“What?” Trey looked. “Are you... Oh, hey. Congratulations.”
No. Oh no.
I smiled weakly at John. “Everything’s fine. I’m fine. I’m not pregnant.”
“Two lines.” Jo burst out of the bathroom, clutching a pee stick. “Look! Should I do the other one now or...” She stopped abruptly. “Shit.”
Trey’s face went white. “Jo?”
Jo’s face went red. “Trey!”
“What’s going on?” John asked.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Trey said.
I stood. “Trey, we love you, but Jo and I really need to talk. Why don’t you, uh...”
“Let’s get that beer now,” John said, taking his arm.
Trey shook him off. “Jo?” he repeated.
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I don’t... I can’t... Not now,” she said in a constricted voice. “I’m sorry.”
Something flashed across Trey’s face and was gone. He looked at John. “Got anything stronger?”
John nodded. “Right this way. Come on, kids.”
He herded them all out of the kitchen, and Jo lurched forward into my arms.
“Ssh. It’s all right. Everything’s going to be all right,” I murmured, as if she were no older than the twins. As if this was nothing more serious than a scraped knee or bruised feelings, something I could kiss and make better. Her breath shuddered, in and out. “Whatever happens, we have each other.” I petted her hair the way Momma used to do, her new, short curls springing back against my touch. “What are you going to do?” I asked after a while.
“I don’t know.” She gulped. “I have to think.”
John returned and stood awkwardly inside the doorway, hands in his pockets. “Everything okay in here?”
Jo made a muffled noise against my shoulder. A laugh? A sob?
“We’re fine,” I said, and prayed that it was true.
“Good.” He grabbed the bottle of bourbon and two juice boxes. “We’re watchingFrozen.You let me know if you want me to beat anybody up,” he said to Jo.
She raised her head at that. “No.” Her eyes were wet, her face pale and surprisingly composed. Somehow she managed a smile. “Thank you, though.”
He nodded, shifting the bottle under one arm to pat her shoulder. “Anytime. Whatever you need.”
He was such a good guy. I loved him so much.
“Jo,” I said after I’d set her down at the kitchen table and made us both a cup of tea. Decaffeinated, because... Pregnant. “Do you want me to make an appointment for you with my doctor?”
She grimaced into her tea. “Isn’t it a little early for that?”
“You need to start prenatal vitamins.” I bit my lip. “Unless you want to... Jo, do you want this baby?”
She swallowed and set down her mug. “I don’t... I don’t know.” She pressed her hand to her middle, her fingers curving protectively around her still-flat stomach. “I don’t think I could...”
Have the baby?I wondered.Terminate the pregnancy?
“I just found out myself,” my sister said. “Can we just not tell anybody for a little while?”
