Wow, thanks for all the reviews for the first chapter! You guys are so awesome!
Fun fact: The whole time I was writing this story (late January to late February) I kept The Everything Pregnancy Book beside my computer because I wanted to convey Max's pregnancy realistically. Because of that, I know a lot of stuff about pregnancy I wouldn't have known otherwise, and I've taken to randomly blurting them out, which makes my family and friends look at me weird. Heh.
Oh, and there were a couple questions about ages. Just to clear that up, Max and Fang are twenty-five; Gracie and Devin are fourteen.
"You're pregnant?"
I gritted my teeth, internally cursing Fang for replying to my breaking news with an emotionless question. Still holding his hands, I stared hard into his face. "Yes. I'm pregnant."
"How do you know?"
I rolled my eyes. "I took three tests, stupid."
"But, I mean…" Now his brow furrowed, showing some worry and confusion. Not the best sign in the world… "Why did you take the tests? You must have suspected it, but you didn't say anything."
Looking down at our hands, fingers entwined, both our wedding rings visible, I said, "I was getting sick and stuff, but it was usually after you left for work. I didn't tell you because… because I wasn't sure if I really was, so I waited until I was sure."
I kept my eyes down. The silence that followed was excruciating, and with every passing second, I grew more fearful that Fang was angry. But then I was being pulled into strong arms, and black fabric was all that was in my line of vision, and I buried my face in it.
"Are you mad?" I murmured.
"Of course not," he answered, rubbing between my wings. "I just wish you hadn't kept that to yourself, having to worry alone for weeks." He paused. "How long have you been worrying about this?"
I thought: this was the first week of September, and it was at the beginning of August that Fang had talked me into leaving for a weekend in Los Angeles, just to get away. "About a month. Since L.A."
"Oh," he replied, understanding. He pushed me back a little and kissed me, then rested his hand on my presently flat stomach. And, to my complete relief, a slow smile stretched across his face. "I'm gonna be a dad."
"You are a dad," I reminded him gently.
Fang shook his head. "Not like this."
I rested my hand over his, and a comfortable silence fell over us as we both gazed at my belly. Up until now, I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about having a baby; I was more concerned with what Fang would think. In this moment with him, though, I started to feel… happy. Excited. Thrilled, even.
"What will the kids think?" I asked after a while.
Fang acted like he didn't hear me, like he was in a trance, but then his eyes rose from my stomach and his hand slid out from under mine. "I don't know," he said, rubbing his forehead. We meandered into the living room, where he sunk onto the couch and I sat on his lap. "Devin probably won't care much, but Gracie…"
"That's what I'm thinking." I sighed and placed my head on his shoulder as his arms wound around my waist. We sat there a while, rocking slightly. "Fang?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think this is safe?" I touched my stomach. "You know, being pregnant when I have the… bird issue."
Fang shrugged, jostling my head. "When we first got married, we asked your mom about it, remember? And she ran all those tests and said it wouldn't affect any pregnancies."
"Yeah," I said, closing my eyes for a second. I couldn't remember ever being as tired as I had been this past month. "I'm sure she's right."
Fang opened his mouth to reply, but then we heard the screen door bang shut and footsteps marching through the foyer.
"Come on, Grace," Devin was saying. I climbed off Fang's lap and went to stand in the doorway of the living room, and he followed me. "That guy's an ass, anyway."
I looked at Devin, standing in the doorway with his bag slung over his shoulder and his knit cap covering his shaggy blonde hair, pulled down over his ears, and then at Gracie, already halfway up the stairs, tear tracks on her face.
"He is not," she sniffled, wiping her eyes. "I can't believe you. I hate you, Devin." And with that, she turned and hurried up to the landing. A second later, her bedroom door slammed loudly.
I stepped out of the living room and looked at Devin, crossing my arms. More often than not, it was easiest to assume that whatever problem had come up traced back to him. "What did you do?"
"I did nothing," he said, dropping his backpack and taking off his cap to shake out his hair, which I really wished he would cut. "That stupid jerk she's been dating, Markus, cheated on her."
Beside me, Fang tensed, ever the protector of his little girl. But I just raised my eyebrows at Devin. "Please tell me you didn't beat him up."
The sheepish look he gave me, exactly like the one he would flash as a six-year-old punching the student teacher, pretty much gave me my answer. My hand instinctively fell onto my stomach as I wondered how the heck I'd be able to do this again.
"I told her he was bad news," Devin said, shaking his head as he headed to the kitchen for a snack. Fang and I followed. "I told her the day he asked her out, the last day of school before Christmas last year. But did she listen? No. And it turns out I was right the whole time."
I rolled my eyes as he pulled some cheese and crackers from the cabinet. "Can I have the whole story here?"
