Chapter 1

"Em, babe, you need to wake up and get ready for school. It is the first day back and the students don't need to beat the teacher to class."

"Spin, honey, I will be down in a sec."'

The bathroom door was locked. Emma took the box out of the bag. This was the moment-of-truth. Was Emma Nelson a mother-to-be?

"Want some scramblers and bacon?"

"No, babe, just an apple this morning. Kinda in a hurry."

" Love ya. See you tonight for dinner."

With a kiss, Emma was out the door.

The last period of the day went by so slowly, and Emma was ready to get home and start dinner. Besides, she still needed to formulate a plan for telling Spinner about the baby. She was still and shock and knew that Spinner might not respond well to the news. They had been married for almost four years, but she was still a new teacher. Also, Spinner had a great deal of responsibility now that he was part owner of The Dot. The last bell of the day interrupted her thoughts, and she gathered her things.

"Good-bye, Snake." she said as she poked her head into her step-dad's office, "Before I forget, Spin and I are coming over for dinner this weekend. Mom invited us to celebrate Jack being accepted into the honor courses."

"Ok. Bye, Em. See ya tomorrow.

Emma's bike ride home gave her time to think more about the baby. She did want to be a mother and she knew Spinner would make and excellent father, but her previous reservations were still haunting her. However, in the end she knew she would definitely have the baby. Hopefully, Spinner would be happy about it.

"How was your first day back, babe?"

Emma was almost knocked to the floor by the smell of dinner coming out of the kitchen. She had to fight the urge to be sick from the strong aroma.

"Wow, you're home early," she answered him with a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah. I let Peter close tonight so I could cook you dinner after your first day back to work. Besides, more time with my wife is never a bad thing."

"Can't argue with that. School was tiresome," she sighed, "but there seem to be some promising students in my classes this year."

"I'm glad to hear it. You want some cayenne pepper in you veggie chili?"

"NO! I mean nothing too spicy, babe. Sorry to yell I just have not been feeling like myself today. There has been a lot on my mind."

She was on edge and knew she needed to break the news before she lost it.

"Babe, are you ok?"

"I need you to come sit with me on the couch. There is something I need to tell you."

Spinner cuddled up to her on the couch and anticipated the worst.

"Babe, this morning when I was late coming down to breakfast, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive. Spin, I'm pregnant."

Spinner's expression became ghost-like and the touch of his hand wet and clammy.

"Spin, did you hear what I said? Spin?"

"Wow! You're…you're…wow."

"I know you wanted to wait a while longer. I guess the pill failed last month when I had that respiratory infection. What do you think, honey?"

Spinner knew Emma had been worrying about his response all day. Truthfully, this was a shock and not the news he had expected, but Spinner had been thinking about starting a family lately. Business was going well at The Dot and his mother was hinting at grandkids. He was concerned about voicing this idea to Emma because she had just started her teaching career. Now, here it was. Emma was carrying his child and he could not be happier.

"I think it is awesome!" he finally answered after a long pause, "I can't wait to be a dad. I know we did not plan for it now, but we did not plan for us and look where we are now. I truly think we are ready for this. I love you Emma Nelson, mother of my child."

"I am so glad to hear you say that. I was scared you would not be happy about the baby."

"Well now that's settled, let's eat."

"Spin, about that. I can't eat your chili because the smell is making me sick right now. Sorry," she said with regret in her voice.

"In that case, tonight's menu soda crackers and ginger ale."

"Love ya, babe. Thanks." she kissed on the cheek before heading upstairs to change.

They would have to tell the grandparents-to-be this weekend. That was a whole new worry altogether.