Ronald''s House.
After finishing his call with Yvonne, Ronald came downstairs to find Ste sitting contentedly on the couch, a bowl of fruit in herp. When it came to eating, Ste was never a cause for worry. Especially now with the pregnancy, she had regained her appetite—and at any given moment, her cheeks were adorably stuffed full.
The moment Ronald appeared, Ste spat a cherry pit neatly into her hand. "Don''t you think there''s something strange about Yvonne being ''sick''?”
Ronald raised an eyebrow. "Strange how?"
"I mean... don''t you think maybe Yvonne''s actually pregnant?" Ste looked at him, chewing her lower lip anxiously.
Ronald paused, a slow realization dawning on him. Finally, she''s piecing it together. Honestly, the doctors Xander had dragged Yvonne to see recently were almostically off the mark.
"I''m serious—I get this feeling Yvonne''s pregnant!" Ste''s voice had a hint of urgency. "She keeps throwing up everything. It''s been going on forever! What else could it be?"
Ronald sat down next to her, gently taking the fruit bowl from her hands andcing his fingers through hers. "She is pregnant.”
Ste froze. "Wait, really?"
He nodded. "She is."
“So all this time..." The thought trailed off; her eyes widened. Pregnant? But hadn''t Xander taken Yvonne to a psychiatrist the other day? The whole thing felt absolutely absurd. In all her life, Ste had never heard of anything so far-fetched.
“Xander took her to see a gastroenterologist this morning,” Ronald added, as if reading her mind.
Ste gaped at him. "A gastroenterologist? Shouldn''t she be at an OB/GYN instead?"
Ronald smirked, watching her face. "It''s their first child. They''re bothpletely clueless." Ste stared, momentarily speechless. Xander was ridiculous, but to be fair—even Finley Yoder, supposedly a reputable doctor, had missed the obvious when Ste was pregnant, running all sorts of pointless tests. Honestly, none of them seemed to have a clue.
“Well, since they''re so inexperienced, you need to sit Xander down and tell him everything your mother used to tell you," Ste said, face going slightly pink. "Make sure he actually takes care of Yvonne instead of making things worse."
Ronald chuckled, his eyes soft. "Don''t worry-Xander''s not the one she''s taking it out on."
Ste frowned. "What do you mean?"
“She still thinks the baby is Dan''s. She just beat him up again.”
Ste''s mouth dropped open in disbelief. "Again?"
After the hotel incident, Yvonne had decided Dan was responsible and had him sent
to the hospital. And now...
"It''s been ages. Xander still hasn''t
groaned.
Dan had ever owed
Yvonne anything, he''d repaid it plenty by now He wasn''t even the one who slept with her, yet he was the one getting beat up. The baby wasn''t his, and he was still taking the hits.
"Yvonne can be unbelievably stubborn," Ronald said, reaching out to gently ruffle her hair.
Ste grimaced. Stubborn wasn''t even the half of it-she was practically immune to reason. It didn''t matter what Xander said; she didn''t believe a word.
"So if Xander can''t get through to her, is Dan just doomed to keep getting beaten up?" she asked.
Ronald sighed and nodded. "Seems that way."
Ste just shook her head, totally at a loss.
Meanwhile, across town in Litamark...
The doctor finally managed to make
a hasty escape from Yvonne''s
apartment ?her nerves were so
frayed, she genuinely worried about
getting caught in the crossfire.
Left alone, Yvonne kept ring at the pregnancy test. She stared so hard at the two
red lines, she nearly bored holes straight through the stic.
"So this really means I''m pregnant?" she asked Xander, disbelief clear in her voice. The whole thing felt outright magical, bordering on impossible. You pee on a stick, two lines show up,
and suddenly you supposed to be having a baby? How was it that simple? Shouldn''t there at least be an ultrasound before anyone dered there was actually something growing inside her?