There Will Be Blood

44. The End of Madeleine Fell

Maddie's POV

I stayed hunched over the toilet in the bathroom. This had become my home for the past couple of hours, and it actually wasn't because of the pregnancy. My stomach was more unsettled because of nerves. Well, I'm sure it was a mixture of both, but my worries were outweighing my hormones.

Justin had been gone since yesterday and was supposed to be back this morning, but he had to stay wherever because of a freak snowstorm. I didn't know where he was and he wouldn't tell me what he was doing. I figured it was something horrible, so I didn't even want to ask.

The more pressing issue was that my seven days were up. Today was the week mark from when I found out that I was pregnant. I gave myself a time limit and I knew what I had to do. Justin was coming home, and he deserved to know. I had tried calling him because I really wanted to say something about the baby. I thought it might be easier over the phone, but that didn't work out as I had planned.

I tried to throw up one more time, but at this point, I had nothing left to expel.

I got up off of the floor and brushed my teeth to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I splashed some water over my face and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like shit, but I hadn't been sleeping well lately; the mix of finals and fear was a good sleep inhibitor. I was scared out of my mind for several reasons.

For one, the father of my child—the man I loved—hated what I was carrying. It wasn't just that Justin didn't like kids; he passionately despised them. He acted like a big kid himself, but I couldn't imagine a person hating a child. If anyone could, though, it was Justin. It didn't matter who they were, either. I had seen him push his little cousins away because they were annoying him or glare at kids on the street because they looked at him funny. How was I supposed to tell him that I was carrying a baby?

Secondly, the school year was over, and I told Freddie that I was staying here for summer classes. When he asked how I was paying for them, I said that I had gotten a small scholarship. That was a complete lie, and I was going to have to go home at some point during the summer—preferably before I started showing. I didn't know what to tell Freddie. I had been so secretive with him over this past year because I was involved in a lot of things I shouldn't. According to him, I was the sweet, innocent girl who was studying her ass off in her dorm. He would soon realize that I not only had a twenty-five-year-old boyfriend but that I was knocked up as well? That was going to be a shocker for sure.

He would start digging into Justin and who he was, even though they had already met. Freddie was going to find out what Justin's real last name was, and it would all go downhill from there. Maybe I didn't even need to tell Justin that we were having a baby because once Freddie found everything out, it wasn't like I would ever see him again anyway. What about Rebecca? Oh God, just kill me now.

I was making a mental list of what needed to be done. I had to tell Justin, get to a doctor soon, and go from there.

How was this supposed to work?

"Just tell him." I tried to pump myself up in the mirror. It wasn't working.

I went downstairs and decided to stress cook. I had to do something to subdue my nerves.

I spent hours in the kitchen, making a couple of pies, and then a pan of macaroni and cheese since I suddenly wanted some. By the time all of that was done, the kitchen smelled like a cooking show, and I was running out of room to put things on the counter.

The doorbell rang and my heart stopped. I calmed down when I realized that Justin wasn't home yet. He would have used his key. I peeked through the peephole and saw Bridget's face on the other side.