“I know and I totally freaked out,” Bex said. “But the baby is fine, I’m not a big drinker thankfully.” She lifted a small black and white picture to the phone. “He/she/they … is healthy.”
“You don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “We want the surprise.”
I squinted. “Which bit is baby?”
Bex tutted. “This white blob here. See, that’s a teeny tiny foot?”
“It’s the most perfect foot I’ve ever seen,” I cooed, although I wasn’t totally sure I was looking at the right bit. But there was no way I was dampening her spirits.
“Isn’t it?” she said. “The doctor said it’s not unheard of for women to get past twenty weeks and not have any clearsymptoms. My cycle is all over the place, as you know, so I just didn’t realize.”
“How’s Dan?” I knew he’d be thrilled. The number of times he’d boasted about his nieces and nephews to me, I felt like I knew them better than I knew Bex.
“He’s over the moon.” But Bex’s voice softened into a whisper and fresh tears flowed.
“What is it?”
“His parents,” she muttered. “Well, his mum.”
“Oh no.” I knew where this was going. Dan’s mum was very religious.
“Magda is appalled. She could just about cope with us moving in together out of wedlock because we were engaged, but this?” Bex shook her head. “She wouldn’t eventalkto Dan when we broke the news. And when I said I wanted to wait until after the baby to get married, she started threatening to not come to the wedding, his dad kept banging on about how they can’t show their face at church anymore. Never mind the fact Dan hasn’t attended in years.” She swiped at her face but couldn’t halt the tears. “I’m raging.”
“I can imagine,” I said, fighting my own furious tears. “You and Dan will be brilliant parents and that baby will be so loved. Isn’t that all that matters?”
“Not to Magda!” Bex said. “Dan promised her that we’d get married sooner rather than later and now on top of preparing for a baby I have to plan a shotgun wedding to appease bloody Magda and it’s a nightmare.” She wailed. “She even wants to have approval on my wedding dress to make sure I look as unpregnant as possible!”
My heart broke for her. “Why did Dan agree to such a thing?”
“It’s his mum.” She sniffed.
“When is the wedding?”
Bex raised reddened eyes to the camera. “Four weeks,” she whispered.
“Four … ?”
“I know.” Bex’s face crumpled. “And you’ll … be … in … New … York!” Her body racked as she fought past her tears to get the words out.
“No,” I said calmly. “I’ll be by your side.”
Bex paused. “What?”
“You heard me.” It wasn’t even a decision; it was a simple fact. My best friend, my family, was in a situation and she needed me. “The pitch will be done long before then, I don’t need to hang around.”
“But don’t you want to, like, network, ride out your visa to make connections and stuff? And what about Bone— Elliot?”
Now more than ever did I want to spend more time here than planned. But Bex needed me. “Don’t worry about that.”
“Lucie, New York is everything you’ve been waiting for,” Bex insisted.
“It’s nothing compared to you!” I said. “Anyway, I need to make space for important stuff outside of work.”
“Are you kidding me?” Bex yelped, her distress temporarily muted. “Did I or did I not say this to you at Sergio’s?”
“You did and you were right,” I said meekly.
