The Backlot - 309 - Hollywood: Blueprint

"Well?" Evan asked the moment Nina came downstairs.

He had returned to the manor without changing clothes and spent the wait in the living room, smoking too much and listening for footsteps.

Nina nodded. "Mary spoke with her. The urine HCG test strongly suggests pregnancy. Mary is coming down to explain. A full confirmation still needs hospital testing."

Evan had prepared himself for the answer, but hearing it still made the world feel heavier and more real.

For years, some secret part of him had treated his own existence with suspicion. He remembered another life. He knew too much. As a child, he had learned too quickly, carried impossible study loads too easily, and survived physical pressure better than his build suggested he should.

He had always told himself this world was real because his senses were real, his parents' love was real, and the people around him hurt and laughed and needed things. But a child, if real, cut through the last layer of doubt. It was continuity. A future. Proof that he belonged to this world in more than memory.

"Mr. Rosenberg."

Mary Elizabeth, the doctor Hela had called from a private Beverly Hills hospital, came downstairs. She had signed a confidentiality agreement before entering the manor, and discretion was part of the reason Hela had chosen her.

Evan shook her hand and asked her to sit.

"What is the situation, Dr. Elizabeth?"

"For now, I can only say Ms. Watts is very likely pregnant."

Mary chose her words with professional care. She was sitting in the home of a powerful man, in the center of Hollywood, and she knew better than to speak in absolutes without full lab work.

Evan's eyes sharpened. "Very likely?"

"Please do not misunderstand. Here, I can only run a urine HCG test. It is fast, but not one hundred percent definitive. Tomorrow, at the hospital, we should do a blood HCG test. If the level is above the clinical threshold, we can confirm pregnancy. We should also follow with an ultrasound when appropriate to confirm location and development."

When she saw impatience cross his face, she spoke faster.

"The home test is the quickest method and it points in that direction. I am being careful only because proper confirmation requires the lab."

Evan understood the meaning. Unless something unusual appeared, Naomi was pregnant.

"Then book the hospital appointment before nine tomorrow morning. I will bring Naomi in. Hela, please see Dr. Elizabeth home."

"Of course, Mr. Rosenberg."

Before leaving, the doctor hesitated. "Ms. Watts should avoid alcohol from now on. It is better for her and for the baby."

"Thank you. I will make sure of it."

After Mary left, Evan looked at Nina. "Did Naomi drink tonight?"

"A little. Not much."

"All right. Rest. Come with us tomorrow for the blood test. I am going to talk to her."

He went upstairs to Naomi's room. When he opened the door, she was sitting on the bed with Fendi in her arms, murmuring to the dog.

The possible child felt like a gift and a disruption at the same time. It did not fit the first half of the life Evan had planned. A child also meant responsibility to the child's mother.

He closed the door, sat beside Naomi, and stroked Fendi's fur.

"Naomi, we need to talk. This matters to the baby."

"I know." She released the dog and touched her stomach. "You will love the child, won't you? Are you ready for this?"

She knew him. Having a child in his twenties had never been part of his plan. His work schedule stretched years ahead, and his ambition had not softened just because he had already succeeded.

"I think I am ready," Evan said. His voice was gentle, but certain. "This is the greatest gift I could be given. I will not treat it lightly. What about you? Are you ready to be a mother? If you need protection, I can give you a wedding."

"No. Evan, please."

Naomi refused almost before he finished.

"I know you. Do you think becoming Mrs. Rosenberg would protect me? It would not. I thought about this years ago. I cannot live every night wondering whose lipstick you kissed off before coming home."

Her voice shook, but her decision did not.

"And if I marry you, my career stops meaning anything. Ask yourself honestly. Would you let Mrs. Rosenberg keep acting, keep chasing fame, keep fighting for roles? You would not."

The offer made her happy. She could not deny that. But she had weighed this question before the pregnancy, more than once.

Evan was brilliant, rich, powerful, and desirable. As long as he kept winning, women would keep trying to get into his bed. No ordinary marriage could make that temptation vanish, and he was not an ordinary faithful man waiting to be reformed.

Naomi also knew herself. She loved being chased by cameras and audiences. Becoming a major star had been her goal for half her life. She could not give it up and still remain herself.

"You get one chance to decide this," Evan said after a long silence. "Are you sure you will not regret it?"

"I am sure." Naomi touched his face. "I love you. I can feel what you feel for me. But I will not become Mrs. Rosenberg. We do not need to change what we are because of the child. I am certain of that."

She believed that preserving the shape of their relationship was the only way to keep its honesty. If Evan loved the child, that was enough.

Evan drew her into his arms. "I hope you always feel that way. Sleep. We will go early tomorrow and check the baby's health."

He would not admit it aloud, but part of him relaxed at her answer. Naomi understood him too well. Keeping their arrangement unchanged, at least for now, removed problems he had not known how to solve.