Welcome to Chapter 2! This will be the chapter when Jess investigates her pregnancy more with Emma's help. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own the Mother-Daughter Book Club or any of its characters (ha! I wish.) They belong to Heather Vogel Frederick.

Jess' POV

Side Effects: Chapter 2

I gasp and dropp the calendar. My period is more than a month late. I've always dreamed of having a family, especially with Darcy, but we didn't planned on having children yet. It was a mutual decision that we'd focus more on our work at Dartmouth before our family. After all, it had only been two years since our wedding. A baby was out of the question.

You couldn't change a pregnancy. It wasn't like a choice you could unmake, or an action you can undo. And that choice and that action were far less life-changing than a baby was. Lives changed because of a child. Mothers needed to stay home and take care of their child, or even children. Fathers had to earn more, and pay more attention to their families.

Darcy and I can't have a baby. A family was supposed to start later, after our careers had calmed down, when we were older. I was only thirty-one, and Darcy was thirty-three. We're too young to have children. Being a professor's a lot of work, and we both want to concentrate on work.

I can't have a baby, I thought. It'd change my life so much. I'd change Darcy's life too. I don't want everything to change. What about being professors at Dartmouth? I'd have to stay home with the baby. Darcy might need a job that was better suited for the baby. Oh goodness, I can't be pregnant.

It wasn't that I didn't want a baby. As a little girl, I'd been overjoyed when the twins were born. Children were bundles of joy. But I wanted to look at somebody else's bundle of joy. I couldn't be a mother. What about teaching chemistry at Dartmouth and helping out on the choir? My job was important to me too. Everything was spinning out of control with my possible pregnancy. Everything would change.

I take a deep breath and think, It's not even confirmed, Jess. Maybe stress is just keeping your period away. I doubt that was true, because my period was always on time, but it still calmed me down a little. Reaching for my phone, I call Emma. She picks up on the first ring. "Hi Emma, it's Jess."

"Hey Jess! How are you?"

Emma's four months pregnant with her first baby, so I thought she could give me advice.

"Um, I'm good, but there's something I really need to talk to you about." I say quietly.

"Okay…" Emma's voice has uncertainty.

"Do you remember when you first thought you were pregnant and I came over to help but I didn't know where to get pregnancy tests so Stewart bought you a lot?" I wince. Rambling when nervous is one of my bad habits.

"Yes, I do remember. He bought two of every kind. It must have been ten or twenty of them!" Emma answers, laughing. She was trying to cheer me up, I could tell, but it wasn't working.

"Do you have any left?" I ask awkwardly. Thank goodness Darcy's away on the Washington D.C. field trip and Stewart's at a writing conference for reporters.

"Yes, I have at least ten or eleven left…wait, are you PREGNANT?" Emma's voice hit the roof as it climaxed.

"Maybe. That's what I'm trying to find out." I say quietly. I was both excited and paranoid that I could be having Darcy Hawthorne's baby.

"I thought you two were going to wait before trying for a family!" Emma says, less loudly. "I mean, not to make you feel bad or anything…I'd love to see you and Darcy with kids, but…I'm just confused."

Despite what Emma says, I wince. We have been waiting to begin our family. We have not yet started to try for a baby. We didn't use protection, because we didn't think it was that necessary, but…we never thought I'd be pregnant, either.

Somewhere Darcy is sitting in a random hotel in Washington D.C., unaware that he's probably going to be a father in eight or nine months. However, here I am, in a house in Concord, stressing on the phone to my sister-in-law and best friend that I might have a child.

"Listen, can I just come over? I really need to company. And, you're pregnant, so maybe you can help me figure everything out." I plead desperately, hoping Emma says yes.

"Sure! Come as soon as you can. Stewart's gone, so it'll be just us." Thankfully, Emma's as hospitable as she was back in sixth grade. I'm so glad we're sister-in-laws.

Panicking, I quickly go to my car and drive to Emma and Stewart's house. I'm still wearing Darcy's green-and-white football jersey and my hair's a tangled, blonde mess, but it didn't matter. Racing up the pathway, I quickly ring their bell.

Emma arrives after several moments. Like I said, she's four months pregnant with baby number one, so I wanted her help with my pregnancy. Goodness, that sounds so weird. My pregnancy.

"Sorry about the delay, Jess. I was just finishing up a short call from Stewart. He's in Philadelphia at that reporter's conference, so he wanted to know how I was doing." Emma says happily. She's been giddy even since she found out she's having a baby.

I laugh a little. Stewart, on the other hand, has done nothing but fuss about Emma since he found out he'd be a father in a few months. "Don't worry about it! Stewart would go crazy if he didn't manage to fit in one call to you and the baby every hour, don't you think?"

Emma giggles. "He's not that bad, is he?"

I smirk. "Check your call history. I'll bet that the last time Stewart called was…around two or three hours ago." Emma shows me the phone and laughs as she realizes that I'm correct.

She smiles down at her belly. "Well, you know how protective Stewart is. And he keeps apologizing for leaving for two weeks because I'm just starting to show a baby bump. I'm going to need maternity clothes soon."

Emma lifts up the edge of her oversize shirt and lets me feel the bump. She and Stewart agreed to let Darcy and me be the baby's godparents, and of course, we're the aunt and uncle too.

"Hi, baby! This is your aunt and godmother Jess. How are you?" I say, rather loudly.

"The baby can't hear you, Jess." Says Emma, laughing. "Ooh! Can I be the godmother of your baby?"

I gulp but still remain optimistic. "Em, I don't even know if I'm pregnant. I could just be sick."

