The End of 'Mark of a Goddess'

I finished writing 'Mark of a Goddess' the week before Christmas last year, before I got sick. Since then I've received an unusual amount of mail from readers complaining that they didn't understand the end. Here's an excerpt (just for your information):

At this moment, Hitomi suddenly seized on an idea. “Van, look at the test for me.”

“What test?”

“I took a pregnancy test just now. It’s on the vanity. I’m too scared to look at it. What if it’s negative? Please Van,” Hitomi asked, as her eyes filled to their brims with real tears. “Please Van.”

Van sighed. He got up and picked up the test and then the cardboard box that contained the instructions on how to read it.

“What does it say?” Hitomi asked with her hands over her eyes. She couldn’t see Van and his reaction then.

Van didn’t answer her.

“What does it say?” Hitomi asked again, gaining courage and taking her hands away from her eyes.

Van’s chin was tilted thoughtfully. Finally he said softly, “It says that Dragon’s are lucky, little goddess.”

Well, lately (and when I say 'lately', I mean months ago) I received some very strong criticism on my story 'Ghost Mist' because some of the technical points of the story are briefly reviewed from time to time. I was told by a fellow amateur author that there was absolutely no need for repetition - the reader got it. I explained to this reader/writer that I had a lot of experience with my readers not understanding portions of my story that I felt were clearly explained. I found a little review here and there reduced their need to ask me what was going on. But, beloved readers, don't get the wrong idea. I love it when people send me comments on my writing, but I get concerned about the strength of my writing (and my explanations) if people write in that they don't understand. I'm still struggling with the concept - whether or not is better to spell everything out in perfect black and white so there is no room for interpretation, or to just assume that the reader understood the first time.

However, in the case of the end of 'Mark of a Goddess', I feel like there is a need for clarification since I have received so many comments, but I'll warn you right now, you aren't going to get what you want by reading this.

You see, I intended the ending to be ambiguous - so that the reader could have the ending they wanted. A sweet, romantic-type person would want Hitomi to be pregnant at the end of the series. A realistic person would be swayed by the facts that I had already outlined in the story and accept a less than ideal ending.

I have a definite preference, but I struggle between the two choices myself because I see the need to fulfill both desires. I couldn't stand someone telling me that my hardcore story was deflated because of a corny ending and I couldn't stand someone telling me that I ruined the story for them because I couldn't give them a happy ending. I might be letting both sides of the argument down by not picking a team to play for, but that seemed like a much happier alternative than choosing the wrong one.

See? I knew I wouldn't satisfy anyone with that explanation. But I'm still trapped in my dilemma as to whether or not things need to be clearly and precisely described, or whether I can leave things to my readers' imaginations. All I know is that my writing was a lot less popular when I didn't explain things in detail ... and that even after I argued with that guy I still think I'm right about what works best for me. He thought I was arrogant with no reason to be. Well, hahahahahaha, he didn't know anything about my fandom at fanfiction.net, now did he? Ah! That's good balm to put on his cat scratches.