Oh God!
Those were the first words that escaped from Hera's lips, followed by a tiny gasp as she stared at the test strip in her hands, which had visible bold red lines on it. Mariam had bought it for her and had shown her what to do and how to use it. She had wished that what Mariam had told her before was not true, but here it was in her hands in plain red.
She was pregnant. She was carrying Bryce's child.
She couldn't help the tears that clouded her vision before dropping off her cheeks like twin rivers. What would she do now? How does she explain this to him? What would he even say about this?
"Hera, are you okay in there, my child?" Mariam's voice came from outside the door. The more she called out to her, the more she couldn't stop the tears from falling. Bryce would hate her.
"Please come out, Hera, so that we can figure something out," the older woman pleaded desperately when she heard the subdued sniffs and hiccups that came from inside the bathroom. She didn't need a soothsayer to tell her that the test was positive. She had known all along. The only reason why she asked her to do it was because she wanted her to be sure of it.
She doubted that the sisters at the convent would have educated her on all of these. They might've told her about pregnancy and the rest, but she wasn't sure that they went this far; otherwise, she would've known.
Hera discarded the strip carefully and sluggishly walked out of the bathroom with her shoulders slouched. Her eyes were red from crying too much. Mariam could tell that she was stressed out and didn't know exactly what to say to her to calm her down.