The Truth About Ever After

by Rachel Schurig

  My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at her. “I love you, Jen.”

  “Love you too, Kiks.”

  I felt a warm hand wrap around mine and looked over to see that Eric had come up beside me. “Ready?” he asked.

  I nodded, feeling shy to have him so close, and followed him out into the hallway.

  “See you tomorrow?” Ginny asked.

  “Of course,” I said. “See you guys then.”

  The girls waved and headed down the hall, leaving Eric and me alone outside of the room.

  “Did you drive?” I asked, unsure of what to talk about.

  “No, I got a taxi from the airport,” he said, giving me a small smile. “Could you give me a lift?”

  “Sure,” I said, smiling back. As we walked down the hall I watched him from the corner of my eye. He really did look terrible. He had two days’ worth of stubble on his face, and his skin had a waxy look to it.

  “Have you been sick?” I asked, unable to help myself. Eric shook his head, but I persisted. “You really don’t look that great.”

  “Thanks,” he said drily. “I missed you too.”

  “Eric, you know that’s not what I meant.”

  He stopped outside of the elevator and turned to face me. “I haven’t been sleeping too great,” he said. “Or eating much.”

  I frowned. “Are they working you that hard?”

  He laughed. “No, Kiki. I haven’t been sleeping or eating because I miss my wife and I’m terrified she won’t forgive me for being such an ass.”

  I stared at him, feeling the strangest mixture of relief and guilt. He had missed me.

  “I missed you, too,” I whispered. “You have no idea how much.”

  Eric closed his eyes briefly, as if in relief. When he opened them I saw that they had darkened with intensity. Suddenly he was kissing me and I was wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him close to me, unable to get enough of the feel of him, solid and real and there with me.

  “I’m so, so sorry,” he whispered against my mouth. “What I said about your family was unforgivable. And not true at all. I love you, Kiki, all of you.”

  I nodded, knowing he was telling the truth.

  Suddenly the elevator opened with a ding. I jumped back from him. I had totally forgotten that we were in the middle of a hospital.

  I grinned at him shyly as he took my hand and we boarded the elevator together. I leaned in to his shoulder as we descended, the motion setting off my dizziness once again.

  “You’ve lost weight,” he said disapprovingly. “Have you been eating?”

  “Not a lot,” I admitted. “Turns out I missed my husband as much as he missed me.”

  Eric wrapped his arm around me as the elevator reached the ground floor, leading me out into the main lobby. Suddenly, the dizziness swooped back in, nearly knocking me over this time. I clutched Eric as he gasped.

  “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, trying to make the word right itself. “I’ve been having weird dizzy spells,” I said, clutching his arm tighter. “I thought it was from not eating enough, but they keep happening.”

  “We’re going to have someone look at you,” he said firmly.

  “Eric, no, it’s no big—”

  But he was already pulling me across the lobby to the intake desk. He had me explain what was happening to a very nice nurse. “Why don’t I get you a wheelchair?” she said. “And we can zip you over to emergency to have a look.”

  “Oh, I’m sure that’s not necessary,” I said. “I don’t need the ER. I can just call my doctor tomorrow.” I let go of Eric’s arm so I could stand up straight.

  It was a big mistake. No sooner had I moved away from him did I feel the room start to spin again, much worse this time. Before I could do a thing to stop it, the floor was rising up to meet my face.

  Chapter Thirty

  When I came to, the first thing I saw was Eric staring down at me, a stricken look on his face.

  “Don’t you ever do that to me again, Kiki Barker.”

  “Thompson,” I whispered. I still felt woozy and my head was now pounding. “What’s going on?”

  “You passed out in the lobby,” he said, still looking terrified. “So they brought you down to emergency to run some tests.”

  “Wow,” I said, shocked. I had never full-out fainted in my life. “Why does my head hurt so bad?”

  “Uh, you hit it.” He looked uncomfortable. “When you fell, I tried to catch you, but I lost my balance and you kind of pulled me down. You hit your head on the floor.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Real smooth.”

