Page 272 of Wild Card

“He threw out my birth control! Literally flushed it down the toilet the week before the wedding. He wanted a honeymoon baby. I knew the statistics of getting pregnant were slim, considering how long I’d been on the pill and it would take time to get it out of my system. Turns out, the joke’s on me. Apparently, we didn’t need a honeymoon. We didn’t even need a wedding.”

“Nothing stops the super sperm,” Jewls throws in matter-of-factly.

“Jewls!” I cry, glancing at my grandma.

“What? It’s the truth. Can you deny it?”

I shake my head. “No, birth control is no defense to these men.”

“I actually planned my pregnancy.” Harley preens proudly.

“Oh, please, you misjudged your due date by weeks. Were you off the pill?” Shalya asks.

Harley turns red. “No.”

“It was only a matter of time before your birth control failed.”

“Shayla, shut up.” Harley motions to Grandma.

“You girls think I’m an old hag? I know how babies are made,” Grandma chimes in, gleefully. “How far along are you?”

“Almost eight weeks,” Rowan answers sheepishly.

A loud pop pulls our attention to the kitchen. Mom holds up a bottle of champagne, Bex a bottle of sparkling juice. “Time to celebrate!” Mom pours.

Bex brings Rowan and me our glasses while the others rush to get the good stuff.

“Congrats to you both.”

“I’m sorry to steal your special day.” Rowan’s apology is completely unnecessary.

“Are you kidding? Thank you for taking the heat off of me.”

“We wanted to wait. Actually, I wanted to wait since it’s still early. But Ford is dying to share the news.”

“I can understand that.” We toast and she gives me a squeeze before going to the others.

Bex side-bumps me gently. “That went weirder than I expected.”

“You knew they were ambushing me?”

“Of course.”

“And you didn’t warn me?”

“Consider it payback for taking the exam without me.”

I’ve been waiting for her to exact her revenge. She may have completely understood my reasoning and was ecstatic about the baby, but she’s sneaky.

“How long are you holding that over my head?”

“Forever, unless…”

“Unless what?”

“How do you feel about the name Beck for a boy?”

I stare at her a beat and burst into giggles. What’s even more amusing is Beck Simms has a nice sound to it.

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