Danielle had a point, and she had two children to prove it. Amy nodded. “I’ll take one First Response and one EPT.”
“Wait. You’re already three days late. An EPT will work fine. The First Response is best if you’re a day or two ahead of when you expect your period.”
Amy sighed. “I can afford both.”
Danielle thought about it and shrugged. “True.”
Amy put the store brand box back on the shelf and selected the other brands. Turning to her friend, she asked, “Is there anything you need while we’re here?”
“Nah. I’m okay.”
She made her purchase, wondering if she was about to find out that she was going to be a mother. For the past week as she gave careful consideration to the possibility of having a child, she’d become interested in browsing through baby catalogues where she gauged prices for what she and Nathan might need to buy. He had the baby room made up, but he didn’t have clothes or blankets or toys.
Then her parents would come and visit. She couldn’t wait for them to see their grandchild! But first she had to tell them, and that was where Christmas came in when she and Nathan went down there to visit them. She couldn’t wait to see their faces when they told her parents the good news.
By the time she and Danielle got into her car, she had mentally planned out the baby’s gender, name, and first day of kindergarten. Of course, it was all speculation, but she couldn’t help herself. She tried to keep in mind that being late a couple of days didn’t mean she was pregnant.
“Can I take this test at your house?” she asked Danielle as she drove her friend toward her home.
“Don’t you want Nathan to be there when you take it?” Danielle replied as she fluffed her hair and examined her reflection in the visor mirror.
“No. I’d rather find out before I go home. What if I’m not pregnant? I don’t want to get Nathan’s hopes up.”
“And to think this morning when you came into work, you ran up to me and said you’re going to have a baby.” Danielle shot her an amused smirk.
Amy groaned. “I know. It’s easy to be optimistic with you.”
“I guess I can relate to that. Alright. Take the test at my house.”
Excited, Amy pulled into Danielle’s driveway and grabbed the bag. “I’m so excited!” She opened the door and jumped out.
Danielle laughed and turned off the engine. “Yeah, I kind of figured that. Here’s your keys.” She reached across the driver seat and handed them to Amy.
“Oh! Thanks.” Amy shoved them into her pocket.
Danielle led the way into the house. “I always love it this time of day right before Randy brings the kids home on Mondays. He takes the kids to his parents for a couple of hours first.” She stopped Amy and asked, “Do you hear that?”
Amy blinked and shook her head. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly. It’s quiet.” She let out a long, contented sigh. “It’s the most beautiful sound in the world.”
“Yeah, but you’d miss them if they didn’t come home.”
“Yes. You’re right. But the fact that they do come home is why I cherish these moments the most. You will too once you’ve been a mother for a couple of years. Of course, you have to have more than one to truly appreciate it. I mean, it’s having the second child that opens the doors to the fighting, the screaming, things breaking and not knowing which kid did it.” She glanced warily at Amy. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
Amy gave her friend a playful slap on the arm. “You’re horrible.”
“I’m just saying...” Danielle grinned. “Can you pee or do you need to drink some water?”
“No. I can go. Do I need to go a lot?”
“No. The instructions are right inside the box.”
Amy placed the bag on the kitchen table and pulled out both boxes. “Which one should I do?”
Danielle went to the refrigerator and pulled out a soda. “And this is why you should only buy one box. Now you have to go through this horrible internal debate on which will yield the desired result.”
“Well, which one would you pick?”
“Might as well do First Response. It’s the most sensitive.”
“How many lines is it if I’m pregnant?”
“Two. One is the control line and the other tests whether you have any hCG’s in your system.”
“HCG?” Amy asked as she picked up the First Response box.
“It’s the hormone the baby produces. If the baby is there, you have it. If the baby isn’t, you don’t. Simple as that.”
“Oh.” Amy nodded and turned the box over. “Where are the instructions?”
Danielle groaned, set her drink down and gently pushed Amy toward the bathroom. “Inside the box. Please take that test before you drive me crazy with all these questions!”
Amy opened the box while Danielle turned on the light. She pulled out one of the tests and took off the cap. “Exactly where do I pee on this? Should I pee on the whole thing?”
“Go for most of it. It’s not rocket science, Amy. You’ll do fine.” With a chuckle and an eye roll, she shut the door, leaving Amy alone.
Amy bit her lower lip and frowned as she read through the instructions. It looked simple enough. She took her time in taking the test, wondering if she peed too little or too much, but in the end, two lines showed up clear as day on the stick, and she ran out of the bathroom and yelled for Danielle.
Danielle came running down the hall with a half-eaten doughnut in her hand. “Is it positive?” she asked, her eyes shining.
“Yes!”
The two women squealed and hugged each other in the hallway outside the bathroom.
The front door opened and a rush of eager shrieks from two hyper little boys floated down the hall.
“What did I say about the quiet?” Danielle mumbled as she bit into another piece of her chocolate doughnut.
“Oh no!” came Randy’s horrified tone. “Danielle?”
