Page 70 of A Baby for the Firefighter
For a second or two, I wondered whether I should have told Dean that I was taking a pregnancy test, whether it would have been nice to have him here with me for this, but I didn’t want to excite or worry him unnecessarily, and I had Eli. I was alright. I just had to go through with this.
Deciding to rip the proverbial Band-Aid off, I closed the bathroom door behind me, got the test out of its packaging and went to business.
It said that I had to wait for two minutes.
Impossibly long.
Instead of standing around and waiting, I pulled my pants up, washed my hands, grabbed the test stick and took it into the living room with me.
“All done?” Eli asked. He sat on the couch and looked up as I came in.
“Kind of.” I shook the stick in my hand. “I don’t have the result yet.” Although, if I looked now, I’d probably know.
Eli stood. “Want me to tell you?”
Wordlessly, I held the stick out to him.
He took it and looked. He smiled, but I didn’t know what that meant.
“So?” I made myself ask.
His smile grew wider, as if he just couldn’t help himself. And then he said the words that sealed my fate. “Looks like it’s my turn to become an uncle.”
My mind blanked. There was a little life growing inside of me. I was going to have a baby. I wasactuallygoing to have a baby. A baby for my firefighter!
I nearly giggled, I couldn’t help myself. The part of my heart that had wished for this felt like it was going to flow over with joy. I hugged my brother.
“Congratulations!” he said.
“Thank you!” I responded, trying not to sniffle. Even though I was happy, it was a huge thing to process.
And I had no idea how Dean was going to react to this news. I was going to find out soon, though. This weekend, during the camping trip. I would tell him then.
30
Griffin
When we setout for the camping trip, part of me was excited, and part of me was scared. I had such big news to share with Dean over the weekend, and no idea how he was going to take it. I could only hope for the best. Things started out well enough. Sunny weather had been forecast for the whole weekend and as we set out into the forest, the sky above us was a cloudless blue. The mountain air mixed with the smell of the sea carried to us by a summer breeze, and nothing at all indicated that this wasn’t going to be a super fun weekend.
Even if Conner didn’t look super enthusiastic. His backpack seemed heavy, and I wondered whether he’d stacked it full of books.
But I’d brought a secret weapon to distract him; I’d brought Jake, who was already trying his best to lighten the mood.
“What do you have in there?” he asked, curiosity lighting up his features.
“Books,” Conner mumbled, confirming my suspicions.
“Cool. Do you have any comic books?”
“Uh… no.” Conner shook his head and pressed his lips together as if slightly embarrassed.
“You need to read some! They’re really cool. I’ll lend you my newest. It’s about people with all sorts of superpowers.” Jake grinned and spread his arms wide. “What would you pick if you could have a superpower?”
“I don’t know…”
“Maybe you should pick being able to breathe underwater. Then you wouldn’t have to learn how to swim!” Jake laughed.
Watching him and Conner chat reminded me of when Dean and I had been their age, bantering and teasing each other about silly things. The memory made me smile.
