Chapter Five #2
A few months passed and Brooke’s tension slowly ebbed.
Anna was blooming back into herself. She was still a bit tender around the subject of children, they hadn’t really talked about any other options since that day, but her smile was back, and her real, full laugh.
The kind that warmed Brooke to her core.
She was passionate again. Passionate about cooking, about life, in the way that she kissed and touched.
Brooke knew that she was still hurting, but she was thankful that wound seemed to be healing and she was hopeful it was a conversation they could work up to again. What does Plan B look like? Brooke wasn’t sure, but she knew that sooner or later, they would talk about it.
Viv, at dinner that Monday, waited until Anna had gone to check on a table before she leaned over and asked, “so, have you two started to talk about it again?”
In the seat next to Vivienne, Chris visibly stiffened, her gaze cutting quickly to Viv’s, the fire in her eyes screamed: I told you not to bring this up at dinner.
But Brooke didn’t mind. She was, however, still incredibly fascinated by the telepathy that had seemed to form between Christine and Vivienne since they had finally and officially gotten together about a year ago.
She most enjoyed the moments she could read.
Her two best friends starting to date had worried her, obviously she’d shown nothing but support, but she had worried for her friend group.
The only person she’d ever admitted that to had been Anna who had been so reassuring as Brooke had finally let out the fact that she was worried that Chris and Viv might one day break up and then her friend group would have imploded and she’d be lost without them.
Fortunately, at least so far, her fears seemed to be unfounded. Christine and Vivienne seemed stronger than ever, despite the fact that they were very clearly arguing with each other without actually saying any words.
Brooke cleared her throat. “It’s okay, Chris.
I’m okay with Viv’s question. Thanks for your care though.
Both of you. We really appreciate it.” She forced a small smile.
“We haven’t really talked about what we’re going to try next, but I’m hopeful it’s something we can discuss soon.
” Brooke’s gaze found her wife, animatedly in a pleasant conversation with a table across the restaurant.
Her eyes watered a bit. “I really wanted a tiny Anna, if I’m honest. I know that I need to be there for her.
She’s gone through so much and this really just hit her like a sucker punch to the gut, but dammit if I’m not sad, too. ”
Christine reached across the table and grabbed Brooke’s hand. “Did they say if her eggs were viable?”
Brooke bit her bottom lip. “I admittedly don’t know.” She forced her gaze up to the ceiling. “After I gathered what news the doctor was trying to tell us, I kind of just heard a high pitched buzzing sound, and all of my focus went to Anna.”
Another brief conversation was had through looks and eyebrow raises across from her. She didn’t follow this one.
It was Viv who had clearly been elected to speak. “Have you considered carrying, but using Anna’s eggs? Assuming they’re still viable, of course.”
She hadn’t. It wasn’t something they had ever talked about really, not after their initial conversations surrounding their desire to have a kid.
Brooke hadn’t wanted to continue the Kent line.
She had meant it when she’d told Anna just after getting engaged that the pressure of the Kents would end with her.
She’d also never had that longing urge to carry or birth a child that so many women seemed to possess.
So, with Anna genuinely wanting to carry, it had just made sense. Until it was no longer a possibility.
Brooke shook her head no. “Not that I wouldn’t. We just haven’t considered that before.”
“Considered what?” Anna asked, returning to their table and sliding into the seat next to Brooke.
The three friends floundered. They hadn’t realized Anna was about to return.
Brooke had gotten lost in their question.
Lost in how ridiculous she felt for never having considered the possibility of being the one to carry.
She didn’t know how Anna would react to the suggestion.
She didn’t know if it would add salt to the wound or heal the ache that had settled over them.
The silence at the table was deafening. Anna looked between the three of them confused. Not even Vivienne could come up with a response. They all just sat there, stunned.
“Well shit,” Anna said, sinking back into her seat. “What did I just interrupt?” She forced a laugh, but the tension didn’t shift away.
Christine flinched, but bit the bullet for the rest of them. “Anna, we really don’t have to talk about this, and we weren’t trying to overstep.”
“It was my fault, anyway,” Viv added, with a truly apologetic glance to Brooke.
“We had asked Brooke if she had considered carrying your eggs, given the circumstances,” Christine said, her voice as gentle as humanly possible. “But we weren’t sure if that was an option, or something you or Brooke would be open to,” she added.
Brooke’s gaze never left her wife’s profile. She’d whisk her back to her office in a heartbeat if needed. But she was suddenly desperate to know the answer. If a tiny Anna was at all possible, she would jump at the possibility.
Anna’s eyes watered. She bit her thumb nail, a habit that had reformed over the past couple of months.
Her hand found Brooke’s thigh, stilling the bounce that Brooke hadn’t realized had started.
“I um, I mean I would be open to it, but I didn’t think you wanted to carry.
” Her answer was entirely directed at Brooke despite the fact that Brooke had absolutely not been the one to ask the question.
