The Pagan Stone Page 0,99

God's sake. As if we're going to say sure, one of us falls on the damn grenade while the rest of us stand back and twiddle our thumbs."

"We weren't twiddling," Cybil said quietly. "Believe me. It was horrible, Q. Horrible. The noise, the smoke, the stink. And the cold. It was everything, this thing. It was mammoth. No evil little boy or big, bad dog."

"But we fought it. We hurt it." Layla closed a hand around Cybil's arm. "If we hurt it enough, we'll weaken it. If we weaken it enough, it can't kill Gage."

"I don't know." She thought of what she'd seen, and of her own research. "I wish I did."

"Possibilities, Cyb. Remember that. What you see can be changed, has been changed because you see it."

"Some of it. We need to go upstairs. We need one of your spare pregnancy tests."

"Oh, but I took three." Distressed, Quinn pressed a hand to her belly. "And I even felt queasy this morning, and-"

"It's not for you. It's for Layla."

"Me? What? Why? I'm not pregnant. My period's not even due until-"

"I know when it's due," Cybil interrupted. "We're three women who've been living in the same house for months. Our cycles are on the same schedule."

"I'm on birth control."

"So was I," Quinn said thoughtfully. "But that doesn't explain why you think Layla's pregnant."

"So pee on a stick." Cybil rose, gave the come-ahead sign. "It's easy."

"Fine, fine, if it makes you feel better. But I'm not pregnant. I'd know. I'd sense it, wouldn't I?"

"It's harder to see ourselves." Cybil led the way upstairs, strolled into Quinn's room, sat on the bed while Quinn opened a drawer.

"Take your pick." She held out two boxes.

"It doesn't matter because it doesn't matter." Layla took one at random.

"Go pee," Cybil told her. "We'll wait."

When Layla went into the bathroom, Quinn turned to Cybil. "You want to tell me why she's in there peeing on a stick?"

"Let's just wait."

Moments later Layla came back with the test stick. "There, done. And no plus sign."

"It's been about thirty seconds since you flushed," Quinn pointed out.

"Thirty seconds, thirty minutes. I can't be pregnant. I'm getting married in February. I don't even have the ring yet. After February, and if we buy this house we're thinking about, and I decorate it, after my business is up and running smoothly, then I can be pregnant. Next February-our first anniversary-would be the perfect time to conceive. Everything should be in place by then."

"You really are an anal and organized soul," Cybil commented.

"Absolutely. And I know my own body, my own cycle, my own..." She trailed off when she glanced down at the test stick. "Oh."

"Let me see that." Quinn snatched it out of her hand. "That's a really big, really clear, really unmistakable plus for positive Miss I Can't Be Pregnant."

"Oh. Oh. Wow."

"I said holy shit a lot." Quinn passed the stick to Cybil. "Give yourself a minute. See how you feel after the shock clears."

"That might take more than a minute. I... I had a sort of loose schedule worked out, for when this would happen. We want kids. We talked about it. I just thought... Let me see that again." Taking it from Cybil, Layla stared. "Holy shit."

"Good shit or bad shit?" Quinn asked.

"Another minute, and that one sitting down." Layla dropped onto the bed and just breathed. Then she laughed. "Good, really, really good. About a year and a half ahead of schedule, but I can adjust. Fox is going to be over the moon! I'm pregnant. How did you know?" She swiveled to Cybil. "How did you know?"

"I saw you." Moved by the radiant smile, Cybil stroked Layla's hair. "Both you and Quinn. I've been expecting this. We saw you, Quinn, Gage and I. In the winter-next winter. You were napping on the couch when he came in. And when you turned over, well, you were unmistakably pregnant."

"How'd I look?"

"Enormous. And beautiful, and wonderfully happy. You both did. And I saw Layla. You were in your boutique, which looked terrific, by the way. Fox brought you flowers. They were for your first month in business. It was sometime in September."

"We think I could open in mid-August, if... I'm going to open in mid-August," she corrected.

"You weren't showing yet, not really, but something you said... I don't think Gage caught that. A man probably wouldn't. You were all so happy." Remembering what else she'd seen, only the night before, Cybil pressed her lips together. "That's how it should be. I