Rouge Read Online Free PDF

smile,
something he’d become rather good at lately. “You’re probably just… I dunno , stressed out. It’s nothing Liz.”
    She blinked hurriedly. “What
do you mean, nothing? Joshua, I’m late . I’ve been getting major
heat flushes and yesterday morning I threw up.”
    “You threw up? Why didn’t
you tell me?”
    “You were out, I forgot.
But… after talking to Mark I got to thinking. Leo and I… we didn’t use
protection that night.”
    Joshua felt sick. This was
all happening way too fast and way too soon. Thoughts of the drug and of moving
to Cuba were suddenly way out of his mind. What occupied it now was the anxious
expression on Liz’s face. She was lost, again, and he had to be there for her.
    So he did something that he
never felt comfortable with, but longed to do all the same. He reached forward
and cupped her face between his large hands.
    “It’s going to be okay,
Lizzie. We’ll take a test tomorrow and find out if it’s true. If it’s not, then
great. Problem solved. But if you are pregnant with Leo’s baby, then there’ll
still be a part of him in our lives. It will be a blessing.”
    Liz’s eyes welled with
tears. “You’re right. Thank you Joshua,” she smiled. It was a wide smile that
sparkled, one he hadn’t seen in what felt like a lifetime. “But I… I want to
take it now. I can’t sleep worrying about it.”
    “I don’t have a-”
    “I do.” She pulled from in
her pocket a little white stick.
    Joshua’s heart began to
thud. “Okay. Use my bathroom.”
    Liz nodded, pursing her lips
together as she ran into the ensuite. Moments later, after he sat there
listening awkwardly and tapping his fingers on his knees, she returned with the
stick.
    “Is it dripping?” he asked,
holding out his hands and pushing her away.
    Liz laughed loudly. It was
like chiming bells. “Relax, it’s not dripping. It takes thirty seconds to set.”
    She sat beside him again and
suddenly her face fell.
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I always imagined that in this
moment… I’d be sitting here with Leo waiting for the results.”
    Joshua tried not to look at
the stick as she spoke, unsure of what he wanted. He hadn’t had nearly enough
time to figure that out.
    “Whatever happens,” he
whispered. “You know I’ll be here for you.”
    Liz sniffed, twirling the
stick between her fingers. Her thin features shivered beside him on the bed and
he burned with the desire to tuck her red curls behind her ears, to hold her. But
she still belonged to Leo. And a part of him knew she always would.
    “And…” he continued with a
thick lump in his throat, “I think that Cuba will be the perfect place to raise
a baby, away from all the crazy city people and in the fresh air. I actually
preferred it when-”
    “Joshua.”
    He turned back to Liz and
looked past the immaculate grin on her face to the frightening white stick and
the little pink plus sign on the screen. A plus.
    “I’m pregnant,” she
breathed.

 
 
three

 
 
    Hurling herself over the toilet bowl,
Liz opened her mouth and began the morning ritual: vomiting. Despite the fact
that they were miles from any sort of civilization, she still felt as though
she were on display for the world to see every time her breakfast decided to
take the return journey.
    “Liz?”
    Joshua was calling her from
his bedroom down the hall. The shack creaked whenever anyone took a step on the
wooden floors, so she could hear him coming toward her.
    “I’m fine, okay!” She swung
the door shut and wiped her mouth.
    Joshua knocked. “Are you
sure?”
    “Yes, alright? Leave me
alone!”
    “Hey, I know pregnancy gives
you mood swings or whatever, but I’m just trying to help!” He stomped back into
the kitchen area, muttering to himself.
    After moving, their days had
been a lot like this. Liz hated being pregnant, especially in this dodgy shack,
half an hour away from any kind of general store or medical center. Joshua
insisted it was best for