The moment his smile died

by

Chapter 10

THEME:
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I laughed before I could stop myself.

Something changed after that.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Neither of us planned it.

Then, in Tuscany, after a week of meetings, I realized I was late.

I bought three tests from a tiny pharmacy because one felt too dangerous.

All three were positive.

I sat on the closed toilet lid in the pharmacy bathroom staring at them until I couldn’t see clearly.

I cried so hard the pharmacist knocked on the door.

“Signora? Are you all right?”

I pressed both hands over my mouth.

I had wanted this.

I had wanted it for years.

And terror was stronger than joy.

I called Gabriel.

He answered on the first ring.

“Khloe?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Silence.

Then, “Where are you?”

“In a pharmacy.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I took three tests.”

Another silence.

I started crying harder.

“Gabriel, I’m scared.”

He did not say it would be fine.

He did not tell me statistics.

He did not tell me to calm down.

He said, “Then we start there.”

I closed my eyes.

“You’re not scared alone.”

That sentence changed something in me.

Not immediately.

Healing almost never happens in the moment we want to remember as the turning point.

But slowly.

Appointment by appointment.

Week by week.

Heartbeat by heartbeat.

I began to believe my body was not an enemy.

And by the time the invitation to the Allesian Hearts Gala arrived in New York, I was five months pregnant.

I knew Julian would be there.

I accepted anyway.

I told myself it was because I loved the foundation’s work.

That was true.

It just wasn’t the whole truth.

The whole truth was simpler.

I wanted my life back.

And that night, standing in a ballroom while Julian stared at me as though I had returned from the dead, I realized maybe I had finally come to collect it.

Chapter 3: The questions he couldn’t control
Our table was close to the stage.

Of course it was.

Gabriel was the principal benefactor.

I should have expected it, but I still felt the room adjust around us when we sat down.

People came to greet him.

Then they saw me.

Some pretended surprise better than others.

“Khloe, it’s wonderful to see you.”

“You look incredible.”

“We had no idea you were back in New York.”

Congratulations followed.

So did glances.

Quick ones.

Curious ones.

Calculating ones.

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