I’m surprised to hear her even suggest that she could answer Aimee’s questions.
“That’s my job,” I say. Eden pulls back slightly. She places a hand on her hip and looks away. I don’t understand the confusion. I never imagined her talking to Aimee about us, not even with me. In fact, I’d prefer to keep them as far apart as possible. One long weekend together is quite enough flying in the danger zone.
“I wouldn’t talk to Rick without you,” I say, waiting for her to reciprocate. A beat goes by. Then another. “You wouldn’t talk to Aimee without me, right?”
“Are you afraid of her?” Eden asks.
She’s missing the point, but I know the time is not ripe to push my new thinking on her.
“No,” I say.
“Then explain this to me. Because every time we’ve done something risky or blatant, you’re the one who has been saying you want to get caught. Suddenly you’re worried about her finding out?”
“No, but I want to do it right. I don’t need her becoming vindictive or using the girls as pawns.”
Eden considers this and gives the idea some weight. She seems to realize I’m being strategic rather than acting like some lovesick teenager. Unfortunately for her, I’m being strategic about admitting that I’m having second thoughts.
“You know I would never want to harm your family,” she says.
“I do know that. And that includes Aimee.”
“I’ll hold off for now, but we’ve got to get on the same page.”
Eden kisses me, but I’m not feeling it. Something has soured. The confrontation with Margot earlier might have set me on edge more than I’d like to admit. At the first sign of strife, I’m fending off intrusive visions of a sad divorce and a sister-coparent rather than a sister-wife.
“Adam?” As if summoned, Margot’s stage whisper hisses through the dark house. I push Eden away as a reflex. She slips off the stair ledge, but I catch her before she falls.
“I should go see what she wants,” I say, relieved to escape the pressure of Eden’s change of heart.
“Fine,” she says, though I know by her tone that it’s anything but fine. She frowns as I slip away.
MARGOT
After my reading with Rini, I steer Ted upstairs and away from the game room with Rick to tell him the good news.
“She said she sees a birth. In nine or ten months,” I say. I rub my wrist while I tap open the Ava app on my phone. All my data points are normal. “This thing really should tell you when you’re pregnant, not just peak fertility.”
“What? Who?” Ted asks, confused that I’ve launched into a conversation without context. He takes a seat on the bed while I close the app, slide off the gold bangle I wore to dinner, and place it on the desk.
“Rini. She did my reading by the firepit. She basically said I’m pregnant.”
“Wait, I thought you got your period earlier?”
“Remember how I’ve told you that spotting is normal with implantation?”
“Yeah, but you also told me that never happens to you.”
“Well, I’ve never actually experienced implantation before. But it could be next month too. Why are you fighting with me about this? I thought you’d be more excited.”
“I just don’t want you to get your hopes up because of what some witch lady pointed out in the stars.”
And there’s the real issue. When I booked this trip, Ted had focused on the luxury, the golf, and the time to recharge. He didn’t care about the astrologer. But over the weekend he’s grown more agitated with the chaos she’s creating.
“Why won’t you let me have a little hope? Is it hurting anyone?” I cross my arms. “Why do you seem so on edge?”
Ted drops his head into his hands. “I’ve done something terrible. I’ve kept something from you,” he says.
Affair, affair, affair is the drumbeat in my head. Not because I’d ever suspect Ted, but because I’ve already been blindsided by an affair today. I lean against the back of the desk chair for support. I almost stop Ted and say, Whatever it is, I don’t want to know.
“It’s about getting pregnant,” he adds. “I know we’ve both been getting tested and they can’t find anything wrong with either of us. There’s no clear medical reason why we haven’t gotten pregnant.”
“Right,” I say.
“And I know the doctor asked if you’d even been pregnant before, but she didn’t ask me. No one asked me. That’s not an excuse for me not telling you.”
“I’m confused. I said no and that’s right. I would know if I was pregnant before.”
“I’m trying to say that I have.”
“You’ve gotten someone else pregnant?”
My heart sinks when Ted hangs his head and nods.
“How? When?” I ask.
“At Yale. It was almost twenty years ago. I’m sure it has no bearing on what’s happening now.”
“Do you have a child somewhere out there?”