  “It was not my finest moment as a gentleman,” he said, his voice solemn.

  “So what do they think it wrong with me?” I asked.

  Eric shook his head. “No idea. They took some blood to run tests. They wanted to see what was up before they ran an IV.”

  I shuddered. I hated needles and had felt rather relieved that I was out of it when they took my blood.

  “Kiki,” Eric said seriously. “You have to take better care of yourself, okay? I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

  “You’re one to talk,” I teased. “Weren’t you the one that was telling me you weren’t eating or sleeping?”

  “Kiki, I mean it,” he said. “You have to promise me that you’ll take care of yourself.”

  “Okay,” I said, squeezing his hand. “But you promise, too.”

  “Okay.”

  A very young-looking man came in a few minutes later, introducing himself as Dr. Kelley. “Mrs. Thompson, there are a few things in your blood work that I want to talk to you about.” He looked over at Eric briefly. “Would you like some privacy while we talk?”

  “No,” I said, feeling nervous. What did he want to tell me? “This is my husband; I’d like him to stay.”

  The doctor nodded and pulled a chair over to the side of my bed. “Well, first of all, it appears that you may be anemic. Is that something you’ve ever been told before?” I shook my head, not a hundred percent sure what anemic meant. “Well, we’d have to do more tests to know for sure. It’s possible that the anemia is a symptom of something else. Mrs. Thompson, are you aware that you’re pregnant?”

  I stared at the doctor in shock. Had he just said what I thought he said? I looked at Eric, who appeared to be frozen in place beside me.

  “I’m going to take that as a no,” Dr. Kelley said, smiling. “It’s not always easy to tell, but from the look of your hormone levels, I’d guess you’re at least three months along.”

  Three months? Three months? How on earth was that possible? How could I have missed the signs for three entire months? Eric was now squeezing my hand so hard it hurt.

  “Wow,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.

  “I’d like to get you on an IV to replenish some of your electrolytes,” he said. “Your levels are dangerously low right now, and that’s not good for you or the baby.”

  The baby. Oh, my God. The baby!

  “If you’d like, we can take you up to OB/GYN to do a sonogram when we’re finished, so that we can make sure everything is looking okay. You’ll still want to make an appointment with your doctor as soon as you can.”

  It occurred to me that I had barely said a word since he started taking. “Um, okay,” I said, my voice shaking.

  He smiled at me. “This is quite a surprise, huh?” He stood and patted my shoulder. “I’ll send the nurse in to start your IV.”

  Eric remained frozen beside me, not saying a word. The nurse had finished her work before he finally spoke.

  “Did he… did he say that you’re pregnant?”

  I nodded. I had no idea how to respond to this. All I had wanted for the last year was a baby, and now I was actually pregnant. I should be jumping for joy. But after everything that had happened, was this really the right time for me to have a baby?

  Suddenly, Eric was laughing. “Kiki, we’re having a baby!”r />
  I looked at him, watched as he laughed happily, grabbing my hand to kiss it over and over again. Slowly it dawned on him that he was alone in his celebrating.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you not happy about this?”

  I struggled to find the right words. “I’m scared,” I finally said.

  “Scared of what?”

  “Scared we’ll mess it up,” I whispered. “Look at what happened this year. We hit rough waters and we both completely fall apart.”

  “Kiki—”

  “No, Eric, listen to me. We’re supposed to support each other through our problems, and instead we totally retreated. I was too caught up in my stuff to see that you were unhappy and you were so unhappy you started blaming me for stuff. What kind of atmosphere is that to raise a baby in?”

  “Kiki, we messed up, I know that. But we can learn from that. Just because it happened once doesn’t mean it will happen again.”

  I looked at him doubtfully. “You moved to Chicago, Eric. And we pretty much stopped talking. That’s not some little mess-up.”

