IDEBATED HOW MUCH WEwould tell our friends and family about the potential changes to my circumstances. On one hand, I didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up too high only to find out later I still wouldn’t be able to conceive a child. On the other hand, if it did happen, wouldn’t it be better if we were surrounded by people to support and love us through our disappointment? Once the decision was made, I had to decide how and when to tell everyone. There had to be a proper pecking order.
My mom was first because she was my mom. Milo heard all the jubilant squealing and sobbing and came rushing in. He joined our celebration because he understood how much the opportunity meant to me. Later that night, I insisted we call Brenda and Jack to tell them the news. I didn’t want his parents to feel excluded from our happiness, and they were also overcome with joy for us. Brenda was certain to point out she would love any child Elijah and I raised, but she knew how happy the news made me.
“We should make an announcement at the Halloween party this weekend,” Elijah said as we reclined in the bathtub later that evening. I was pleasantly surprised to discover he loved the holiday as much as I did. “I know we already have costumes, but maybe we change them up a bit.”
“Instead of a pirate, you’ll be what?” I asked.
“A sperm.” I nearly choked on my sip of wine. “Should you be drinking alcohol, Freckles?”
“Elijah, I’m not pregnant, and I’m not trying to get pregnant right now. Drinking alcohol is okay.” I leaned and turned my head to look up at him. “Just how the hell would you dress as a sperm?” I had this horrific vision of him wearing a giant sperm costume with his grinning face sticking out of the rounded head.
“I was thinking of drawing a sperm, or twenty, on a T-shirt with the words ‘looking for love’ beneath my swimmers.”
“Instead of a tavern wench, what would I be?”
“An egg, of course,” Elijah said in his bestduhvoice. “We can draw some eggs on your T-shirt and then write ‘in all the right places’ beneath your baby hatchers.”
“‘Baby hatchers’?”
“You don’t think it’s catchy?” I shook my head then returned to a comfy position against his chest. “What about the costumes?” he asked.
“Maybe we can find a more discreet way to tell the few people we want to share our news with rather than announce it in a way that’s sure to make it to the gossip section of the Blissville Daily News.”
“Freckles,” Elijah said softly, snaking his arms around to hold me firmly against his chest. “As excited as I am about the possibility of having a baby with you, it’s a little like putting the cart before the horse.”
“Which one of us are you calling the horse, and is this your way of tempering my excitement?”
Elijah chuckled warmly. “I only meant I want to start planning our wedding. I know you, and there’s no way my boys are going to tango with your girls until we’re properly wed.”
“True,” I said. “What do you have in mind?”
“We’re going to San Francisco next month to do the final filming forThe Paranormal Whisperer. You know what state is next to California?”
“Oregon? Arizona?”
“Nevada.”
“You want us to get married in Vegas?” I asked. “How upset do you think our mothers would be if we did that?”
“They wouldn’t be upset; they’d be furious with us, Freckles.”
“That’s no way to start out a marriage,” I chided. “Besides, I need more than a month. How about spring?”
“There are three months we typically associate with spring, Freckles. Which one are you thinking about? Please tell me it’s March?”
I shook my head. “Still too chilly and unpredictable.”
“April?”
“Too rainy?”
“May?”
“Middle of May sounds like our best option. It’s only seven months away.”
Elijah grumbled. “Fine. Are we having a church wedding or one here at our home?”
“I prefer here if it’s okay with you. I think our back yard would be an amazing place for a wedding. If it rains, we can shuffle furniture around and get married inside. Does that sound okay with you?”
