“Fuck, Neva. Give a girl some warning.” She pressed a button on her phone to turn her screen off.
There was definitely something going on in Genny’s life.
That, however, wasn’t my priority right now.
“I have been standing here with Maia for about five minutes waiting for you to realise I was there.” Okay, so five minutes was probably a bit of an exaggeration.
Genny was out of her seat and crouching over to look into the pram where Maia was lying, babbling happily to herself. “Can I have a cuddle?”
“I was hoping you’d want one. I need a favour.”
She picked my daughter up and snuggled her, looking all kinds of in love with her. Genny didn’t want her own children and at just over forty, she’d decided that ship had sailed and she was happy to wave it into the distance, but that didn’t mean she didn’t go gaga over Oliver and Maia.
“If it’s to do with this little girl, the answer is always yes.” She ran a finger over Maia’s cheek.
“I wanted you to keep an eye on her while I did a pregnancy test. Have you still got a stock of them in your drawer?”
Genny thankfully sat down rather than drop my first born. “You said what?”
I sat down on the sofa in her office next to her. “I need to do a pregnancy test. I’m two weeks late for my period and I might not be on the contraception I thought I was.”
“Oh. Neva, how’ve you managed that?”
“Baby brain. I thought I’d had the injection at my six week sign off – and even if I had, I wouldn’t have been covered – but I hadn’t. It was a vitamin B shot. So there’s been no contraception. And now no period. Maia might be getting a sibling sooner than we thought.” Because Jude and I had discussed having another baby in the not too distant future, just not quite this soon.
“Top drawer. You’re way too calm for this.” Genny frowned at me. “You’re not freaking out.”
I shook my head. “If I am, I’m pretty certain he’ll be thrilled about it and I will be too. I think I’ll be disappointed if I’m not.”
“You’d have two under two. That will require some serious replacement of sleep.” Genny looked horrified, but then she couldn’t manage on anything less than seven and a half hours of sleep a night.
“They won’t stay under two.” I heard how I sounded, like I knew I was pregnant already, but I was pretty sure I was. I fished a test out of Genny’s drawer and checked the expiry date. It looked new, with one test missing, so someone else had obviously been in this situation recently.
I headed into her bathroom, hearing Maia making a noise which was her version of laughter. I’d had a decent drink of water already, knowing that I’d be peeing on a stick again.
I sat down on the toilet lid and waited, two lines becoming clear fairly quickly.
I was pregnant.
A little voice in me sang and I welled up with tears. I didn’t doubt that Jude would be over the moon, as would his parents, and Maia would grow up with a sibling around a year younger than her, so they’d be close enough in age to possibly be friends.
A knock at the door brought me out of my daydream.
“Any news?” Genny's voice came through it. “Maia wants to know.”
I opened the door and nodded. “I’m pregnant. Baby number two due on or before her first birthday. I think you might need to keep my temporary on permanently.” I’d wanted to be a mother for so long. I could do this and carry on my work on social media and with the programme we were starting to film in February.
“Okay. They’re not you but they’re okay. Congratulations.” She hugged me with one arm, the other holding Maia. “When are you telling Jude?”
“Tonight. So if you hear something loud above the fireworks, you’ll know what it is.” I knew I was beaming. “I’m thrilled.”
“And you weren’t actually trying?”
I shook my head. “We thought it was practice. Anyway.” I smiled again.
“He’s going to know as soon as he sees you.”
I laughed. “He’s a man.” I thought about that for a second. “But this is Jude. He probably already knows. He wouldn’t even let me carry the shopping in earlier.”
