Chapter Nine #3
It was a few minutes later, as Marcie, Samantha and I gathered around Yukiko as my princess sat scribbling pages of strategy notes all over her legal pad, that Mona re-entered the room.
Slowly, everyone noticed. A few people fell silent, and then those who were still talking noticed the silent people and stopped, and before long you could have heard a pin drop.
“Mona?” Yukiko set down her pad. “What is it?”
Mona’s expression gave nothing away. “That was the lab,” she said. “About Samantha.”
The whole room froze.
I was around the chair before I could think twice about it, one hand gripping my babygirl’s and the other wrapping around her shoulder. She trembled against me, all the color draining from her face, and I felt her brace against me the way a driver braces for a crash.
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Say it,” she begged, the words coming out in a rush. “Please, Mona, please just fucking say it—”
Mona said it.
“Your blood test came back negative.”
I expected relief. I expected, frankly, for Samantha’s legs to go out beneath her and for me to have to hold her to keep her from toppling to the ground. But there was something I don’t think I’d fully realized until that moment. That I hadn’t really let myself believe.
Samantha hadn’t been kidding. She cared about herself a hell of a lot less than she cared about the life growing inside her. That was what kept her up at night, not her own health.
Because Mona’s words hit her, registered just enough for her to comprehend them, and then bounced right off in the face of the real question.
“The baby,” Samantha said without stopping. “Mona, what about the baby?”
Mona’s voice cracked. “The baby’s clear. Both samples were negative. It’s… it’s over, Samantha.”
My babygirl stared at her. Not daring to believe it.
She closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. Both hands went to her stomach, clasping it. “Thank you, God. I… I…”
Looking at her hands, I remembered what she'd told me. I feel like if I touch it too much, I'm going to find out something. The awful terror that kept her from holding the life growing inside her.
For the first time since Call Your Daddy, my babygirl was able to touch her pregnant belly without fear.
Her knees buckled. But I was already there.
I scooped Samantha into my arms as the room erupted.
The whole family came apart as one. Yukiko sobbed, Marcie’s hands covered her mouth as she forgot all about the contract for the moment and screamed with joy.
Yui hugged Mona, who—I could barely believe what I was seeing—buried her face in my wife’s mother’s blouse and let out huge, shuddering sobs of relief.
“It’s okay, babygirl,” I said, able to mean it at long last. “You hear me? You’re okay. You’re both okay.”
“I’m okay,” Samantha sobbed, like the words were a bridge of their own she was testing to see if they’d carry her away from her grief. “I’m okay. We’re—oh my god, Daddy, we’re going to be okay…!”
There were more cheers, jokes, people rubbing Samantha’s hair or clapping her on the back.
Heather and Eva threw themselves into each other’s arms and started making out with sloppy kisses.
Caroline still sat at the table, her hands folded as if in prayer, while Lakshmi was saying something in the direction of the ceiling in Hindi I was pretty sure meant thank you so much.
“I fuckin’ knew it!” Maria said, giving Tasha a high five. “You don’t ever bet against Delta Rho!”
“Daddy,” Samantha kept sobbing over and over again. I think her shock and her joy had mostly robbed her of the power of speech. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy…!”
“I’m right here, babygirl,” I said, holding her tighter than tight. “It’s over. You’re gonna be just fine. Fuck, I love you so much…”
Nobody could possibly argue with that.
I’m not sure how long I stood there holding Samantha, basking in the relief of no longer having that awful possibility hanging over our head. Frankly, a lifetime wouldn’t have been long enough.
I just knew that at some point, Yukiko lifted her tear-streaked face from where she’d been hugging her mother tight, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and took control of the situation.
“Okay,” my princess said. “Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen.”
We listened.
“We’re not sitting in this house tonight,” she said, swallowing her tears, her voice firming. “We are going out, we are going to party, and every single person in this family who is legally allowed to drink is going to have as many as they fucking want!”
Cheers rang out through the room.
“Mona, reservations,” Kiki said, gesturing with her chin.
“On it,” she said. “Budget?”
“Fuck a budget,” Kiki said.
The room erupted with laughter.
“I need two designated drivers who aren’t me—I’ll be the third.” Yukiko glanced down at her belly. “We’ll carpool. And Sam, you are not driving.”
My babygirl couldn’t help but agree.
“Let’s go celebrate,” Yukiko said, taking my hand. “This is a really, really good day.”
Well.
Nobody argued with that, either.
Because it really, really was.