CLARA'S POV
I felt something strange happen inside of me. It was small and fragile, like a door that had been closed for years suddenly opening just a little. My instincts told me maybe something had changed. Maybe Victor had finally decided to try and make things better. The thought alone made my heart beat faster than it should have.
I pressed the call button before I could talk myself out of it. The phone rang once… then again. By the third ring I was already holding my breath but there was no answer.
I lowered the phone slowly and thought Victor was probably busy. He always was. Hale Enterprises didn't run itself and my husband was the kind of man who treated work like oxygen. Even when we were newly married he had been the same way.
Still, the messages I received from him felt different so I typed a reply, hesitating longer than I expected to.
"I miss you too."
I stared at the words for a second before adding one more line.
"When can I call you?"
The message was sent and for a while I sat there waiting for the three little typing dots to appear on the screen but they never did. Eventually I put the phone down and leaned back against the bedhead, staring at the ceiling of the still unfamiliar hotel room.
The project had been demanding but good for my career. Blue Horizon Studio was big compared to the firms we competed against and opportunities like this didn't come often. I had convinced Victor before I left that the trip mattered. He hadn't argued. Victor rarely argued with me about anything and that was another strange thing about our marriage. We didn't fight and we didn't laugh much either. But we existed in the same space like two polite strangers who had agreed to share a house.
But the message I received from him that night felt like the Victor I used to imagine existed somewhere underneath the quiet distance. Maybe he had been waiting too.
****
I must have fallen asleep again because the next thing I knew the morning light was coming through the curtains.
The first thing I did was check my phone but there was still no reply. I frowned slightly and tried calling him again but it went straight to voicemail.
"Victor Hale," his recorded voice said calmly. "Leave a message."
But I didn't leave one.
Something about hearing his voice like that made the excitement from the night before fade a little.
Still, I told myself he was probably in a meeting. Creston City was several hours behind Barcelona and it was possible he hadn't even woken up yet. I set the phone down and got ready for work.
*****
The next few days passed quickly. Meetings, site visits and endless revisions to the design plans. Every time my phone buzzed I checked it immediately, expecting to see Victor's name again.
But nothing came and by the end of the week, I had called him four times but none of the calls connected which was unusual even for Victor. He wasn't affectionate, but he was never careless. If I called him he usually returned the call later, even if it was just a short conversation while he was driving or between meetings but this time there was only silence.
A small knot of unease began forming in my stomach.
*****
During the weekend, I finally had a free afternoon and decided to walk through the small streets near the hotel. I stopped at a pharmacy on the corner almost without thinking.
For the past few days, I had been feeling strange. Tired in a way that sleep didn't fix, my appetite was unpredictable and the smell of certain foods made my stomach twist suddenly.
At first I blamed it on travel but now I wasn't so sure.
The pharmacist handed me the small box without much interest and I carried it back to the hotel in my bag, telling myself it was probably nothing.
I waited until evening to open it.
****
I locked the bathroom door behind me.
The pregnancy test sat on the edge of the sink, small and harmless-looking. My hands felt cold as I picked it up. This is ridiculous, I told myself. There's no way.
Still, my heart refused to slow down. After a moment, I placed the test back on the sink and stepped away, as it might explode. One minute. That was all it needed but that one minute felt endless.
I stared at the tiny window on the stick, waiting for the result to appear.
Slowly… a line appeared then another. I forgot to breathe for a short second.
Two lines.
Pregnant.
The word echoed in my head, both terrifying and wonderful at the same time.
Victor and I had never talked seriously about children. Our marriage had always felt too uncertain for that kind of conversation. But suddenly the thought of telling him made my heart race.
I reached for my phone again and tried calling him but this time, the call didn't even ring. The automated voice came immediately.
"The number you are trying to reach is unavailable."
I tried again and the same message repeated. My excitement slowly turned into something colder. Victor had sent me a message saying he missed me and wanted me to come home and since then he had disappeared completely. I stared at the pregnancy test in my hand and felt an uncomfortable thought slip quietly into my mind.
What if something had happened? What if Victor wasn't ignoring me? What if he simply couldn't answer?
I pushed the thought away immediately.
Victor Hale was the most controlled man I knew and nothing simply happened to him. Still, as I sat there in the quiet hotel bathroom with the test in my hand, the uneasy feeling in my chest refused to disappear. I tried calling him one more time but the call failed again and that was the moment I decided I wasn't waiting any longer.
I was going home.