Sold To The Sheikh: His Indecent Proposal (An Interracial Sheikh Romance Novel) by Holly Rayner

quietly.
     
    “I have been holding it
for twenty minutes,” Mia said, squeezing her thighs together. “Is
there anything we need to talk about before we get this show on the
road?” Dr. Farber laughed.
     
    “Just that if the test
shows you aren’t pregnant, that is not the end of the world,” she
said. The older woman extended a parcel towards Mia. “It’s
basically like the regular old home pregnancy test. Pee in the cup,
dip the applicator, put the cap back on, and wait.” Mia nodded and
snatched up the packet, standing quickly. She turned and walked out
of the room without looking back, hoping to make it to the bathroom
before her knees gave out underneath her. After three failed
attempts at artificial insemination, and two failed cycles of
in-vitro fertilization, Mia was beginning to feel truly
desperate—and truly guilty. Rami’s comments about how little she
spent the money he paid her had touched close to the
bone.
     
    Mia extracted the plastic
cup from the parcel Dr. Farber had given her and locked the
bathroom door. She was by now so experienced at taking pregnancy
tests that she could confidently get through the process without
spilling anything anywhere. And yet, she found herself feeling
awkward as she went through the usual steps, glancing around the
little bathroom at the generic, unthreatening botanical prints on
the walls. Once she had collected enough urine, Mia put the cup
aside and flushed the toilet.
     
    In truth, Mia hadn’t been
spending the money as wildly as she could have because some part of
her thought that if she couldn’t conceive, she’d want to give as
much of the money as possible back to Rami. She knew she would only
feel more and more terrible if she kept failing, and if she quit
altogether, she would at least be able to have the pride of saying
that she had given him some kind of refund.
     
    After cleaning up, Mia
brought the applicator with her out of the bathroom and hurried
back to the doctor’s private office. “It’s been a minute,” Mia said
as she stepped through the door, closing it firmly behind
her.
     
    “Then we’ve got four
more,” Dr. Farber said.
     
    “Oh God, the hardest four
minutes of my life,” Mia said, setting the capped test applicator
down on the tray that the doctor had provided before sinking down
into her chair. Rami reached out and gave her hand a squeeze, and
Mia tried to take comfort from the gesture.
     
    “Don’t hold your breath,
Mia, you’ll pass out,” Dr. Farber said, smiling encouragingly. Mia
mirrored the woman’s smile weakly, glancing around the little
office.
     
    Rami and Dr. Farber
managed to maintain their small talk while the minutes passed, but
Mia couldn’t force herself to participate. She was too wrapped up
in what the test would reveal. Three times now she’d gone into the
sterile room adjacent to Dr. Farber’s office. Three times she had
waited while the catheter containing the embryos was prepared.
Three times she had lain on the table and gone through the
discomfort of the catheter being inserted while the embryos were
implanted inside of her. If none of the embryos had taken this
time, Mia didn’t know if she could keep doing this; whether or not
Rami was okay with continuing to pay.
     
    The doctor’s alarm beeped,
and Mia couldn’t even bring herself to look at the test. Dr. Farber
picked it up, looked at the result and set the test down. “What
does it say?” Rami asked.
     
    “Unfortunately, it’s a
clear negative,” Dr. Farber said gently. Mia’s head fell forward
and she didn’t even try and stop herself. Tears gathered in her
eyes and she let them fall, dropping down to stain her skirt.
“Mia,” Dr. Farber said quietly.
     
    “I’m sorry,” Mia said,
pulling her head back up and sniffing. Dr. Farber extended a box of
Kleenex towards her; Mia snatched two tissues out and wiped her
face, blowing her nose.
     
    “I think it might be time
for you to take a little break, Mia,” the