Realization dawns on me, and my eyes immediately fly to her stomach like I’m expecting her to be showing already. “Are you…? Are we…?”
She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and nods as tears flood her eyes. “I took a test while you were gone. Five, actually,” she whispers. “I’ve had an inkling all week, but I just kept thinking my period was going to show up.”
“Oh my God.” I put my hands on her face. “How are you feeling? Are you happy? I know we talked about waiting and…” I let out a breath. “Holy shit.”
“Yes, I’m so happy! We’re going to have a baby! I’ve thought about what this moment would be like so many times, and in every scenario, you’re the man I’m talking to, even before I lost my virginity.” She giggles. “I have everything I could ever want,” she whispers. “And I’m feeling okay. A little nausea, but it’s manageable, for now.”
I pull her into my arms and hold her tightly like I have no plans to ever let her go. “Wow, if you thought I was protective of you now. You with a baby?” I press a kiss to her neck. “You’ll be lucky if you don’t have security in place by the time we get home.”
“Security? Oh my God,” she groans. “Sebastian, the only time I ever feel unsafe is around people related to us or people we know,” she replies with an eye roll.
I’m only half listening to her complaint as I’m already thinking about how to make our new house even safer. “We can talk about it, but it’s going to take a lot of convincing notto increase our safety measures,” I explain as I place my hand under her stomach. “Especially now that it’s more than just us. But we can talk about that later. Can you tell me what you want to do about tomorrow? Does this mean you don’t want to go? We don’t have to tell my mom.”
“I’m not saying no, but if she starts being… judgmental, I’d like to leave.”
“Of course.”
“And maybe…” She shrugs. “We could tell her? It seems like the only time she’s really changed her tune has been at the mention of grandchildren. Who knows, maybe it will be what she needs to finally accept us.”
“We don’t have to. I told her she needed to support us before we had a baby. So if you’re not ready to tell her, we don’t have to.”
The next day, we are sitting outside Sara’s house, and I can tell Sebastian is more nervous than I am. He’s been fussing over me since I told him the news last night, and I already know I’m in for a long nine months if it’s only day two, and he’s already trying to carry me around on a velvet pillow. Maybe I’m not so nervous because I found out I’m going to be a mom, and now I can relate to Sara in a way I couldn’t before. While I can’t picture myself going about things the same way, I can see that maybesomeof her intentions were good and just the executions were off. Perhaps she really was trying to protect us from ourselves, which is what parents are for, right?
I suppose I can give her a pass for how she reactedat timesduring our teen years. I can admit we probably did put her through it at times. But everything this past year, when we were full-grown adults, should have been handled way differently.
We start toward the front, and before we are even halfway up the walkway, the door opens, and Sara stands in the doorway, waving at us. “There you are!” As soon as we make it up the porch, Sara has her arms wrapped around me as she guides me into the house. I haven’t talked to Sara much since her engagement party, but Sebastian has here and there, and he mentioned that she’s been putting more effort into being supportive.
I guess the silence from us was getting to her, and she realized we were serious about not being in her life if she couldn’t understand that we were going to be together.
Or at very least, she has to keep her comments to herself.
Wild follows us and shuts the door as we head into the living room. Sara moved in with Mike, so this is a different house than the one I grew up in, but I can still see glimpses of my childhood. Similar furniture and some of the art she had on the walls. She was always big on taking pictures, and I spy a photograph wall in the corner with seven pictures, one of which I recognize as a photo of Sara, Wild, and me in Disney World when we were kids.
A small smile floats across my lips at the happy memory and how much fun the three of us had there.
“Where’s Mike?” he asks as Sara and I sit on the couch, and he takes a seat on the adjacent loveseat.
“He’s playing golf today. I told him to make himself busy. I know he makes you uncomfortable.” Her lips form a straight line. “I’m sorry that we both have.”
“Well, we don’t plan to stay long. We just wanted to come by to tell you that…” He pauses, and a smile pulls at his lips that I pray Sara reciprocates. “Halle and I are getting married.” I pull my hand out of my jacket pocket and hold it up, revealing the four-carat emerald-cut diamond that sits on my finger.
Every time I look at it, I’m blown away by how gorgeous it is.He did really fucking good, and we only went to look at rings once.
“Oh my God.” Sara reaches for my hand and takes it in hers, rubbing her thumb over the stone. “This is just beautiful. Congratulations.” She nods, and I notice her eyes glistening. “When is the date? Have you decided yet?”
“Well, we just got engaged last weekend. We haven’t really had a chance to get into planning yet,” he explains.
“Well, whenever you decide, let me know. I would love to be there.” She twists her mouth and puts her hand on top of mine. “I know I’ve made some mistakes, and I haven’t understood or supported you both in the past, and I’m sorry. I know you don’t trust me fully yet, but I would like to be in your life.”
I’m not naive enough to think that her words will fix everything, but I do appreciate her apology. “Well, that’s good to hear. I think… your grandchild would like that too.”
Her face lights up, and her eyes go wide with excitement, then she’s on her feet with her hands over her mouth. “Are you pregnant?” I’m reminded of the saying that children don’t fix things, butgrandchildrenfix everything as I take in Sara’s reaction. “I can’t believe it!” She pulls me to stand and then in for a hug, squeezing me tightly before moving to Sebastian and hugging him as well. “I’m going to be a grandma?” She puts a hand over her mouth. “Wait until I tell Elana!”
“Okay, well, hold on, Mom. Don’t tell anyone yet,” Sebastian interjects.
Remembering that Elana was one of the few people who always supported us, I offer a small smile. “You can tell Elana. But not the whole world yet,” I add. Otherwise, it’ll be Sara’s Facebook status by tonight.
She zips her lips and sits back down next to me. “I can’t believe there’s going to be a baby!” She claps her hands and puts them under her chin. “Your dad would be so proud of you.”
