Page 81 of Another June with You

She smiled up at him. “Same.”

He took hold of her shoulders and rotated her to face the water again, his hands sliding around her, palms resting on her stomach. “How soon until you start showing?”

She shrugged and smoothed her shirt tightly across her belly. “I have a little bulge, don’t you think?”

He laughed amusedly. “If you say so.”

“I want to show so bad. I want everyone to know I’ve got our baby growing in here.” She spun and threw her arms around him. Some days the happiness could not be contained. It bubbled up inside her until she was ready to burst or run through the neighborhood shouting with joy. She’d never been so happy. “This baby is a miracle.”

“Our miracle.”

“From God.” They spoke in unison and started to laugh. It was what Nana had said every time she saw them after they made the announcement to the family.

Their little miracle from God.

Shannon didn’t know if it was all her healthy eating over the years that had improved her chances of naturally conceiving. She was sure that had helped, but she and Micah knew the truth.

Shannon had become pregnant after only three months of trying—not years, as so many couples who struggled with infertility had to endure—and they truly believed God had made it happen for them. He had given them their dream of having a child together.

Maybe it would be their only child. Who knew how PCOS would affect her body going forward. But for now, she was going to take it easy and pray the pregnancy would be normal and end with a strong, healthy baby.

As they stood on the deck of what would soon be their home—another dream come true—she thought about the September night when they received the best news of their life.

“You’re making me even more nervous than I already am,” Shannon told Micah, who was pacing a hole in the carpet.

“How many minutes has it been?” He glanced at the clock in the kitchen once again.

“I set a timer. Come here and hold my hand.”

He sat down beside her and took her hand in his just as the timer on Shannon’s phone went off. They both jumped to standing and walked together to the bathroom, where the pregnancy test lay on the surface of the sink.

For the past few months, it had been a series of negative tests. Her periods had become irregular since she stopped taking birth control, making it easy to get their hopes up. But the one thing they decided before they were married was that she would stop taking the pill, and if she got pregnant the old-fashioned way, then great. And if not—if her cycle got too messed up again and caused her pain—then they weren’t going to stress about it, and she would go back on them. They didn’t want to go through the whole in vitro fertilization route, at least not at that early point in their marriage, so they left it up to nature and God.

“I can’t look,” Shannon said. “You look.”

Micah picked up the test. “Okay, so two lines means pregnant and one means not pregnant, right?”

“Right,” she gazed at him hopefully.

He pressed his lips together. “One line.”

Her shoulders sank. “Okay.” She nodded over and over as if to convince herself this was all right. “It’s okay.”

He touched her chin to get her to look at him. “I love you.”

She grinned over at him. “I love you too.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Annnd … a second line.”

She jerked back and stared at him. “What?”

“Two lines.” A huge smile spread across his face.

“Micah!” She smacked him on the arm and yanked the test from his hand. Sure enough, two lines showed up nice and dark pink.

“So, now what?”

“Now, you kiss your wife.”

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