Page 79 of Goodbye Paradise
She shook her head. “Not a thing, Josh. But pregnant women are supposed to get a lot of checkups. She hasn’t had a single one. So they’ll scan her belly and try to figure out when that baby is going to drop. She thinks it could be as soon as Christmas.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Maggie grinned. “Would this be a terrible time to mention that I’m also pregnant?”
I choked on my coffee.
Maggie laughed. “Sorry! I should have timed that better. I mean the statement. Not the baby.”
“Oh my God.”
“Wow, now I have Josh swearing.”
“Congratulations! I just didn’t expect it.”
“Apparently Daniel and I are very fertile. It was a ‘first try’ situation.”
That was more information than I really needed. “So when…?”
“May. And the doctor told me right away that I wouldn’t necessarily have postpartum depression again. It’s not a given.”
I reached across and squeezed her hand. “Even if you do we’ll make it through.”
She squeezed back. “Damn straight.”
“Hi,” a shy voice said.
We turned to see Miriam in a nightgown and bathrobe, peering at us.
“Sweetie, come here!” Maggie leapt up. “Let’s get you some breakfast.”
“I slept and slept. And you have no idea,” Miriam said, hugging her sister, “how amazing it was to wake up here.”
“Actually,” Maggie said, releasing her, “both Josh and I knowexactlyhow amazing it is. We do it every day.”
Miriam laughed. “I’m just so happy I might spend the day crying.”
“I think we’re going to spend it digging my maternity clothes out of the attic instead.” She pointed at the loaf of bread on the counter. “We have toast and juice. And I can scramble you an egg…”
“Don’t forget the coffee,” I put in. “Coffee is one of the pleasures of leaving the Compound.”
“Where’s Caleb?” Miriam asked.
“At work,” Maggie said, dropping a slice of bread into the toaster.
“Did he seem okay to you last night?” Miriam asked. “I thought he was… off.”
Maggie turned to look at me, which meant that Miriam also turned to look at me.
“Um…” I said, blushing. “He was kind of quiet, right? I couldn’t get a word out of him last night.”
Leaning a hip against the counter, Maggie frowned. “He didn’t talk to you?”
“Well…” I rubbed the whiskers on my chin. “I think he’s freaked out that Miriam had a rough time.”
“I’m going to be fine,” Miriam protested. “I just slept for eleven hours.”
“I know you are,” Maggie said gently. “You don’t have anything to prove.”
