Chapter 17: There must be a mistake

Ashley's POV

I closed my eyes trying to give my brain a quick reboot.

No, I had not heard correctly. It was probably just the effects of whatever medication they had given me.

"Pregnant?" Tristan asked for clarification.

"Yes," the doctor answered.

Pregnant? It couldn't be. If someone had told me I had a brain tumour, I would be more likely to believe that.

"She is about three weeks pregnant." The doctor added.

My jaw dropped as I stared at the doctor shocked by his words.

Three weeks? That was around the time of my incident with Tristan, but nothing had happened between us so how could I be pregnant? Did something happen that I somehow don't remember?

"Her blood test results confirmed it, you are pregnant." The doctor reassured us.

I wanted to break into laughter, but the seriousness of this situation hit me.

Was this just a prank? Was Tristan planning something to get back at me? After all, I was the one who started this whole pregnancy lie.

Maybe I was still dreaming.

"And you are sure that it's her results?" Tristan asked.

"What are you suggesting Mr Montenegro? That we don't know how to do our jobs right?" The doctor questioned.

Tristan was silenced. He bowed his head breathing heavily, anxiously running his hands through his hair.

Neither of us said a word as I slowly came to terms with reality.

"I need to breathe," Tristan finally spoke.

He pushed his chair back and stepped out of the room.

He slammed the door, causing me to startle.

His reaction told me that this was just as surprising to him as it was to me.

Maybe he had nothing to do with this.

I sat up straight and then cleared my throat to get the doctor's attention.

"I think you made a mistake. I'm not pregnant," I informed him.

"Sure, you are," he spoke. "I know it might be a bit hard for you to accept but you'll realize that it's nothing but a blessing." He commented.

How could I be pregnant?

Could something have happened between Tristan and me? No, I just fell asleep and woke up the next day. Something had to be wrong.

"I'm going to go and get your discharge papers ready; do you want me to call any of your family members to pick you up?" He asked snapping me out of my thoughts.

"No," I shook my head.

The last thing I needed was to drag my family into this fiasco.

It took nearly an hour before I was finally cleared to leave.

During that hour, I didn't see Tristan. I could already imagine his reaction when he got back. I could already imagine the number of people he was going to accuse me of sleeping with just so he could get out of this.

I couldn't think straight. I felt like someone was secretly filming me as a prank for some reality TV show.

I need to find a way to get home. I only had my phone with me with the rest of my things still probably at the hotel. I just wanted to get home and sleep. Hopefully, I will wake up and someone will tell me this was nothing but a joke.

The door swung open as Tristan walked in.

His usually elegantly styled hair was now messy, his shirt untucked and two of his top buttons open. He looked like they had just given him a death sentence. He really hadn't taken this news lightly. I hadn't expected him to come back.

"I'll drop you off," Tristan offered.

I didn't argue, I didn't have many options for how I would get home.

I gathered the few things I had on me and left the hospital room. Tristan followed behind me as we both dragged our feet.

"Don't forget to get plenty of rest," the doctor reminded me on our way out.

I kept walking, trying to recall every event that had happened in the last three weeks. But nothing would answer why I could be pregnant.

Tristan opened the door to the passenger's seat; I got in without a complaint.

He must have dismissed his driver.

We didn't speak throughout the entire car ride, not even some music to fill the silence.

I noticed just how tense Tristan was. I could see it by the way he clenched onto the steering wheel and how he kept his attention fully on the road, avoiding all eye contact with me.

I would have loved to say some things to comfort him, but I was still very confused about the whole thing.

After half an hour, we were finally in my neighbourhood.

"You can drop me off at the corner." I pointed.

The last thing I needed was for my neighbours to start gossiping. My mom would find out and I would never hear the end of it.

Tristan didn't argue. He pulled the car over to the side of the road. My house was only a few minutes away.

I got out of the car and into the cold. I rubbed my hands together trying to remain warm as I walked to my house.

I noticed his car was still there as I opened the gate to my house.

The door made its usual cracking sound as I walked in.

I heard laughter coming from the kitchen.

I dropped my bag on the sofa as I followed the voices to the kitchen.

Katy, mom, and Ivy were in the kitchen.

Katy sat on the kitchen counter telling some stories while mom and Ivy prepared a salad.

I thought Ivy would be on the late shift, but I guess she decided to take the whole day off.

The room fell silent as I walked in.

Katy leapt off the counter in excitement.

"Ashley, you can never believe what happened to me today." Katy ran toward me.

