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 THE PREGNANCY TEST—Superromance #1285 — July 2005

ISBN# 0-373-71285-5

Also available in Large Print Edition - ISBN# 0-373-78030-3

#9 on the Waldenbooks Romance Series Bestseller list for the week ending July 16, 2005!

Winner of the National Readers' Choice Award for Best Long Contemporary!

Sometimes life tests a man...

His teenage daughter is pregnant by the boy he forbid her to see.

 His girlfriend - the one who was just going to be his ease-back-into-dating friend, until she climbed under his skin - is also pregnant, and not sure she wants to have his baby.

Now Sloan Thompson is trying to find the right thing to do for everyone involved, and not sure he's going to survive...THE PREGNANCY TEST.

Sometimes life tests a man...

THE PREGNANCY TEST is the story of Sloan Thompson, who appeared in THE MOMMY PLAN.  Sloan is Rachel's brother, and when I met him and his daughter in Mommy Plan, I just knew he had a story of his own to tell.

Excerpt from Chap. 9:

    "I think I might be pregnant."

     Jenna clamped a hand over her mouth, momentarily unsure which of them had spoken the damning words - the ones she hadn't even let fully form in her head, let alone on her lips.  But then Brook's blue eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over onto her cold-reddened cheeks.  Jenna reached out and pulled Brook up the last stair and into the foyer and into her arms. 

"Don't cry, sweetheart."  After a brief hug, she guided the girl into the apartment.  Shock prevented her from saying anything just yet.  She helped Brook remove her coat, slung it over one of the stools at the kitchen island.  They moved to the living area, where Brook threw herself into the soft cushions of the sofa.

     Jenna eased down next to her.  "Okay, so tell me what's going on.  What makes you think that?  Have you missed a period?"

     Brook nodded.  "T-two."

     "Two?"  The note of shock echoed off the ceiling.

     "I-I just thought..."

     "It's okay."  Jenna took the girl's hands in her own, knowing full well what she'd thought.  That it couldn't possibly be happening to her, that she was imagining it.  There was some other explanation for it.  Like stomach flu.  "Anything else?"

     "I don't feel sick or anything.  But I'm real tired.  I looked up pregnancy on the internet and it said that's one symptom."  The kid's voice faded to a whisper.  "I'm so scared.  My dad's going to kill me."

     That makes two of us.  The thought didn't help.  Maybe both of them were worrying over nothing.  "When did you miss your first period?"

     "Somewhere in the middle of December.  Like the week before Christmas, I think.  I dunno exactly.  I'm not always regular, and I don't keep good track."  Brook pulled her hand free andran the back of it across her cheeks to dislodge the tears tracking there.

     Jenna offered her the tissues from the table.  "Okay, since we're now at the middle of January, you should have had another period last week?"

     The girl nodded.  "Like Thursday."

     "Okay.  We need to know if you really are pregnant, or if something else is going on.  I don't suppose you've done a home test?"

     "No," she whispered.  "I was scared to death Dad would find it in the house.  And I didn't know who else to tell."

     "All right.  First things first.  I'll run down the road to Quality -" the very idea of running anywhere made her stomach queasy, but she'd go - "and get a test, and we'll take it from there.  Okay?"

     Brook's eyes widened.  "Not Quality!  It's too close to the house!  What if Dad decides he needs some milk or something?"

     Jenna swallowed a groan, but knew the girl was right.  Add 'Sloan Catching Her Buying a Home Pregnancy Test' - the two pack, one for his kid, and one for her - to the List of Things to I Don't Need. 

Her stomach pitched, and she clamped her teeth, willing the queasiness to subside.  Oh, God.  If it were true, what would she do?  How would Sloan react?  She shoved aside the growing sense of panic.  Absolutely no point in either of them borrowing trouble.  Yet.  "Okay.  I'll go to a drug store farther away."

     Princess jumped onto the couch, and Brook  ruffled the dog's ears.  Jenna slogged to the door, kicking off the remaining slipper and pulling on her boots.  The long woolen coat concealed her pajamas.  She wouldn't be the first one to go into a store like that.  In fact, pajamas had become all the rage with teens.  The one on her sofa stared into space, petting the dog, not acknowledging Jenna's leave-taking.

     At the store, she faced an overwhelming selection.  Who knew pregnancy tests came in so many variations?  Blue lines, pink lines, two lines, plus signs - Dr. Seuss could have a field day writing a book about that.  Heck, they even had a digital read-out test that declared "pregnant" or "not pregnant."  Given how she felt, that one looked the best.  Pregnancy Tests for Dummies and People Too Sick to See Straight.  Although on the other hand, anything computerized had too many things that could go wrong.  Given how well she and computers got along...the stupid thing would probably accuse her of illegal operations.  Maybe it would be better to go with the "two line" product.  And it even came with a bonus test in the box - three instead of two. 

She grabbed the box, holding it close so no one could read the package.  Her face warmed at the cash register, and she chided herself for acting like a teenager buying her first box of tampons.

     All the way home, bursts of fear warred with fits of optimism.  No way either of them were pregnant.  Okay, well, certainly not both of them.  God couldn't have that warped a sense of humor.

     Could He?

From the book The Pregnancy Test by Susan Gable
Harlequin Superromance® July 2005, ISBN 0-373-71285-5,  ©2005 Susan Guadagno.

Cover Copyright (C) 2005 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher.
The excerpt published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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