  “I know that, Kiki. But being away from you made me realize how much I needed you. You’re my family, my everything. I cannot be without you, I just can’t. The thought of having a child with you…” I was shocked to see tears fill his eyes. “Kiki, I want that so, so much.”

  “You do?” I whispered.

  “Of course I do,” he said, kissing me. “God, why do you think I’ve been so miserable since we lost the baby? I love you, Kiki. I want us to have a family.”

  Choose to be happy, I thought to myself, remembering my mother’s words. Choose it every day.

  “You’re right,” I whispered, not sure if I was talking to my mother or my husband. They were both right. “We’re having a baby,” I said, louder now. Excitement was starting to build inside me, washing away the fear and the doubt. I looked up at Eric, and I was sure the joy in my face matched the joy reflected back at me.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Jen had asked me once when it was that I knew I was in love with Eric. I told her it was the first time we kissed, which was kind of true, but not quite. The truth was, I knew long before that. I didn’t want to tell Jen about it, because I actually fell in love with Eric on a night that I didn’t really like to think about.

  My sorority house was hosting a party, the annual White-and-Black Ball. It was a really big deal, the most important social event we organized all year. I remember that I was feeling annoyed about the entire thing because I didn’t have a date. I had only just been dumped the week before. Andrew, the longest relationship I’d had in my college career, had broken up with me after four months. He’d been very vague on his reasoning and I couldn’t help but believe he must not have cared about me enough, once he got to know me. It was a depressing thought.

  Kara, also dateless, convinced me that we needed to make the most out of the party. “There’s going to be a ton of guys there,” she had told me. “And they’ll actually be looking good, since there’s a dress code. None of this scruffy, baggy jeans, dirty shirt crap that they think passes for fashion.” She rolled her eyes.

  So Kara and I had planned a major day of shopping and primping. We had our hair colored and blown out, nails done, legs waxed—the works. Then we spent a few hours at the mall, trolling all the stores for the best-looking white or black dresses we could find. I wasn’t super excited about the color restriction; in general I thought that white washed me out, and I made it a practice to never wear black—too depressing. I was a girl who loved color. But I got lucky about an hour after Kara had found her own little black dress.

  “Ooh, Kiks, you have to get that one,” Kara said when I stepped out of the dressing room at Macy’s. “You look amazing!”

  I looked down at the dress, a very simple white strapless shift, made out of the softest bleached suede I had ever touched. It felt like heaven on, and I was shocked to see that it looked pretty good, hugging my curves and contrasting nicely with the remains of my spring break tan.

  “You’re sure it’s not too slutty?” I asked. It was a little tight. Kara just scoffed, and I walked away from the store two hundred bucks poorer, with the dress carefully wrapped in a bag.

  Later that night, as Kara and I mingled, I felt my spirits lift. I had always loved a good party, and the sorority house was filled to the brim with guests. Everywhere I looked, people were dancing and having fun. It wasn’t your typical college kegger party, which was a nice change.

  “Hey, isn’t that that one cute guy?” Kara hissed in my ear.

  “That’s real specific, Kar,” I said, laughing.

  “Oh, you know. Matt Thompson’s brother. He came out with us that one time, right?”

  I spun in the direction she was looking. Sure enough, Eric Thompson was standing across the room, looking breathtakingly good in a black suit. He had opted for no tie, and his black button-up was undone at the neck, showing a few inches of tanned skin beneath. I felt my heart rate kick up a notch. What on earth was he doing here?

  Across the room, Eric caught my eye and waved, a smile breaking across his face. I groaned. “I guess I have to go talk to him,” I muttered. “See ya.”

  I made my way across the room, cursing Eric for looking so good. What right did he have to show up at my sorority, dressed all in black and looking like a total sex god?

  “Kiki,” he said warmly. “It’s good to see you.”

  I immediately felt taken aback. Since when was Eric Thompson polite to me? Granted, I hadn’t seen him since that night we had gone out drinking with his brother and ended up eating pancakes at four in the morning, but I had thought he was too far gone to even remember that.