She stared at me with a grin on my face, waiting for me to guess.

"I got a scholarship," she exclaimed. "I'll be transferring to a private school; I'll even get a personal driver and an allowance, so I don't need to worry about anything at all. They are willing to help me out until college." She continued.

My eyes widened, amazed by her story.

"I don't even know how this happened. I hadn't even applied or anything. They called me to the principal's office and said they wanted to help me out since they were so satisfied with my results. And best of all, I'm the only one in the whole school that was selected." She continued.

"Congratulations!" I responded, matching her excitement.

This was exactly what she needed. She would be able to pursue her dreams and go to college.

"I'm so proud of you my girl," Mom pulled Katy into her arms.

I wanted to be happy for my sister, but my brain kept replaying the doctor's words.

I forced a smile trying to stop myself from overthinking. I was still stuck in my own world.

"Ashley, are you okay? You don't look too well." Mom asked.

"I'm fine, I just had a busy day," I lied. I rubbed my forehead. "Ivy, can I just steal you for a moment?" I asked.

Ivy pushed the salad aside before washing her hands.

She followed me upstairs to my room.

"Don't be too long, dinner is almost ready," Mom yelled after us.

I peeked to see if anyone was in the hallway before closing my door.

I took a deep breath, trying to summon the courage to speak.

"I'm pregnant," I whispered to Ivy.

Ivy looked at me dumbfounded before bursting out into laughter.

I stared at her confused by her reaction.

"This is the funniest thing I've heard." She laughed. Tears were now rolling down her cheeks.

She threw herself on my bed as she continued laughing. "Saint virgin Ashley is pregnant!" She laughed.

She rubbed her stomach in an attempt to rub away the pain from laughing.

I remained silent, watching her like the lunatic she was.

"You can't be serious." Ivy finally stopped laughing. "We were supposed to make him believe it, not for you to start believing in nonsense," she said.

Ivy continued laughing. It was after a few minutes that she finally realized I wasn't joking. She was finally ready to listen.

I explained every detail of everything I could remember, starting with when I fainted.

So many emotions swept across Ivy's face from confusion to excitement to even more confusion.

"Ashely Emily Owens, what did you do?" she asked.

She looked at me with an accusatory look.

"I didn't do anything," I answered.

"So, what, you just magically got pregnant?" she yelled.

She covered her mouth realizing how loudly she had spoken. My mom finding out about this whole thing was the last thing I needed.

What was I supposed to tell her, that I was giving birth to the next baby Jesus?

"There has to be some kind of mistake. I know I'm not pregnant," I answered.

"Doctors don't just walk around telling people they are pregnant. Are you sure that nothing happened between Tristan and you that night? If you don't tell me now, I'll go downstairs and tell your mother everything, that way she can beat it out of you." She warned.

"If I had slept with someone I would remember," I answered.

I sighed.

"The last time you drank, you couldn't remember anything that happened. Did you drink any liquor that night?" she asked.

I felt like I was being interrogated.

"No, I'd never drink at work," I answered.

She paused for a moment. Her eyes widened as if she finally had the answer to the question.

"Is Waylen the father? Maybe you should call him and tell him you are having his baby." She spoke.

I threw my hands up. "What am I supposed to say? We held hands and now I'm having your baby?" I replied sarcastically.

"Okay, okay," Ivy said. "How about first thing tomorrow we go and see another doctor and make sure that you are not pregnant?" she asked.

Finally, some logic.

I nodded.

Hopefully, this was all just a misunderstanding. There was no way possible that I was pregnant.

"We need to get back before your mother gets suspicious." She spoke.

I nodded again.

Ivy and I returned downstairs, and Katy was setting the table while mom spoke on the phone.

"Okay, thank you very much," Mom spoke into the phone. She then hung up.

Mom yelled out in excitement.

"You can never believe what just happened," Mom exclaimed. "I just got a new contract at this well-known bakery. They asked me to start selling my cakes there, and they also asked me to bake cakes for some of their major events. Apparently, someone recommended me." Mom said.

This was great news for the family. It sounded like a really good offer. Things were finally looking up for us. Maybe soon all of our money problems would be over.

Everyone in this family seemed to have their lives in order except me.

Maybe they needed to rub some of their luck on me. Or perhaps this whole thing was just too suspicious. Could so many good things happen in a day? Maybe I was just too used to bad things happening to us that I just couldn't take this as a win.

My phone vibrated. I pulled it out to find a text from Tristan.

'We need to talk,' the message read.

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Please vote and comment down your thoughts.