window with its plastic shield had so much power. It revealed the fruition of the dreams of countless couples every day, and it dashed the hopes of countless others. In that tiny space the answer to one of life’s biggest questions lay immutable, unchangeable. Once Carmen read the results, she couldn’t ever be restored to her prior self. She would be changed with the truth, or rather, with the knowledge of the truth.
    Suspended