  “You too,” I said, trying to ignore the way his eyes seemed to be flicking across my face and down my dress, as if he were taking me in. It made me feel all fluttery and uncomfortable. “I’m surprised to see you here,” I said, trying to control my body’s reaction to him. Why was my heart still beating so fast?

  “Why?”

  “Well, I didn’t really think sorority parties were your thing.” I know my voice sounded sarcastic, but I couldn’t help it. I could still feel the sting of his words that night he had talked about me in the restaurant.

  But Eric merely laughed. “They usually aren’t,” he said, meeting my eyes. “But I heard this one was going to be good.”

  Something about the intensity in his eyes made my stomach flip, and I looked away before I lost my head. What I saw made my heart drop.

  Andrew was here. He had just walked in with a group of friends, all dressed in white suits. Tacky, I thought meanly, then promptly felt bad. Surely I could be the bigger person here, right?

  “The truth is, I kinda had to finagle an invite,” Eric was saying, but I barely heard him. All I could think about was Andrew.

  “Excuse me,” I said suddenly, cutting Eric off. “I’m sorry, I see an old friend I have to say hi to.”

  His face seemed to drop, and I felt a flash of guilt. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  I pushed past Eric and headed over to where Andrew stood, drinking a beer from a real glass (no red plastic at this party).

  “Hi,” I breathed, feeling very nervous. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  Andrew blinked rapidly, clearly uncomfortable. “Uh, hey, Kiki,” he said, not meeting my eyes.

  “How are you?” I asked, wondering what was wrong with him. He was the one that had dumped me, for God’s sake; what right did he have to be so awkward?

  “Fine, fine,” he said, looking anywhere but at me. When he didn’t say anything else, I felt my temper rise.

  “Look, things don’t have to be weird between us, right? Can’t we be friends?”

  He looked down at me, his eyes suddenly flashing. “Friends, huh? Friends, that’s nice. You know, I would think that friends would tell each other stuff, you know? And not put them at risk.”

  I stared at him. “What in the hell are you talking
about?”

  His mouth turned up into a sneer. “Like you don’t know,” he said. “Well, I do know, okay? Someone told me. And I don’t appreciate it, not at all.” And with that he stomped off, leaving me feeling confused and strangely scared. What was that all about? As I turned to find Kara, I caught sight of Eric again, standing on the other side of the room, watching me.

  ***

  “I have news, and you’re not gonna like it much,” Kara said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the laundry room. It was about an hour after my encounter with Andrew and I still had no idea what his problem was. Furthermore, I was starting to notice that other people at the party were looking at me, some even pointing and laughing.

  “What?” I asked, feeling nervous. Somehow I just knew that these things were connected.

  “Apparently someone told Andrew that you… that you have…” Kara looked embarrassed.

  “Kara, tell me!”

  “Someone told Andrew that you have chlamydia.”

  I felt the color drain from my face. “Oh, my God,” I whispered. “No wonder he was so weird.” I gasped. “Wait, was this before or after he dumped me?” She didn’t answer, but her face told me everything I needed to know. “That’s why, isn’t it? He dumped me because he thought I had an STD.”

  Kara just looked at me, clearly miserable.

  “Any idea who it might have been?”

  When she still didn’t say anything, the pieces fit together. I should have known Sarah was involved the second Kar opened her mouth. I turned on my heel and Kara grabbed my arm.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to ask her what the hell her problem is!” Kara gasped, and I gave her a withering look. “Come on, Kara. We’re not thirteen anymore. We don’t need to be afraid of her.”

  Kara didn’t say anything, but she did follow me out of the laundry room. I found Sarah in the kitchen, pouring champagne with Beth. “Sarah? Can I talk to you?”

  She turned to face me, gracing me with her bright, beautiful smile. “Kiki, you look totally hot tonight!”

  I was pretty sure Beth snorted quietly, but I ignored her. I had bigger fish to fry.