A small smile pulled up at the edges of Brooke’s lips, she couldn’t help it. “I think we’ve found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the only circumstance that would ever have me even remotely interested.” She grabbed Anna’s hand. “I’d carry a tiny you.”
Anna visibly swallowed back her emotions. “Okay, well. Maybe this is a conversation we continue at home? And then maybe we make an appointment for sometime next week?”
Brooke nodded, quickly. “Alright, Darling. It’s a plan.” Her heart soared. It was a plan. It was a very good plan.
“So,” Vivienne said, smiling the tiniest bit mischievously. “Does this mean I get naming rights?”
“No,” Christine said, quickly. “But it does mean you don’t have to sleep on the couch tonight.”
That got a much needed chuckle out of the group.
Vivienne shrugged. “I’ll take the win.”
Brooke’s leg bounced incessantly as the timer counted down. She wanted to flip the stick over and look, but she knew they needed to wait. Anna hadn’t even tried to stop the bounce of Brooke’s nerves. She was chewing on her thumbnail with a vigor that made Brooke’s nervous tick look tame.
“It’s going to be fine,” Anna announced. Not that she had peeked at the stick, or that Brooke had needed her to say it. It was just clearly something that Anna needed said.
So, Brooke echoed it. “You’re right, Darling. It’s going to be fine. No matter what.”
“Exactly. It’s not like we put all my eggs in this basket,” Anna held back her smile, not wanting to laugh at her own ridiculous joke in the midst of their stress. But the joke broke both of them.
Brooke was still too much of a sucker for wordplay—and Anna—to not laugh.
They were still in the middle of falling apart when the timer went off.
They fell silent immediately, turning to look at each other rather than at the plastic test in front of them, face down on a paper plate, on their coffee table.
“Do you want me to look?” Anna asked.
Brooke didn’t want her to have to do that.
She didn’t know that Anna could take another blow, but either way, they’d both know in a second.
“You don’t have to touch my pee stick,” she tried to joke, anything to lessen the knot in the pit of her stomach.
She reached out, careful to grab the toilet paper they had wrapped around the part that didn’t have the tiny screen.
She held her breath as she turned the test over. Her eyebrows lifted, nearly disappearing into her hairline. Everything stood still. She turned the test so that Anna could read the small, digital screen: Pregnant.
“You did it,” Anna whispered, her voice filled with a thousand different emotions. “Brooke, you’re actually pregnant.”
“I’m carrying your baby,” Brooke couldn’t stop her tears. This was too much. She was too happy. She didn’t know if there had ever been a moment in her life that she had been this happy. A highlight reel flashed through her mind. Snapshots of Anna, mostly, and now this.
Anna squeaked, the loudest, happiest squeak, before pulling Brooke into the world’s happiest hug. “We’re going to be parents.”
“We are,” Brooke didn’t bother wiping her tears, she just buried her face deeper in Anna’s shoulder, breathing in the comfort of her wife.
Anna pulled back a little, a look of surprise on her face. “We have to pick out names, and put together a nursery, and tell people. Holy shit, this is real.”
Brooke let out a little chuckle. “Yes, Love, we have to do all those things.” She pressed a kiss to her wife’s forehead.
“You know we have to wait a bit though, right? Like we need to make a doctor’s appointment to confirm this wasn’t a faulty test and then we have to wait several weeks until we can start sharing. ”
Anna nodded, but her smile was the widest it had been in so long. “I know. But maybe just maybe, you could humor me with the name idea?”
“Okay,” Brooke put her pregnancy test back down on the paper plate before she leaned back on the couch so she could better see her wife. “I had a thought for a girl’s name.”
Anna lit up, “tell me.”
“Ava,” Brooke said, a small smile lifting at the corner of her lips “Ava Maria.”
Anna groaned, “Like Ave Maria?” She shook her head. “That’s awful. Veto.”
“Okay, Anna Graham. Ruining all the fun here, but okay,” Brooke teased.
She also reached out and pulled Anna closer, so that Anna was nearly snuggled on top of her.
It reminded her of that night, years ago that Anna had come over to take domestic photos with her.
Anna had been right. After a few months of dating, photos of each other and them together, filled Brooke’s phone.
“We should take a picture of this,” she said, running her fingers through Anna’s hair.
“Yeah?” Anna asked, digging through Brooke’s front pocket to grab her phone. She handed it over as soon as she had fished it out, snuggling in deeper while Brooke got the camera app opened and flipped to face them.
The photo was so similar to their first together like this. They could feel their energy reflecting back at them from the phone screen; Nervous as hell, but filled with so much excitement it could power a city.
Brooke quickly made it the background on her phone, replacing a photo of the two of them from their wedding.
“How are you so perfect?” Anna whispered, resting her head on Brooke’s chest.
“Hmm,” Brooke hummed, knowing the rumble would make Anna laugh. “I think the woman I married deserves me at my best. Always.”
Anna tilted her head up, just enough to press a kiss to the underside of Brooke’s jaw. “Well, the woman you married is pretty fucking lucky.”