Chapter 7
SEVEN
SOPHIE
One week later, the walls of the doctor’s office seem like they’re about to fall in on me.
“I’m pregnant.”
Dr. Bennet smiles at me. “That’s what both the urine and the blood sample say.”
“How… I mean… how…” I rub my hand across my brow. “How did I become pregnant?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Do you really need me to explain the science of conception after everything we’ve already gone over?”
“No, of course not.” My cheeks flush, and I drop my hand in my lap. “I just don’t understand how I could’ve gotten pregnant. It was one time.”
“That’s all it takes.”
“Yeah, but… I didn’t think it was even possible.” I frown as I attempt to do some math in my head, but the dates and numbers all blur together. “I’m supposed to be ovulating now.”
“That’s what we thought. But given how irregular your cycle has been in the past, it’s not totally out of the question that it happened a little earlier.”
“A week seems like more than a little early.”
She lifts her shoulders. “The human body is a fascinating, often confusing, thing.”
Somehow, that does little to comfort me. The panic inside of me is growing by the second, making it a not-so-perfect marriage with the confusion I’m already battling.
“The thing is, I took an ovulation test at home last night and—”
“You really shouldn’t have done that.” The doctor frowns at me. “Doing one of those at home the night before insemination is only going to make you nervous.”
“But I don’t need to be inseminated,” I remind her, even though I hardly believe the words coming out of my own mouth.
“No, you don’t.” She frowns suddenly. “Wait, did something happen that you weren’t fully aware of. Did someone—”
“No, nothing like that.” I can feel my cheeks growing hot and red. “I… Well, I had sex for the first time in a long time last week. It was… consensual. Completely consensual. I had a chance and I figured, why not have one last hurrah.”
Not to mention it was one of the single most thrilling experiences of my life. But I’ve probably already crossed way into TMI with my doctor. She only needs to know so much about my sex life, and I’ve given her way more than that.
“Is there a problem with the biological father?”
“No.” I shake my head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with him at all.”
Heck, I spent most of my twenties fantasizing about marrying Cliff and having lots and lots of babies with him. But those were fantasies. Impossible ones.
Even though one small part of that fantasy came true, and I got to have one amazing night with Cliff, it doesn’t change the fact that he made it very clear he isn’t interested in being a father or husband.
Well, like it or not, he’s about to be one of those. That is if I tell him.
“It’s just…” I flail my hand around, scrambling to find the words. “We used condoms.”
Oops. More TMI. God knows what she thinks about me now.
“Condoms can break.”
“I didn’t notice that it had.”
“You don’t always.” Dr. Bennet tilts her head to the side.
“Movies and TV shows make it out that everything involved with reproduction is a big, well, production. But sometimes, especially if those little guys are really determined, it doesn’t take much of a hole for them to get through to find the prize. ”
“The prize being my egg.”
She nods, still watching me carefully. “I realize this is all a bit of a surprise for you.”
I release my breath. “That’s putting it lightly.”
“And you probably need some time to think about this and how it affects your plans.”
“I haven’t even gotten that far in my thinking.”
“But”—Dr. Bennet takes my hand and waits until I meet her gaze—“whatever you decide to do, I’ll be here for you. Just… give yourself a little time to think.”
***
The pounding on my front door stirs me from my stupor.
I’ve been lying on my sofa, curled up like a ball, staring at the wall ever since I got home from my doctor’s appointment.
For hours, I’ve played everything over and over in my mind. Starting with the night we spent together. Did anything seem off about the condoms? It’s not like it was expired or anything. It came in the swag pack Maria put together for the bachelorette party.
Unless they were novelty condoms and not meant for use in a real situation.
Oh, crap. I should probably send a group text out to everyone who went to the party to let them know that there might be an issue with the condoms. Of course, then I’ll have to tell everyone how I know. That will open up a host of questions I’m definitely not prepared to answer just yet.
Not even a little.
Replaying Cliff and I’s night together did little more than get my cheeks all flushed again. And aroused.
I may be going through a bit of a personal crisis, but I’d have to be going through a lot more not to think about that night without getting a little squirrely.
I think about the ovulation tests.
The charts.
The vitamins.
The medicine.
The months of tracking my period.
All of it for nothing.
