Belly of the Beast

Chapter 18

Although Vincent made our visit to Buckingham Palace sound like a big deal, it turned out to be a let-down. We sat inside a bunker around the corner from the palace where Vincent spoke with the queen's guard and a gollum named Frances. I should have known the royals were clued-in about gollums. Even Constable Brown was no exception.

I blamed it on fatigue that I didn't want to talk about any of it on the way to the airport, and when we left London at five AM, I spent the next six hours slipping in and out of consciousness. On a bloody airplane, no less. I was damned tired. We arrived in New York at noon, and Sylvie and Colin showed up at our place to share an armload of Thai food.

I expected Sylvie's usual perky self, given that she was enjoying a three-day holiday weekend, but her mood was about as subdued as a sloth in a sleeping drug trial. And Colin wasn't much better. So, while Vincent filled Colin in on the details of our wacky European vacation, I queried Sylvie on the couch.

"Spill it, chicka. I know something's wrong."

Hovering over her carton of yellow curry, Sylvie grimaced. "You don't want me to spill it during lunch, believe me."

"Now you have to spill it or I won't be able to eat." I set down my plastic fork and reclined against Clyde, who had not left my side since we arrived home.

Sylvie glanced at Colin, making sure the boys were fully engaged before she lowered her voice. "I had a miscarriage over the weekend."

"What? Oh, Sylvie." I immediately threw my arms out and grabbed Sylvie around the shoulders, crushing her in a hug. "I thought you and Colin used protection."

"We do, but sometimes we let it ride. I'm not supposed to get pregnant by a gollum, remember?" She shook her head as she pulled away, taking a bite of food to cover her grief.

"How far along were you?"

"Probably six weeks. It basically feels like a heavy period, but with more crying."

I slipped my hand onto her shoulder. "What makes you think you were pregnant and not just having a heavy period?"

"I did the test on Friday...after you left. I didn't want to be tempted to share the results with you. I felt stupid for even thinking I was pregnant. I thought I was having best friend pregnancy syndrome."

"Is that even a thing?"

"I don't know, but the test was positive, and then I really wanted to call you. Colin said we should wait, since you had the hearing and that would just add to your stress. But on Saturday night I started bleeding really bad, so I knew it was a moot point."

"Oh, Sylvie. I'm so sorry. That must have been awful. I hope Colin was decent about it."

"Colin has been great. I think he feels as badly as I do."

I didn't quite know what to say after that, so I decided the less said the better. I just hugged her again and picked up my fork, feeling like a crappy friend for not being there for her.

"It's all right, Reese. I knew what I was getting into." Sylvie caught me up in her sparkly blue eyes, reassuring me she was still alive and kicking under those tears. "My boss's nephew asked me out last week."

"Really? The one who hired you to photograph his wedding in February?"

"No, silly. His brother. I met him at the Waldorf when I was introduced to the wedding party. His name is Ellis. He owns a pharmaceutical lab."

"He owns his own company? How old is he?"

"You can be any age and run a business these days." Sylvie wore the guilty expression I'd come to recognize, but she should have known by now I would never judge her. "He's forty-one, alright."