“What? I’m in the hall!” she called out, looking surprised. “Did we get the credit card bill today?” She glanced at Amy and softly said, “I thought I stayed in my limit this time.”
Chase ran past her and into his bedroom with an overwhelmed Randy trailing behind with Byron tugging on his pants.
“You’re eating chocolate?” He held up the EPT pregnancy box and motioned to Danielle’s doughnut. “What...?”
Danielle burst out laughing. “Relax, Randy. It’s not me.” She motioned to Amy and smiled. “We’re going to be an unofficial aunt and uncle!”
With a loud sigh of relief, he clutched his stomach. “Thank goodness.”
“We didn’t mean to scare you, honey.” Danielle went over to him and kissed him. Then she patted his stomach with her free hand before she finished her doughnut. “You should know by now that I always keep chocolate around the house no matter what.”
Amy returned to the bathroom to collect the box with the extra test in it. She threw the used one in the trash.
When she came out of the bathroom, Randy was telling Byron, “Good news, son. You’re still the youngest!”
“Another one wouldn’t be so bad,” Danielle told him.
“Hey. Byron is the baby of this family, and he likes it that way. Don’t you, Byron?”
Byron nodded.
“He agrees to everything you say,” Danielle teased, fluffing her son’s hair. “You’re daddy’s little shadow, aren’t you?”
Chase ran out of his bedroom with an armful of cars. He bypassed them and made a beeline for the living room.
“I better get home,” Amy said, too excited to stand still.
“Okay. Let me know how Nathan reacts,” Danielle replied. “I’m sure it’ll be better than what this man over here just did.”
“Hey, I want to make sure the kids never outnumber us,” Randy argued. “They’re scary enough as it is. Can you imagine three or more?” He shuddered.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,�
�� Amy told Danielle. “Bye, Randy.” She took the other pregnancy box from his hand and left.
***
Amy came home and found Nathan sitting at his computer in the den. She frowned when she noticed his unusually somber mood as he stared at the monitor.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
She raised her eyebrows and leaned against the doorframe. “You’re looking tense for something that amounts to nothing.”
“It’s nothing that concerns you. It’s business.”
She shook her head and walked into the room. “Nathan, we’re married. That means whatever concerns you, concerns me, whether it’s business or not.”
His gaze met hers. “I don’t want to worry you.”
“Worry me?”
“Maybe that’s the wrong term.”
She took a deep breath and readied herself for whatever he was going to say. “You have to treat me like an equal, Nathan. When I married you, half of this business became mine. Now stop playing the macho male type and tell me the bad news.”
A slight smile formed on his lips. “Macho male, huh?”
She groaned.
“Okay. Fine. Jack Bently talked a fourth of my clients into investing somewhere else. I don’t want to lay anyone off, so I decided not to expand in a couple areas I’ve had my eye on since last year. We’ll have to be conservative with our spending until I get things back to normal.”
It took her a moment to comprehend what he was saying, but when she did, a sick feeling came over her. She pressed a hand over her stomach, and asked, “Is this because I asked you not to do business with him?”
“That’s the part that worried me. You would assume this was your fault.” He sighed and stood up so he could walk over to her. Rubbing her arms, he continued, “I made the decision to not sign those papers.”
“Because I said something.”
“And I’m glad you did. Amy, I don’t want to deal with men who will sleep with another man’s wife because she wants a part in a commercial, nor do I want to do business with a man who uses his influence to try to destroy someone else’s company. What you saw wasn’t pleasant, but I’m glad you told me. How else was I supposed to know who I was dealing with?”
She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “I had no idea this would happen.”
“It’s not the end of the world. Things will work out. I still have most of my connections, and I don’t have to lay anyone off to keep things going. I’ll get more connections and be back to where I was before all of this happened. When I get there, I can proceed with my plans. It’s a temporary setback. I’ve recovered from worse before.” He kissed the top of her head and held her close to him.
“You sound sure about it.”
“Of course, I’m sure. I wasn’t born into this lifestyle. I worked hard to get here. That’s what Jack Bently didn’t think about. Regardless of how hard of a hit I take, I always bounce back.”
Oddly enough, his certainty in the midst of any situation—including the one that convinced him she would ultimately stay married to him—was a great comfort to her at that moment.
“So...how was your day?” he asked, pulling away from her.
“Better than yours.” She couldn’t be quite as excited about being pregnant after this news, but some of the enthusiasm sparked inside of her. “I had Danielle show me which pregnancy tests to buy.”
Nathan’s eyebrows rose in interest. “And?”
With a shy smile and glance at where her hands rested on his chest, she said, “I’m pregnant.”
Before she knew it, he lifted her up in his arms and twirled her around. “That’s great news, honey!”
Her arms went around his neck and she laughed. “Nathan! I’m going to get dizzy.”
“Sorry. We don’t want to do that.” He set her feet back on the ground and grinned at her. “I knew it wouldn’t be long.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Apparently, whatever you want, you get.”
“Works for me.” He kissed her soundly on the lips. “I say we’re going to have a girl.”
“You’re impossible. You can’t order up a girl or a boy.”