Well, not nothing. It’s actually the farthest thing from nothing. I’m pregnant. I’m having a baby. Cliff’s baby.
And that fact makes me want to burst into tears of both complete joy and total misery.
What am I going to do?
The pounding on my front door erupts again. Oh, shoot. I’d forgotten about that. I run a hand through my tangled hair. I’m not really in the state to see anyone. Besides, it’s either someone delivering a package—and they can just leave it—or it’s someone selling something that I don’t want.
Unless… Don’t the Girl Scouts usually come knocking in February?
God knows a couple of boxes of cookies wouldn’t be the worst thing to have on hand right now. After all, I am stress-eating for two now.
Pushing myself up from the couch, I make my way to the front door. I’m just reaching for the handle when Winter calls out my name.
I freeze. Winter. My best friend. No, she’s not just that anymore. She’s the sister of my baby’s father. Their aunt. I press a hand to my belly.
“Sophie,” she calls out again. “Open the door. You haven’t been answering any of my calls or texts. But I know you’re in there.”
Wishing I could just disappear into the ground for a few minutes until I can figure out what to say, I fight the urge to groan as I open the door.
Her eyes widen. “Whoa, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I put on as bright of a smile as I can muster. “Of course, I don’ t look as good as you, what with your sun-streaked hair and glowing tan.”
I open the door wider and she comes inside, still eying me with suspicion. She shakes her head. “No, I’ve had a feeling something has been up for a while. I let it go during the wedding, because—I’m sorry to say it—I just didn’t have the bandwidth. But now that it’s over, I need you to spill.”
She has no idea how badly I want to tell her everything. How much I could use a friend right now.
Maybe there’s a way to tell her without having to tell her everything. No, that’s not fair either. She deserves to know the truth. Cliff does, too.
I motion to the couch. “I think you should sit down for this.”
Pacing circles around my tiny living room, I tell her everything. From the beginning. About my plans to start a family. About the steps I took to get there. About how I decided to throw caution to the wind and have one last fling with her brother, of all people.
The more I tell her, the easier it is for it all to come out.
And when I get to the end, about my appointment this morning, I finally work up the courage to look at her.
The expression on her face isn’t what I expect. She looks… thrilled.
“Oh my God.” She clutches her cheeks. “I’m going to be an aunt?”
“Well… It’s still early.” I gulp, not liking to think that anything could go wrong. “And, I don’t know what Cliff will think.”
“Oh, don’t think I didn’t notice the way you and Cliff were looking at each other the whole weekend. Anyone with half a brain could see the two of you were destined to get into bed with each other.”
“But we didn’t just… go to bed with each other.”
“I know.” She lifts her shoulders in excitement. “You made a baby.”
“Not intentionally.”
“Maybe not, but they’re on the way now, and the two of you are going to be amazing parents. And I’m going to be the world’s best aunt.”
She really will. Except for one part. “Your brother doesn’t want kids.”
“He may think he doesn’t, but I know he does.”
I roll my eyes. “What makes you think you know what he wants better than he does?”
“Call it a sister’s intuition.” She drops her hands into her lap and sobers. “When are you going to tell him?”
“I—I don’t know. But I have to tell him soon. Right?” I chew on the inside of my cheek. “I guess I should call him.”
“Nope.”
I gape at her. “You don’t think I should tell him?”
“No, of course, I think you should tell him. But I don’t think you should do it by phone. This sort of thing calls for doing it in person.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, he hardly lives in the neighborhood.”
“Details, details. I have a million frequent flier miles. You can use some of mine to get a ticket to Alaska.”
I shake my head. “But won’t he be weirded out if I just show up at his place unannounced?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of those details.” She jumps to her feet and wraps her arms around me. “I can’t believe it. We’re having a baby.”
I give a little laugh then, allowing myself to feel excited and happy for the first time today.
She pulls back slightly. “I have just one question.”
“Just one? I have about a million of them.”
“Well, one for now. There are plenty of other questions we can cover later.” She looks at me closely. “You love him. Don’t you? You have for a long time. Right?”
I nod and swallow past a sudden lump in my throat. “I do. I have.”
“Good.” She gives me another squeeze. “Make no mistake, you and this baby are the best things that has ever happened to Cliff. You’re exactly what he needs.”