Yes, with your symptoms and the faint but definitely existing second heartbeat I can say that you are indeed pregnant,” he told her with a sincere smile on his face.
Clara frowned and started shaking her head. “That can't be. I've been to different doctors a few years back and they all told me I would have problems conceiving at all. My late fiancé and I tried for years and nothing happened. I can't be pregnant. Not after just one time.”
“Sometimes one time is all it takes. And as the heartbeat of your child has just proven miracles can happen sometimes.”
Clara only vaguely registered everything else that the doctor told her. He also took her urine sample to send to the lab just to be absolutely sure and asked if she had a telephone.
“We have a phone at work,” she replied absent-mindedly, “But don't tell anyone else there. Just me.”
“Of course, we will not give out any information to another person,” he reassured her.
The doctor explained a lot of things to her about the pregnancy and the development of the child, about follow up appointments and about giving birth eventually and Clara only kept nodding, all the while thinking about how on earth she was going to break this to John. What if he really didn't want children? He had had children already and he had lost them in the war. He probably wouldn't even want this. What if he left her? What the thing inside of her would ruin everything? Clara had stopped picturing herself as a mother a long time ago and it seemed like a cruel joke to her that she would get pregnant at this moment of her life.
After parking her motorcycle right next to the garage she knocked but didn't wait for someone to answer. Inside Clara only found Raymond tinkering with an old engine.
“Is John around?” she asked without greeting him first.
“Oh,” Raymond uttered as he looked up from the car, “Hey Clara. John's in the office with Lonny.”
“Can I go through?” she asked, pointing at the small door, “Or is this a bad time?”
“No, I'm sure it's fine. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Clara replied weakly and headed towards the door.
“Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
“I'm fine,” she repeated in an almost robotic voice as she made her way through and after turning around a few corners she found herself standing in the office where John and Lonny were just bending over some paperwork.
“Ah, hello Miss Oswald,” the old man greeted her in a friendly manner but her eyes were fixed on John and she saw how the worry immediately rose in him just by looking at his face.
“Clara? Is everything alright?”
“No,” she breathed, “I need to talk to you. Now.”
Lonny cleared his throat and got up from his office chair. “I think I'll go check on Ray's progress. Take your time.”