Page 107 of Second Dance
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “My beautiful wife, tell me.”
“If we took the whole gang somewhere. Kids too. For a few weeks.”
“Like a château in Tuscany? Or a house on the Amalfi Coast?”
“Maybe the south of France?” I asked.
“Anywhere you and your friends want to go, I’ll make it happen.”
“Maybe a riverboat cruise through Europe?”
We chatted happily about all the places we could go with our friends and the kids. My chest warmed with gratitude, thinking about the future and how much fun life with Alex would be.
By the time we returned to Willet Cove, I was more than ready to see the kids and tell them all about our adventures. But on the plane home, I started to feel nauseous. I wrote it off as motion sickness. However, it continued during our drive fromSan Francisco. Once, the car had to stop so I could vomit on the side of the road.
“Was it something they fed you on the plane?” Alex asked.
“It must be,” I said.
I started to feel better by the time we pulled up the driveway to Alex’s house—my house now, too, I reminded myself. The kids came running out, hugging us and telling us how happy they were we were home. We went inside to the scent of garlic and onion from whatever Sonya was making on the stove. Suddenly, I felt ill again. I ran to the bathroom to throw up. Again.
When several days passed and I was still feeling unwell, I texted my friends to apologize for missing our weekly dinner at The Pelican.
Gillian
I’m still fighting this stomach bug.
Esme
Have you taken a pregnancy test?
Delphine
Are you guys using birth control?
Gillian
Of course! Although there was one night when the condom … broke. The night we got married, actually.
Seraphina
Yeah, you need to take a test.
Lila
Oh my heavens.
Gillian
I’ll text you later after I get the result. I’m sure it’s just the flu.
An hour later, I stood in the bathroom, barefoot on the cool tile, staring down at the little white stick on the counter. My hands were shaking as I waited.
When two lines appeared, clear and undeniable, my breath caught.
Oh my God. I was pregnant.
I thought back to the first night we’d spent together as a married couple and that broken condom. I’d dismissed it as unlikely since I’d only just had my cycle. Ovulation was a week or so away. Then, I’d put it out of my mind completely. Until now.