"I saw him making out with another girl before school started," Devin said casually, as if he were sharing that week's weather report. "At lunch, I caught him behind the building and said that if he got near Gracie again, I'd personally beat him to a pulp. Guess it scared him enough to go break up with her."
Here's the thing about Devin: he loved his family. When Fang was stressed at work and I was stressed trying to run the household alone, Devin always volunteered to do the dishes or the laundry to help me out. Since kindergarten, he'd been protecting Gracie from anyone who so much as looked at her funny. I was so proud of him; I'd never been afraid to send Gracie anywhere, because I knew he'd do anything to make sure she was safe. But sometimes-- okay, quite often-- he didn't use very good judgment and went about trying to fix things the wrong way.
"Markus was Gracie's boyfriend, Dev," I told him. "You should have told her what you saw and let her deal with it. You guys are fourteen now. She can fight some of her own battles."
Devin popped a cracker in his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. "She never wanted to before. I don't know what her problem is now."
"She's becoming independent, Devin," I sighed, glancing toward the stairs. Then I turned to Fang, whose expression told me he wanted to go kick some Markus butt. "I'm going to talk to her."
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"Hey," I called, opening the door just enough for me to poke my head through. Gracie was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking back and forth. She didn't even look up when I spoke. "Can I come in?"
"Sure," she said softly, so I did. I crossed the room and sat beside her, reaching over to smooth her hair. What I'd learned from dealing with Gracie and her various dramatics was not to pressure her-- when she was ready to talk, she would.
Sure enough, after about five minutes of sitting there together, she said, "I guess I'm not really mad at Devin. I'm mad at Markus, but I didn't want to believe he cheated on me."
"I understand," I said.
"You're so lucky, Momma," she said, leaning against my side. "You and Daddy had each other from the beginning. You didn't have to look for someone who loved you."
"It wasn't smooth sailing for us, either, though," I told her. I'd never seen her look so deflated, and it was worrying me. "Nobody has a perfect relationship."
"I loved him," Gracie went on as if I hadn't spoken. "But I guess he didn't love me enough to stay faithful."
"Guess not." I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead. "It's his loss, though, sweetheart. Not yours."
She let out a loud, long sigh. "You know, Markus being gone is so different for me… we were together almost a year… maybe now's, like, the time for me to make other changes. Start over."
I grinned, thinking about perfect timing, and silently thanked God for making this all work in tandem. "Actually, I have some news that will help you with that."
"Really? What?"
Shaking my head, I disentangled myself from her and stood up. "I'll tell you at dinner, okay?"
"Okay." Gracie grinned that toothy grin that looked so much prettier on her face than those tears. "It's good news, right?"
I reached down and ruffled her hair. "I think you'll like it."
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At six o'clock, I served the microwavable macaroni and cheese-- yes, most of our meals are from a box, in case you're wondering-- and sat down across from Fang, the kids occupying each of the other two sides of the table.
"What's your news, Mom?" Gracie asked excitedly, bouncing in her seat.
Devin looked up from his bowl and narrowed his eyes. "News?"
"Yep," I said, looking at Fang. He gave me a small nod, telling me to go ahead. "Guys, I'm gonna have a baby."
Gracie's jaw dropped, and she stared at me, speechless. Silence settled over the table as we waited for one of the kids to say something.
Devin did it. And it was the last thing I expected. He looked right at Gracie and said coolly, "Told you she'd come back from L.A. knocked up."
I gaped at him while Gracie shrieked, covering her mouth with her hands and shrieking, "Eww, mental picture! Mental picture!" Fang simply reached over and lightly smacked Devin upside the head.
"Excuse me?" I sputtered. "What-- what did you say?"
Devin shrugged, picking up his spoon and scooping out some macaroni. "When you guys were gone, I was telling Gracie we could assume what was going on up there."
I could already feel my pregnancy hormones kicking in and making me irritable. "Nothing was going on up there."
"Well, apparently something was."
"Okay, stop," Fang cut in as I was about to start screaming. "Max, chill. Devin, stop talking."
"When are you going to the doctor?" Gracie asked, having regained her voice, and it was one of excitement. "Will you find out when you're due?"
"I have no idea," I told her, which pretty summed up my whole stance on this situation: no idea. All I knew was that there was a little baby-- mine and Fang's baby-- growing inside of me. "We'll invite Iggy, Angel, Grandma and Ella over for dinner this week and tell them the news and bombard Grandma with questions."
Gracie laughed, and Devin cracked a smile, so much like his dad with that strong and silent thing going on. "That's so great, Momma," she said, getting up to hug me around the neck.
"I'm glad you're glad, sweetie," I told her as she kissed me on the cheek.
"You were right," she said, pulling back. "That is good news."
Fang caught my eye from across the table, and one corner of his mouth quirked, telling me he agreed: Good news.
More drama! I told you guys.
Can we have the same review response as last chapter? That was AWESOME. : )
