Chapter Twelve - The Test
1427 Words
Morning came too quickly.
Amara had spent most of the night awake.
She watched the darkness slowly disappear from the bedroom windows as Paris woke beneath a pale gray sky.
Beside her, Damian slept.
His breathing was slow and even.
He looked peaceful.
Amara hated that.
She wanted him to look as broken as she felt.
Instead, he looked like the man she had loved from the beginning.
The man who had once made her believe that nothing could come between them.
She turned away.
Her hand settled over her stomach.
The baby was still there.
Quiet.
Unaware of everything happening around it.
Amara whispered, "I'm going to protect you."
She didn't know exactly what she meant.
Maybe she was promising to protect the baby from Damian.
Maybe she was promising to protect the baby from herself.
Maybe she was simply trying to convince herself that she still had control over something.
Behind her, Damian moved.
"Amara?"
She didn't answer.
He opened his eyes.
"What time is it?"
"Seven."
He slowly sat up.
Then he looked at her.
His expression changed immediately.
He remembered.
The alcohol.
Elena.
The messages.
Everything.
"Amara."
She finally turned.
"Do you remember what you said last night?"
He looked down.
"Yes."
"Do you remember what I asked?"
"Yes."
"And?"
Damian rubbed his face.
"I don't love Elena."
Amara stared at him.
"That's not what I asked."
"I know."
"Then answer the question."
He looked at her.
"I don't know."
Her heart dropped.
"You don't know."
"I don't know what I feel when she contacts me."
"But you know you love me?"
"Yes."
"How?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Because I know."
"That's not an answer."
"It is to me."
She got out of bed.
"I need space."
"Amara."
"I need space, Damian."
He didn't stop her.
---
The doctor was scheduled for the afternoon.
Neither of them spoke much during breakfast.
Damian drank coffee.
Amara drank water.
Every sound seemed louder than it should have been.
Finally, Damian broke the silence.
"I shouldn't have spoken to her like that."
Amara looked up.
"No."
"I shouldn't have hidden it."
"No."
"I wasn't having an affair."
"I don't know what you were having."
He looked at her.
"Amara."
"I'm telling you how it feels."
His expression softened.
"I know."
She looked away.
"Do you?"
He didn't answer.
A few minutes later, Damian stood.
"We should leave."
Amara nodded.
---
The clinic was in a quiet part of Paris.
It was discreet.
Private.
The kind of place Damian preferred.
Amara sat beside him in the waiting room.
Their hands weren't touching.
She stared at the floor.
Damian looked at her.
"You don't have to do this today."
She turned toward him.
"Yes, I do."
"We can wait."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I can't keep living with the question."
Damian swallowed.
"Neither can I."
She looked at him.
"That's the difference between us."
"What?"
"You created the question."
His expression tightened.
"And you created the reason."
The words hung between them.
Amara looked away.
Neither apologized.
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
"Mr. Vale?"
Damian stood.
Then looked at Amara.
She stood too.
They followed the nurse down the hallway.
---
The procedure was quieter than Amara expected.
There were no dramatic moments.
No shouting.
No tears.
Just forms.
Questions.
Samples.
Signatures.
Reality.
At one point, the nurse explained what would happen next.
"The results will take some time," she said. "Once they're available, the doctor will contact you."
Damian nodded.
Amara barely spoke.
When they left the clinic, the afternoon rain had begun.
Damian opened an umbrella.
Amara stepped beneath it.
They walked beside each other.
Not touching.
After a few minutes, Damian said, "I'm sorry."
She kept walking.
"I know that doesn't fix it."
"No."
"I wish I could take back asking."
"You can't."
"I know."
She stopped.
Damian stopped too.
Rain fell around them.
"Why did you really ask?"
He looked at her.
"I told you."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You told me what happened. Not why."
His expression changed.
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of being wrong again."
Amara's eyes filled with tears.
"Wrong about me?"
"Wrong about us."
She looked away.
Damian continued.
