ONE NIGHT STAND WITH MY HUSBANDs BROTHER

Tapping her fingers impatiently on the polished mahogany desk with her legs churning out of nervousness, Mackenzie wondered what her fate would be. Would she be lucky this time?

She noticed the clock across the office tick. It’s noon.

Shortly after, the door opened. A man in a lab coat entered with a report in his right hand. Mackenzie stood up with a curious yet worried gaze as she looked up at the doctor with a glazy expression.

"Doctor Paul!"

The doctor nodded in acknowledgment, "I have received your report, Mrs. Axford."

"H-how is it?"

The doctor adjusted his glasses shrewdly with his left hand before proceeding into the room.

"Am I pregnant?"

"Why don't we have a seat and talk more about that, Mrs. Axford?" The doctor suggested calmly.

Now aware of her anxiety, she nodded while trying to control her pounding heart and overactive mind. "Yes, doctor."

They settled down in their appointed seats, Doctor Paul sitting in his chair and Mackenzie sitting across the desk in the chair assigned for patients or visitors.

"So what have you found out, doctor? Am I pregnant?" Mackenzie's hands went to the desk as she leaned forward, looking at the doctor desperately. That was the best she could do to stay calm.

After losing her child the previous year, her husband had been drifting away from her. It was obvious! He no longer looked at her like he used to. If she hadn't told him that she was trying for another child, he would stop coming to bed with her completely!

But these recent days, she found a ray of hope.

Hope.

A throbbing headache and feeling of nausea? Lightheadedness? Many would hate having these symptoms. But for her, it was everything! Mackenzie's hands unconsciously rested on her belly.

A pregnancy.

That was her hope to get back the attention and love of her husband. Just the confirmation of her pregnancy from the doctor after all the symptoms she's had the past couple of weeks. Her relationship with her husband would go back to how it was.

Blissful.

Loving.

Kind.

"I am sorry to inform you that you have tested negative for a pregnancy, Mrs. Afford."

Her only hope was dashed, just like that. "What?!" Mackenzie threw her hands over the desk rigidly as she stood to her feet, looking at the doctor with her eyes glistening with tears. “No way!"

Doctor Paul remained calm. He had been the Axford family's doctor for years. Although Mackenzie was a recent member of the family, he understood that getting pregnant was pertinent to having a place in her husband's life.

"I even had some pregnancy symptoms!" Mackenzie interjected.

Doctor Paul looked at Mackenzie sympathetically as she continued to ramble. "I had a splitting headache. I felt lightheaded and weak whenever I did not eat on time!" She announced still in disbelief.