His head swivels to me, instantly hopping up to his feet and coming to me. I hold my breath, unsure of what he’s going to do.
Unsure of what Iwanthim to do.
Quentin’s hands fall on either side of my belly, and he bends to place a kiss there. “Hi, baby,” he coos, the cutest damn thing I’ve ever heard.
Then his eyes lift to mine, and he slowly stands, then he’s gently crushing me in a hug.
“Hi,” he gruffs into my hair.
I squeeze him back, resting my head on his shoulder as we embrace for a minute. I don’t know when we started hugging after coming home from work, but I don’t care to question it currently.
“Should we go find out what we’re having?” I ask as I pull away from him, a ball of nerves knotting in my belly suddenly.
“Let’s do it.” He smiles as we make our way downstairs to the kitchen together.
My palms are sweating as I take two clear wine stem glasses out of the cupboard and place them on the countertop beside our reveal cake.
I grip the edge of the counter, my knuckles turning white as reality sets in. I’m going to find out within minutes if I’m having a daughter or a son.
I’m going to be a fucking mom. Who would’ve ever thought? Certainly not me. And yet, I couldn’t be more excited, also nauseous, about this perfect twist in my life.
“We don’t have to do this,” Quentin murmurs as he places his hand on top of mine.
“No, I want to know,” I say confidently. “It’s just…”
“Making it more real?”
“Exactly.”
Quentin releases my grip on the counter and intertwines his fingers with mine, his touch comforting.
“We’re in this together. It’s going to be scary. I’m sure we’re going to make mistakes, and that’s okay. There’s no perfect parent, except for the one who tries and loves with all they have.”
Tears well in my eyes and overflow before I can stop them, two single tears strolling down each of my cheeks.
“Fuck off, tears,” I say as I sniffle.
Using his free hand, Quentin caresses one cheek and then the other, removing them both.
“Pfft, what tears?”
That makes me laugh, and he laughs along with me.
Releasing my hand from his, I inhale and exhale deeply, then grip the stem of the wineglass.
“All right, let’s do this.”
“Okay, on the count of three, we’ll dig them in then pull them out. But we don’t look until we say it’s time,” he explains, as if he didn’t show me the video he saw a hundred times.
We both turn our heads to the side, and I begin counting. “One…two…three.”
I dig my cup into the cake, making sure I get a good chunk of it, then flip it back upright.
My entire body feels giddy with nerves and excitement, wondering what color I’m going to see when I turn around. I don’t care what color it is. I’m just excited to know who I’m bringing into this world.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he replies, sounding nervous like I was minutes ago.
