Two years
Myra never saw her father after that day, but the cracks he'd left so suddenly in her and Cal's relationship lingered.
Worse, it seemed like only she saw this. Or was it just her distorted mind?
All other aspects of her life flourished. She made the finest congers swoman her country had ever seen.
In her two-year tenure, she ran Brienstein out of Congress, to Gib's eternal pride.
She had the best fiancé. Cal was a literal sweetheart, and true to his promise, they only did what SHE wanted.
He pampered her to spoil, to the ire of the Dankworths, and eternal envy of Cora, who visited not very often but still enough to make Myra uncomfortable.
Despite all this, there was no baby at the end of year two.
And all the people who hated the relationship she had with Cal capitalized on this.
It hurt her to see how many people he was cutting off for her sake.
The Errington women, the Quills, the Dankworths. He really stopped visiting his family, and never invited them over.
Anybody who made any snide comments about their inability to have children, he cut them off.
She did not know she would ever come to care or worry about something like this, but it soon began to mess with her already broken mind.
Everytime she stared at a negative pregnancy test stick, it felt like a punch to her gut.
She walked out of the bathroom on one of such days, and Cal looked up from a book with a squint.
“Are you OK?”
She nodded, not speaking as she changed into a dress.
She was sure now that she was the problem.
Although the tests said there was nothing wrong with her, there was still that doctor who did the surgery after her miscarriage, who said there was a possibility she may experience difficulty with getting pregnant again.
All the others she had visited were of a different opinion, especially after looking through her test results.
“No,” Cal said now, walking up to her. “Don't shut me out, darling,” he took both her hands, staring in her eyes, “What is it?”
“Is it not funny how everyone says that stress conception, so don't stress?”
He blinked, and it was clear he did not understand her.
“How can you just not “stress over it” when trying for a baby? When in between your periods you wonder if you should be drinking that glass of wine, going on that walk or dancing too hard because you might just be pregnant and not know it yet.”
“Myra..” Pain went into his eyes now, and she moved away from him.
“Don't look at me with pity, Cal. This is not your fault. You have two children.”
“It's not your fault eith..” He started to say, and paused. “What do you mean two children? I have told you already that Aiden Acosta is not my son.”
She ran her hand through her hair and sat on the bed.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking away.
Immediately after her father's attempted kidnap of Nova, she asked Cal about Aiden, because it did not make sense why her father hated him so much.
Except he was trying to punish him for not accepting Aiden's paternity, since Aiden had always been the ex-police chief’s boy toy.
But Cal had told her he was not Aiden's father.
That Ms Acosta had only made claims just around the pregnancy, but stopped after that.
But still, he was stubborn about not taking a paternity test no matter how anyone tried to convince him.
He said he was certain he was not Aiden's father, and would not belittle himself by going to take a test with a boy he clearly knew was not his.
This confused her, because it was a simple test and would clear the air forever and get Aiden off his back forever, but she just had to trust his judgment.
He walked close to her now and squatted in front of her.
“I don't like what this is doing to you.” He gently rubbed her arms down, and the concern in his eyes made her want to cry.
“You used to laugh more, be mischievous and joke around all day. We danced every chance we got, and now you'll not even go to Ourania with me.”
“I am not twenty-five years old anymore,” she said quietly, even as her throat clogged with tears. “I will be twenty-eight in a few months.”
“What has that got to do with living?” he squinted at her in conclusion.
She winced and brought her hand up to touch his face, “Cal.”
“You would not even agree to run again for Congress,” he said, and she was already shaking her head.
She had already done her part, even Gib would agree she did her best in those two years.
“How can I get a baby running around like that Cal?” she said, and she saw him flinch.
“I asked you about this a few years ago, Myra.” He stopped, and closed his eyes briefly.
“You asked me when you were reconsidering being with me because you thought you could not give me children.” She said, “But you're not the one with problems here.”
“Neither are you,” he said, and for the first time she heard the sound of irritation in his voice. “How many more tests have to prove that? Why do you believe that one doctor's opinion over the rest?”
“You're yelling, Cal,” she said softly.
And he froze, then quickly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close and softly muttering how sorry he was.
She held him tightly, and they remained in each other's arms quietly like that for a long time.
She did not know why this bothered her so much.
No, she knew.
It was because her father had called it. And now it seemed like she would be the failure he always claimed she would be.
“Don't cry, my sweetheart.” Cal turned to hold her face in her hands.
“What do you want to do, we'll do what you want, Myra,” he said, and this made her cry even more because this was how it had been in those two years.
“You matter too, Cal. What do you want?” She brought her hand up to caress his cheeks.
“Your happiness. I promised to show you true happiness, and I am failing.” he said, turning his face to kiss her hand that was on his cheek.
“No. It's all me.”
“No, Myra.” He stood up now and pulled her up with him. “I am responsible for you. Just say the word and we'll do it.”
“Let's get married already.”
“We are. The arrangements are almost done.”
She was already shaking her head even as he spoke. “I wanted a big wedding that has taken two years now to plan. Let's ditch all that.”
He nodded. “Anything you want, my love.” he caressed hair away from her face. “What else would make you happy?”
A positive pregnancy test, her head screamed, but she shook her head.
However, Cal knew her too well for that.
“Are you open to trying surrogacy?” he asked.
She blinked, all the things that could go wrong with a surrogate running through her mind.
And at twenty-eight?
Wherever her father was, he would laugh at her to scorn.
She exhaled, she could not continue living life according to her father's expectations.
So she nodded. “Yes, my love. Let's do that,” she said, and she saw the relief in Cal's eyes.
He placed a gentle hand on her neck and kissed her like it was their first kiss all over again.