I’m sitting in the back with Holly leaning against me. She’s so pale and while I don’t know how it’s even possible, she’s lost even more weight since we got married five days ago.
He looks in the rearview mirror as I speak, merely nodding at my words. “Esther said something wasn’t right and that she has her suspicions but wouldn’t tell me what they were.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I smirk because I have my own ideas about what’s going on with my wife. I tried mentioning it to her once and she was so adamant that it couldn’t be possible, I decided to keep it to myself.
“I don’t think this is necessary,” Holly grumbles. “It’s just a stomach flu or something, is all.”
“Most of those resolve in a few days, pumpkin,” Paul gently tells her.
“Whatever,” she grouches, crossing her hands across her chest. I kiss the top of her head and grin at Paul who merely shakes his head.
In no time at all, we’re pulling into the doctor’s office and after Paul gets my chair out of the back of the truck, I transfer over then motion for Holly to climb onto my lap. She huffs and rolls her eyes but does it which has Paul chuckling as he follows us inside.
“There’s no way I’m pregnant,” Holly tells the nurse who is holding out the cup for her to give a urine sample.
“Mrs. Sherman, the doctor wants to rule everything out, including a possible urinary tract infection, so you need to provide us with a sample,” the nurse reiterates, having already told her twice.
“Ugh, fine. I hope I can squeeze out enough seeing as I haven’t been able to hold down anything for almost a week now,” Holly says, grabbing the cup. Giving me a glare, she stomps off to the restroom while I look at the nurse.
“It’s possible she could be,” I admit. “The night before my accident we had sex.”
“Pregnancy is always a possibility unless you’re abstaining from sex,” she replies. “I’m sure it’s been a lot with everything you’ve obviously gone through as well.”
“She’s been a saint through all of it,” I admit. “She never left my side when I was in the hospital, then was with me in rehab every single day.”
“You’ve got a good woman,” the nurse says as we see Holly exit the restroom. She still has an obstinate look on her face, but it clears when she sees me.
“Okay, where to now?” Holly asks.
“You’ll be in Room Three,” the nurse announces. “Follow me.”
“How did this happen?” Holly murmurs, looking down at the paperwork the woman at the checkout handed her as we leave.
“I know your grandmother taught you about the birds and the bees,” I tease.
She huffs out a breath and stares at me. “Really? You’ve got jokes?”
“Honey, this isn’t a bad thing,” I remind her. “The girls are gonna be so excited, don’t you think?”
A look of wonder crosses her face at my words as she nods. “They really will be but who knows what they’re going to request.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, they’re too young for us to explain that whether it's a boy or a girl depends on you. Not wishes to shooting stars, or prayers, or anything else,” she replies.
As I help her into the truck, Paul is there to make sure I transfer safely, then he gets my wheelchair into the back before he slides into the driver’s seat and buckles up.
“Everything good?” he finally asks once we’re on the road toward home.
“Pappy, you’re going to have a new great-grandchild in about six or so months, give or take,” Holly replies.
His smile splits his face almost in two as he says, “Well, I’ll be. Your grammy was right.”
“Grammy knew?” Holly asks.
“She suspected that’s what was going on,” Paul replies. “But she also took into consideration how emotional you’ve been too.”
“Shoulda just asked Grammy I guess,” she murmurs, making me chuckle. She mock glares at me then states, “You know I’m gonna get as big as a house. I did with both girls.”