Page 68 of Their Forever Daddy

Ginny shrugged and sniffled back tears. “I went to the doctor on Monday.”

“Bad news?”

“I don’t know, honestly. She’s pretty sure I have polycystic ovary syndrome, which apparently explains a lot of symptoms I didn’t even know were symptoms. From what she told me, it’s not the worst diagnosis in the world, and it’s fairly common.”

“And she thinks that could be why you haven’t gotten pregnant yet?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. As far as I can tell, the whole fucking thing is a crapshoot.” Anger flashed in Ginny’s eyes. “Start this medication, track your cycles for a few months, take your temperature every morning to see when you might—might—be ovulating, then come back and we’ll talk some more. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll try a new medication. And if that doesn’t work, there’s more tests and more medications until, maybe, something works. Oh, but even if it works, having this condition also means an increased likelihood of miscarriage so even if you can get pregnant that doesn’t mean it’s going to stick.”

As Ginny poured out her frustrations, the ache in Edie’s chest grew. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

“She wants me to try and lose some weight, too. Said it may help the PCOS symptoms and make it easier to conceive. Which, you know, would be fine if my entire career wasn’t built on the premise of being unapologetically fat.”

“So?”

Ginny’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and Edie nearly retreated from the bathroom. While Ginny was normally a pretty happy, bubbly personality, her temper could spike fast and without warning. “So, what the hell am I supposed to tell my followers? I’ve spent years talking about how much I love my body and encouraging people to love theirs just as they are. I’ll feel like the biggest fucking hypocrite, and people will notice if I lose a bunch of weight.”

“Have you thought about just being honest with them?”

The corners of Ginny’s mouth pulled down in a frown. “About the baby stuff?”

“Yes.”

“No. It feels too personal, you know?”

“Yeah, I can see that. But…” She hesitated, uncertain how much she should say. But Ginny wouldn’t have said anything if she hadn’t wanted her opinion. “Part of having a platform like yours is the ability to meet people where they are. And if sharing what you’re going through helps even one of your followers feel less alone, maybe it’s worth it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Sensing that anything else she had to say would just be met with resistance, Edie bent down to give her a hug. “You’ll know what to do when it’s time. You always do.”

“Yeah. I guess. Thanks, Edie.”

She left Ginny to fix herself up and made her way back to the kitchen to refill her coffee cup. While she was there, she snagged a few bottles of water for her girls and headed back to the living room.

Just as she was handing out the water, her phone buzzed. Pulling it out of her pocket before she returned to her seat, she smiled at the text notification from Grant. It was a picture of Jesse, grinning widely with powdered sugar covering half her face.

Grant

Well, this is how my morning is going. How’s yours?

Shaking her head, she tapped out a message in return.

Edie

Good. Y’all can come back whenever you want. I think I can safely promise no bloodshed.

Perfect. We’ll head back as soon as I get the little gremlin here cleaned up.

When she tucked her phone back into her pocket, she looked up to find Noelle watching her. And, for the first time since her girls had invaded, the fierce little brunette smiled.

Maybe things were still destined to blow up in her face. But if they did, she had no doubt her girls would be there to help her pick up the pieces.

Chapter 25

Jesse

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