Emma grins and looks down at her belly, then back at me. She's a lot more enthusiastic about her pregnancy than I am about mine. If I'm even pregnant in the first place, that is.

"Soo…about your pregnancy." Emma says, changing the topic.

Blushing, I reply, "Emma! Stop calling it that! You know, I could be sick. Maybe I have the stomach flu or something." After all, I am married to her brother. It's a little embarrassing. Darcy and I are married, but…you know, the whole baby topic's still awkward.

She guides me to their living room, where we sit down on her new brown couch. "How do you feel?" Emma asks, with a friendly smile.

"Um…I've been sort of nauseous in the mornings…I've had a few dizzy spells. And my period's late by more than a month." I reply, with a nervous tone in my voice.

Emma smiles and says,"Well, it sounds like you're pregnant to me. The symptoms all match up. The morning sickness, dizzy spells…and naturally, your period didn't come either." She looks like a sunny day while I feel like a miserable rainstorm. A rainstorm that has to tell her professor husband about the pregnancy and just might lose her career for a baby.

"Do you want to find out for sure?" She asks gently.

Gulping once again, I nod swiftly. Emma hands me three pregnancy tests and I head for the bathroom. The world spins, not only because I'm anxious but also because of yet another dizzy spell.

I quickly go into the bathroom. My heart is racing and I feel like I'm on stage in front of everyone, back in sixth grade during Beauty and the Beast. And yes, I know I'm alone, but that doesn't make anything better. I could be having a baby. I could ruin my career, not to mention my husband's. Our whole world could be flipped upside down, and these tests are going to confirm or deny it.

After peeing on the sticks, I carefully look at the tests and feel a chilling shock run through my body. All three tests have two lines running through them. I'm pregnant.

I think I'm petrified. This pregnancy wasn't planned. I mean, Darcy and I planned to have a baby or two later, but the timing of my pregnancy is years off. I can't be carrying his baby.

Emma's there waiting for me when I finally emerge from behind the bathroom door. "Well?" she asks, clearly happy for me. Too bad I'm not even half as calm or cheerful.

A glazed look runs over my stony, blue eyes. I feel like I'm ready to collapse onto Emma's hardwood floor. "I'm…I'm p-pregnant." I manage to stutter out, amidst all the confusion going on in my life. "The tests all said…they said…positive."

As I say these words, I want to cry. Everything about my life is going to change. I'm going to have to go on maternity leave and probably eventually going to have to quit my job for my son or daughter. Darcy's going to have to change his life and his job, too, to be a father.

Emma begins to hurriedly congratulate me on my pregnancy, but she catches on quickly to my sadness. With a confused expression on her face, she asks, "Aren't you happy? You're probably going to be a mom! And I'll be an aunt! And maybe a godmother!"

My heart plummets even further. I should be happy. Mothers are supposed to be happy and joyful and generally very excited. When my mom found out she was having me, she was ecstatic, and so was my dad. Emma and Stewart were the same way. The difference is, I'm not my mother, or Emma, and Darcy's not my father, or Stewart.

"I'm not like you, Emma. Darcy and I are professors. We commute every day to Dartmouth and then commute back home, where we make dinner and sometimes grade and fall asleep." I feel like a deer, caught on the road, between the headlights of two cars. "It's easy for you and Stewart. You're an author; he's a reporter. You can stay home all day with the baby and work as well. Stewart can investigate, then come home and write his article. I can't teach from home, and neither can Darcy. But I can't jeopardize either of our careers because of a baby!" All of my worried begin to pour out of me.

I think I'm about to cry. My thick blonde hair, still in its messy braid from this morning, becomes wet with my tears, and suddenly I'm sobbing in the Chadwicks' house with my husband in Washington D.C. and with a baby on the way.

Emma leads me to the living room and she sits down next to me on the brown couch. "Jess, it'll be okay. Pregnancy isn't the end of the world. In fact, it's the start of a whole new one. You're having a baby."

Her words help calm me down, but I'm still spilling tears all over Darcy's jersey. Sure, it's easy for her to say that pregnancy is a miracle and that the beginning of your status as parent is a beautiful journey to make with your husband. When you work at home, and your husband can too, a baby doesn't change everything that can be changed in your life.

"D-Darcy's going to kill me." I say, while wiping my eyes on my shirt. "It's all my fault. I mean, I was on the birth control pill, but I have f-forgotten it a few times."

Emma leans in for a hug and says, "Darcy adores you. Trust me; he'll be as happy as Stewart is that he'll be a dad soon. Do you think he'd ever be mad that he was going to have a child? You know him. Darcy loves kids!"

These moments are what best friends/sister-in-laws are for.

I sniff and wipe my eyes again. "You think so, Emma?"

"I'm sure of it." Emma nods assuredly. "Also, this is not your fault. Never tell yourself that."

Pulling the edge of my tear-soaked jersey down, I'm able to say, "Thanks for everything, Emma. You're the best. Really, I mean it."

Even though I'm still a little anxious, I'm really grateful to Emma for helping me calm down.

I look down at my flat belly and say, "Hi, baby! This is your mommy here. Daddy's away on a trip, but I want you to meet your aunt and godmother Emma!"

"Really?!" Emma asks, with a wild but ecstatic look on her face. She then yells, "Hi, baby! Meet your cousin! Also, I'm your aunt/godmother Emma!"

"The baby can't hear you, Emma." I say, smirking.

As I leave the Chadwicks' home later tonight, I feel a lot more assured. I think that everything will be okay. We'll be able to work things out, I'm sure.

Now all I have to do is wait for Darcy to get back from Washington D.C. and tell him.