“Sure, I can. You said it yourself. I get whatever I want, and I want a cute little girl who’ll finally get her mother to go shopping so she’ll buy things for herself. I hear mothers and daughters enjoy lots of shopping sprees.”
“I’m not going on a shopping spree until things are back to normal for the business. It wouldn’t be right.”
“I don’t think it’ll take that long. A year at the most.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He put his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the den. “I hope you learn to trust me. I know what I’m talking about. Now, what do you want to eat tonight? I’ll even help you cook if you give me a simple task.”
Feeling more optimistic about the future for the agency, she decided on barbeque chicken.
Chapter Twenty-Four
December 20
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Amy unbuckled the seatbelt as the cabin lights came on. Nathan stood to grab their carry-on bags from the overhead compartment before he moved aside so Amy could walk in front of him. The flutter in her womb matched the flutter in her heart. She hadn’t been to Florida since the day she and Sean left for Omaha. Visiting her parents had been long overdue, but she was here now and that was all that mattered.
“Are you ready to see the emerald coast up close?” she asked Nathan, absentmindedly recalling how she’d bragged about the Florida beaches during the interview. “I do recall you had a peculiar interest in it.”
He followed her off the plane. “I am interested.”
She glanced at him and couldn’t tell if he was humoring her or if he meant it. But she decided it didn’t matter. It was nice to be bringing him to where she grew up, and one of the stops had to be the beach.
They exited the gate and saw her parents by one of the windows.
“Mom! Dad!” she called out and ran over to hug them. She wrapped her arms around them and held them close.
“Now we don’t want to hurt the baby,” her father said.
“You’re not going to hurt her,” Amy promised. “And I’m not fragile just because I’m pregnant.”
Her mother looked expectantly at her. “May I?” She motioned to Amy’s belly.
“Yes, but I can’t guarantee she’ll kick for you.” Amy placed her mother’s hand on her stomach and over a body part that pressed against her womb. “I think this is an elbow, but it could be a knee.”
As if on cue, the baby moved.
Her mother laughed with delight. “It’s such a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Amy admitted.
“How far along are you now?”
“Thirty-one weeks.”
Her parents gave her a questioning look.
“Seven months,” she clarified.
They nodded and smiled to each other, obviously thrilled with the impending birth of their first grandchild.
Amy glanced at Nathan who stood to the side and watched them with contentment. “Come on over.” She waved him forward. “You’re a part of this family too. It isn’t all about the baby.”
Nathan obeyed, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. He switched the carry-on bag to the other hand and placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “It’s good to see you again,” he told her parents.
“You too,” her father said, patting his back. “I got a friend who’ll be joining us for golf. That is, if you think you can handle going up against me and another pro.”
“Bring it on,” Nathan dared, his eyes shining with mirth. “I’ve been practicing.”
“So have I,” he replied, looking undaunted by the unspoken threat.
Amy turned her attention back to her mother who asked, “So you’re sure it’s a girl?”
“Nathan had the ultrasound technician check several tim
es. There’s no doubt about it,” Amy said. “I shouldn’t be surprised the baby’s a girl. Nathan predicted it.” Though she rolled her eyes, she couldn’t keep the humor out of her voice.
“We even have a name picked out,” Nathan inserted. “It’s one of Amy’s favorites.”
“Yes. I like Amber,” Amy said.
“Fine name,” her father replied.
“Well, let’s go downstairs and get your luggage,” her mother said. “We’ll get you settled at the condo and then head on out. This time dinner is on us.”
Her father nodded. “Yes. We can’t have you paying for everything all the time.”
“That’s right,” Amy told Nathan as they walked down the corridor. “And you’ll just have to deal with it.”
***
On Christmas Eve, Nathan scanned the mini golf course and looked at Amy’s dad. “This isn’t quite what I had in mind, Terry.”
Terry chuckled. “I know. That’s why I wanted to see your face when you got here. I should have specified that Tyrone Johnson is bringing his two grandsons along. He and I go way back to when we were kids.”
Nathan sighed with relief. He didn’t feel so bad playing a man’s game on a kiddie course with actual kids. One day, he’d have to take his children out and train them to putt the ball before taking them onto bigger courses.
“Don’t worry. Tomorrow, we’ll go to an actual golf course,” Terry assured him.
“Hi there, Terry!” an African American man called out with two boys in tow who looked to be in elementary school. “It’s a good thing I brought the sunglasses. That shirt is even brighter than the last one.”
Terry glanced at his bright orange shirt with palm trees on it. “I got a good deal on this one.”
Tyrone laughed. “They were practically giving it away, huh?” He leaned forward and shook Nathan’s hand. “So, you’re the son-in-law who gave Terry here a run for his money on the golf course up in Omaha.”
“Oh? Was I that good?” Nathan’s eyebrow rose as he glanced at Terry.
“Besides Tyrone here, you came closest to beating me.”
“One of these days, I’ll succeed,” Nathan good-naturedly promised. “If there’s one thing I love, it’s a challenge.”
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