The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie

by Freida McFadden

“Why didn’t you tell me about this, Alice?” she cries as she shakes something in my face. I frown at her. “What are you talking about?” Then I realize what she has in her hand. It’s the pregnancy test that I threw in the trash. “How come you didn’t tell me?” “I did tell you!” I might be forgetting things, but I remember our conversation. “I told you I was pregnant.” “Pregnant?” She looks down at the test in her hand and then back at my face. “Alice, this is a Covid test.” “What?” I gasp. “How could that be?” “It literally says Covid-19 Ag right on the test!” “It does?” Wow, maybe it’s time for reading glasses. Poppy lets out a huff. “You didn’t really think this was a pregnancy test, did you?” “Well…” I chew on my lower lip. “I was in a hurry, and I wasn’t thinking straight. I just grabbed one of the tests that showed the two blue lines on the box. I did think it was a little strange that I had to swab my nose to check for pregnancy.” Huh. It looks like those LED lights worked after all. I can’t believe I’m not really pregnant. I wonder why I was so nauseous—I guess it was the tea. Poppy grits her teeth. “Oh my God, I cannot believe you have Covid.” “Now that you mention it, I did have a little bit of a runny nose and sore throat…”