Chapter Two
Several Weeks Later
Tracey stepped out of the bathroom with the home pregnancy test in held carefully between her fingers. She was dressed in her silk light pink nightgown. She sighed heavily and walked over towards Chris. The wait was driving her insane.
"Anything?" Chris asked as he moved over slightly. Once Tracey sat down, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and placed his head on top of the shoulder next to him. His eyes darted towards the test still held in her fingers.
Tracey shook her head slightly. "No," she said. She did not want to think of why the test was showing no results. It was a long shot anyway, she tried to tell herself. Women don't have babies when they were her age. She could feel her eyes starting to fill up with tears.
"Trace?" Chris asked as he pulled her closer towards him. He took the test from her and placed it on the night table. He rubbed her back soothingly as he hugged her tightly. "It's ok, sweetie, we can try next month," he whispered into her ear.
Tracey shook her head. "Forget it," she muttered. "It's useless. I'm too old."
Chris wiped the tears away from her large brown eyes. "None of that nonsense," he told her. "You're not too old," he assured her. He picked up the test again. "Besides, these things aren't that reliable. I mean, this is positive, but that doesn't mean--"
Tracey dabbed at her eyes again. "Repeat that," she said in shock.
"I think it's positive," Chris said in the same tone of voice. "The little line's there." He smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Trace, you're pregnant. I knew you weren't too old. How do you feel?" he asked.
"Shocked," was Tracey's first reaction. "And scared," she added. "But a good scared. Kind of the way I felt when I started working in the city." She turned to Chris. "We're going to be parents," she told him. "The two of us. Spaghetti and wine for dinner people raising children."
Chris shrugged. "Well, we have nine months to fix that, right?" he asked.
Tracey rolled her eyes. "Forty weeks," she corrected. "It's closer to ten months," she pointed out as she flopped back onto the bed. "Oh god, I hate you already," she muttered.
"I love you," Chris whispered as he crawled up next to her.
"Do you have any idea how much hell this is going to put me through?" Tracey asked. "I'll gain a lot of weight."
"Sympathy with jurors," Chris argued.
"Back pain, constant need to go to the bathroom, weird food cravings, mood swings, back pain, not to mention having to go to work with a bunch of men," Tracey continued. "Ugh, I hate you," she repeated as she rested her head on top of the pillow.
Chris sighed as he kissed her head. "I love you," he repeated.