"When you cheated, I thought I knew you. I thought I understood what we were. Then everything I believed changed in one night."
He took a breath.
"When you told me you were pregnant, I was happy."
"I know."
"For about ten minutes."
Her eyes closed.
"Then I remembered everything."
He stepped closer.
"And I hated myself for remembering."
Amara looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to trust you."
His voice broke slightly.
"I wanted to believe that this was our second chance."
"And instead you thought I might be carrying someone else's baby."
"Yes."
She looked down.
"That hurt."
"I know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because I do."
He reached for her hand.
This time, she allowed him to take it.
"I don't want you to be afraid of me," he said.
"I'm not."
"You're afraid I'll leave."
She hesitated.
"Maybe."
Damian squeezed her hand.
"I'm not leaving."
She looked into his eyes.
"Then why does it feel like you're already somewhere else?"
He knew exactly what she meant.
"Elena."
Amara nodded.
Damian looked away.
"I'll end the conversations."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"You don't have to do that because I asked."
"I'm doing it because I choose you."
She wanted to believe him.
She desperately wanted to.
But part of her wondered whether people could choose one person while still longing for another.
---
That evening, Damian kept his promise.
Amara watched from the kitchen doorway as he stood by the window with his phone.
He typed something.
Then waited.
His phone rang.
He answered.
"Elena."
Amara couldn't hear the other side.
Damian's voice remained calm.
"No."
A pause.
"I shouldn't have continued talking to you."
Another pause.
"Yes, I'm serious."
His eyes briefly met Amara's.
"I love my wife."
Amara froze.
Wife.
They weren't married.
But he had called her that.
Damian continued.
"Whatever happened between us is over."
Another pause.
"No. Don't call me again."
He ended the call.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Damian put the phone down.
Amara's eyes filled with tears.
"Why did you call me your wife?"
He walked toward her.
"Because that's how I think of you."
She looked at him.
"Then why have I never felt less like your wife?"
His expression fell.
He didn't have an answer.
---
The days that followed were strange.
Damian became more attentive.
Almost too attentive.
He came home earlier.
He stopped drinking.
He checked on Amara constantly.
He made sure she ate.
He accompanied her to appointments.
He bought books about pregnancy.
One evening, she found him reading one in bed.
She smiled despite herself.
"You're actually reading that?"
He looked up.
"I'm trying."
"You skipped half the chapter."
"I was tired."
She laughed.
It was small.
But real.
Damian smiled.
"I missed that."
"What?"
"Making you laugh."
She moved closer.
"Then do it more."
He wrapped an arm around her.
"I will."
For several days, it almost felt as though the Elena incident had disappeared.
Almost.
Then, one Tuesday morning, Damian's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
Amara noticed.
"Who is it?"
He hesitated.
"The doctor."
Her stomach dropped.
The room suddenly felt too quiet.
Damian answered.
"Hello?"
He listened.
His expression became unreadable.
Amara couldn't breathe.
She watched his eyes.
Watched his mouth.
Watched the hand holding the phone tighten.
Finally, Damian said:
"Yes."
Another pause.
"I understand."
He ended the call.
Amara stood.
"Damian?"
He looked at her.
She couldn't read his expression.
"What did they say?"
He didn't answer immediately.
And in that silence, Amara felt every fear she'd been carrying return at once.
The cheating.
The suspicion.
Elena.
The pregnancy.
The question of whether their love had survived everything they'd done to each other.
"Damian?"
He walked toward her.
"It's here."
Amara's heart pounded.
"The result?"
He nodded.
She looked at him.
"Is the baby yours?"
Damian reached for her hand.
His fingers were cold.
"Yes."
Amara's eyes filled instantly.
He pulled her into his arms.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
She cried against his chest.
Not because she was happy.
Not entirely.
She was relieved.
Angry.
Heartbroken.
Loved.
And somehow still afraid.
Damian held her tighter.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Amara closed her eyes.
The test had answered one question.
But it hadn't answered the one that mattered most.
Could they still become the family they had once imagined?
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