Page 29 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

“What did the doctor mean, when she said ‘in your condition’?” I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. I needed to know that she was okay.

“Caught that, huh?” She sighed, “I have a bicornuate uterus.”

“A bi-what?”

She laughed a little at my confusion. “It’s a double-sided uterus, basically a heart where it should be just a hollow ‘U’ shaped.”

“I don’t understand.” I admitted, because what did it matter what her uterus looked like?

“It’s rare, and most women who have it have trouble getting pregnant, but if by some miracle they get pregnant, they have a higher chance of miscarrying.” I watched her shrug out of the corner of my eye.

“How will that affect you and the baby?” I was so curious, I didn’t know anything about this. But I was going to do every bit of research I could on the matter.

“As long as I continue to do what I’ve been doing, I think both of us will be okay.”

“Is there anything I can do to make it easier?” I wanted to fix all of her problems, but this wasn’t one I could tackle on my own.

She twisted her body toward mine and smiled, “Just show up.”

I drove us back to her tiny apartment in silence once more. I knew she wasn’t trying to hurt me by reminding me to show up, but my thoughts were working overdrive to think of all the things I needed to research and understand.

When I pulled up to the door she hopped out before I could stop her.

“I’ll let you know if there are any updates.” She said laying the envelope of sonograms on the seat.

Aaron called as I backed the truck out of my spot in front of Ronnie’s place.

“Hey, man!” His cheery voice boomed over the speakers. “How’d it go?”

“It was…I-I don’t even know man. Unreal.” Words failed me again. There were so many I could use to describe it, too many words, wild, surreal, unbelievable. In the same breath, there weren’t nearly enough.

“I can’t imagine.” He said.

We sat in silence for a moment, that was our friendship. We enjoyed the silence together, no need to fill the peace with needless words.

“I have a favor to ask.” Aaron broke the silence, his tenor was serious.

“Sure.”

“Meet me at the address I just texted you?”

I agreed and plugged in the address to my phone. Following the winding back streets of our small town I spotted Aaron standing beside his truck, shoulders pressed back looking at three houses sitting side by side. All with for sale signs in their yards.

I pulled into the drive where he had parked and got out. “You and Bellamy thinking about buying a house?”

He turned to face me, cheeks a little pink from the cold and nodded. “Follow me.”

Trailing behind him up the drive he practically vibrated with energy. He took the small steps two at a time, booted feet stomping the freshly stained wood.

He plugged a code into the lock box around the door handle and out fell a key. Unlocking the door he waved me in. The place was empty, which made sense for a new build. I could still smell the paint drying on the walls and the sweet smell of cut lumber.

The kitchen was to the right, a big island topped in black and white marble dominated the space. Olive green cabinets lined the walls, and black matte appliances sat in their places with yellow stickers still attached.

“It’s bigger than what we originally planned on.” Aaron started, “but I figure we’ll grow into it.”

I nodded, still eyeing the space. The living room was to the left, a stone fireplace sat in the corner. Stairs split the two rooms straight in front of the door we walked through. It didn’t, however, interrupt the flow of the house.

“And there’s the house next door…”

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