Penny
December Saturday morningsin the city hummed with a life of their own, the holiday rush taking hold, crowds angling for their final push of gift buying.
Then there was me—my spirit deflated since yesterday when Archer got the invitation to Brier’s wedding. He made no mention of wanting to be my plus one. No inquiry if I wanted company to Vegas. Nothing that sounded like we’d be together by then.
How was I supposed to feel about that?
The streets buzzed with carolers and roasted-nut carts, shop windows with tinsel and red bows. I’d meant to find a few more presents, maybe something small for Archer—if we were even doing Christmas together—but the effort seemed hopeless.
What would I give a man who might not want me anymore?
By the time I trudged home with an empty tote and a hollow chest, the cold had wormed its way into my bones and my heart. I barely made it inside, shaking, before my stomach twisted. Ten minutes later, I was on my knees in front of the toilet, miserable.
This wasn’t the flu. The sudden, terrifying realization hit me that my period was very late.
I cleaned up and sighed, and sat on the cool tile floor, counting days and weeks on trembling fingers, over and over, until the math clicked into place.
“Oh… my… God,” I whispered. I shut my eyes and couldn’t move. My mind warred: tell Archer or not? That wasn’t even funny. Keeping things from him obviously didn’t work out well for me. But this was a bigger deal, huge, a little thing growing inside of me, that we’d created together.
A small voice wondered if he would compare me to Brianne, like I’d intentionally trap him with a baby into a relationship. But I wasn’t like her, hadn’t had an affair, not even so much as looked at another man the way I did Archer.
Surely he’d understand. We were adults, and we messed around, and now had consequences to deal with. All this time, he had figured it’d be the consequences of breaking the HR rules, not this.
“Hello-oo. Are you home yet?” Brier’s voice boomed, breaking into my thoughts, as she returned from a quick jaunt to the craft store for more beads and trim for her gown.
“In here,” I cried. Literally, in tears by the time she found me.
“Oh, my dear, what’s wrong?” She crouched beside me, tilting my face to see.
“I’m—I’m?—”
Somehow she knew before I could spit it out. “Stay right here. I’ll be back.”
I crawled over to my bed and dug myself under the covers into a little ball on my side. Goldie followed, whining over me, spooning behind me, with one protective paw across my middle.
“What am I going to do now?” I asked her.
She nuzzled her snout into my back, like the best thing I could do this second was to pet her. Yes, running my fingers through her fur helped. A little.
Brier messed about in the kitchen and soon brought me ginger ale and saltines with her usual Aunt Brier energy that could calm any storm.
I sipped at the glass, and nibbled a cracker, then realized under the saltine sleeve was a pregnancy test.
I gasped. “How did you know?”
“You’re in love and glowing.” She beamed.
I burst into tears and spilled everything through sputters and half-sentences. My status with Archer, unknown but not looking hopeful. The times we needed each other so badly that we forgot a condom. And it’d been so long since I had the IUD inserted, it clearly didn’t prevent this from happening.
“My life is a disaster. This is terrible.”
“No. It’s a baby. You’ve always wanted children, now you can, with or without Archer. So embrace this time... I am.” Her hand rested on her belly.
“Aunt Brier? You?” That would explain why she so readily had a pregnancy test on hand.
“Yes, I’m pregnant, too. Westley and I didn’t plan it, at all. We talked about children, both realizing at our age we had a brief window to work in. And, well, same as you and Archer—passion took over once or twice and here we are. I’m going to be a mother, Westley is ecstatic, and I’m already in love with it. ”
I let out a watery laugh. “A mother. Oh, I’m happy for you. I want to be happy for me, too. It’s a little overwhelming, is all.”
