Chapter 24 #2
“Oh my God,” Max said as a huge smile lit up his handsome face. “Lex! We’re pregnant!” He let out such a loud whoop that the nurse shushed him. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly, “but this is the best news ever.” He leaned in to hug her as tightly as he could. “We’re having a baby!”
Tears slid down her cheeks as pure joy filled her heart. She and Max were having a baby!
He brushed away her tears and kissed her. “Best news ever.”
“Y’all are too cute,” Beverly said.
“They told me I probably couldn’t get pregnant after treatment,” Lexi said, astounded by the news. “I… I froze eggs before…”
“Well,” Beverly said, smiling, “they were wrong.”
They took an Uber back to the rest stop.
“I’m still in shock,” Lexi said when they were on the road again. “That’s normal, right?”
“Sure is. This is my second time being shocked by a baby, so I can attest it’s entirely normal.”
Lexi turned in her seat to look at him as he drove them toward Alabama.
She’d been given fluids to make her feel better and told to acquire prenatal vitamins, which they planned to do when they stopped for the night.
“You said all the right things back there, but I wouldn’t blame you for being upset about this.
After all, I told you we didn’t need birth control. ”
He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m not at all upset. I’m thrilled.”
“What will Caden think?”
“He’ll be excited to be a big brother,” Max said.
Lexi hoped that was true. “He’s had you all to himself, and now he’ll have to share you with me and the baby.”
“It’ll be okay. He’ll have months to get used to the idea. What about you? This isn’t what you had planned either.”
“My brain is spinning. I’m signed up for classes that start in January, and I’ve applied for some jobs.”
“You don’t have to work if you don’t want to.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you really don’t.” He shifted in his seat, seeming uncomfortable. “So here’s the thing… Since the catalog debuted, the family business has exploded. Like, we’ve gone from a two-million-dollar-a-year operation to like fifty million last year. It’s insane and growing every year.”
“Whoa. I had no idea.”
“Since my parents bought out the rest of my mom’s siblings years ago, my grandfather, parents and all of us kids are the owners, so we get dividends every year.
Big dividends. My grandfather directs his to the rest of the family so everyone benefits, so when I say you don’t have to work, I mean it. ”
“That’s amazing. You’ve all worked so hard to build up that business. I’m so happy for you.”
“Be happy for us. We can do whatever we want. If you want to just focus on school, you can do that.”
“It’s very generous of you to want to take care of me.”
“I do want that. I’ll get you added to our health insurance ASAP.”
“I have good insurance that my parents have paid for to keep me covered while I was sick.”
“I can take that over now.”
“Max… You don’t have to do all that. I’ve sort of been looking forward to having a job for the first time since I was a teenager working for your family store on the weekends. I loved that job.”
“We can find you something in the company,” he said, glancing at her. “Whatever you want, but you don’t have to.”
“I want to. I’ve never had a chance to be independent, and I’m not saying I want to be independent of you. That’s the last thing I want. I just want to know that if I had to take care of myself, I could.”
“You’ll never have to.”
“Still… I’ve missed out on so many things. Just having a job again will be a luxury to me. Does that make any sense?”
“It does, and I understand that you have things you want to do. I’ll never stand in the way of that, but you may find it’s too much to work and go to school while you’re pregnant. If that’s the case, I just want you to know you don’t have to work if you don’t feel up to it.”
“That’s very good to know, and I appreciate your generosity.”
“I’m not being generous, Lexi. We’re going to be a family. You and me and Caden and our baby and other babies we’re going to have. What’s mine is yours.”
Lexi fanned her face. “I’m going to need a minute to get my head around all this.”
“Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere except to Vermont with you.”
“In case I forget to tell you later… the day I fainted at the Mississippi rest stop will always be one of the best days of my entire life.”
“Mine, too, but I could’ve done without the ambulance and the emergency room.”
Lexi giggled. “Sorry about that.”
“I’ll let it go this one time because I got a baby out of it, but in the future, let’s keep the drama to a minimum for the sake of Max’s nerves, okay?”
She laughed again. “I’ll see what I can do about that.”
“Thank you.”
“I was so sure the leukemia was back,” she said softly.
“So was I. It was all I could think about.”
“We’ll always be a little extra thankful for this baby because he or she wasn’t that.”
“Yes, we will.” He took his eyes off the road to glance over at her. “What do you want it to be? Boy or girl?”
“I’m still so shocked to be pregnant that I’ll take either as long as he or she is healthy. What about you?”
“Either is fine with me, but I wouldn’t say no to a little girl who can wrap me around all ten of her tiny fingers.”
“I’d really like to see that,” Lexi said with a sigh.
For the rest of her life, Lexi would never forget this miraculous day.