The Billionaire's Troublesome Triplets - Holly Rayner Page 0,14

of smallish buildings, each of which contained two to three private apartments. They were all clustered around a lake. Elise thought it was beautiful.

The only problem was that she couldn’t have afforded it on her old salary. Was it likely that she would get a pay increase when she found a new job? She couldn’t be sure, but that seemed like a long shot.

She pulled up her online bank account, intent on checking her savings—she hadn’t spent much money at all over the past month—but as the account appeared on the screen, Elise caught sight of the date.

Her period was late.

How could I have missed that?

Her last period had been the week before she’d left for Rome. She’d even thought about it at the time, relieved that that was one thing she wouldn’t have to deal with on her vacation.

But so much had happened since she’d been back home. She hadn’t been thinking. Really, it was no surprise that she had overlooked something so mundane.

Except—God.

It wasn’t mundane at all.

Because she might be pregnant.

She felt numb. She got to her feet slowly and went out to the living room. Her parents were sitting in their chairs reading novels.

“I’m going out for a minute,” she said.

Her father looked up. “Where? Want me to come with you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Just going to the drugstore.”

“What do you need?” her mother asked. “Maybe I have it.”

Elise felt as if she was going to melt into the floor. “Candy craving,” she muttered. She grabbed her keys and hurried out the door before they could press the issue any further.

Once at the grocery store, she had to actually buy some candy to justify her fib. She tossed a few chocolate bars onto the counter beside the pregnancy test, feeling like a teenager buying condoms for the first time and trying to act nonchalant about it. After she’d made her purchase, she hurried back out to her car and drove home.

She took the test in the upstairs bathroom, where her parents wouldn’t disturb her. As she waited for the results, she paced back and forth in front of the sink, forcing herself not to look. She clutched her phone in her hand as its timer counted down the requisite five minutes.

Five minutes had never seemed so long in all of Elise’s life.

When the phone vibrated in her hand, she turned toward the test stick on the sink. But then she paused.

She had been on autopilot since realizing that her period was late. She had been going through the motions, doing what needed to be done. It hadn’t even occurred to her to examine her feelings about the matter.

Now she did.

What result was she hoping to see?

The obvious answer was negative. After all, her circumstances were hardly ideal. She had no job, no source of income. She didn’t have a home of her own. Her future had never been more uncertain.

And she was alone. Elise had always dreamed of having a child, of starting a family. She had always wanted to become a mother. But in her fantasies, she had always embarked on that journey with a partner by her side.

Having a child alone…it wasn’t something she had ever thought about. It would be difficult, and Elise thought it was likely to be lonely at times too.

But when she thought of stepping forward and seeing a negative test result, she was surprised to find that her heart sank a bit.

Having a child would be the first unequivocally good thing that’s happened to me in a while, she realized.

Yes, it would be challenging. It would likely be the most difficult thing she’d ever do in her life. But it would probably also be the most rewarding.

She braced herself, stepped forward, and looked at the test.

Positive.

Chapter 7

Elise

“I don’t understand,” Marilyn said. “You never told us you’d met a man in Rome.”

“Well, we didn’t plan to see each other again,” Elise said. “It didn’t seem like an important thing to tell.”

“But who is this man?” her father asked. He sounded distraught.

Elise couldn’t blame him. It must have been overwhelming for her parents to hear that their only daughter was pregnant and that the father was a man they would never know. They had done a good job of hearing her out, and Elise knew she had their support. But they also had questions.

Lots, and lots of questions.

“He’s an American,” Elise said. “He lives in Boston. He works for some pharmaceutical company.”

“Are you going to let him know about this?” her mother