Chloë's birthday was lovely. Junior was invited to the party, but he didn't want to come. Chloë had a wonderful day; she bonded with Yvonne and spent more time with Lilimay and Jemimah. At the end of the day Kriss was absolutely exhausted, but pleased that Chloë had a good day.
Three weeks later Yvonne sat on her bed with the little white stick in her hand. Her eyes glued to the little window smaller than the nail on her little finger; it had been nearly eleven years since the last time she did this. It was amazing how one small line had the ability to change the rest of Yvonne's life. Suddenly it started changing colour. Yvonne's eyes got wider and wider until the line went blue
"Positive" she muttered to herself "I'm pregnant"
At almost exactly the same time Kriss was mimicking Yvonne's very same movements. She too was sitting on the bed with a white stick in her hand, she too had her eyes glued to the window and she too was pregnant.
Yvonne's face burst into a huge smile, a baby, she was going to have a baby. This would be the first time she had the father, this was the first time she was happy, she wanted to tell Arnold and as if on cue he walked in
"Arnold" Yvonne jumped at him "I'm pregnant"
"What?" Arnold yelled back
"Pregnant" Yvonne smiled "this is the first time I've been so happy about it"
"Okay" Arnold said half heartedly
"You don't seem very happy about it"
"It's a bit of a shock, that's all, I'll be fine"
Kriss was ecstatic. She ran straight out of the room and into Dave's arms. Dave took her back into the room and sat down on their bed
"What's got into you?" Dave hugged her
"Your baby" Kriss' grin spread across her face "Dave I'm pregnant"
Dave's face dropped like a stone "pregnant?" he asked, "You can't be"
"Why not?" Kriss asked
"We don't need another baby" Dave protested, "We've already got five"
"Dave, I am pregnant and I am having this baby, if you don't want it that's fine but you give up your fatherhood to the others too!"
"What do you mean?"
"If you say you don't want this baby you are saying that you don't want Chloë, Llewey, Jim-Bexley, Alicia-May and Theo"
"But I…"
"Don't tell me now" Kriss interrupted "you think about it"
Kriss and Yvonne walked out of their bedroom simultaneously "Men" they exclaimed together
"What's wrong Kriss?" Yvonne asked
"Nothing's wrong" Kriss answered, "I'm pregnant!"
"Me too" Yvonne screamed
They jumped into each others arms and hugged
"What's Dave done to make you feel bad then?" Yvonne asked
"He told me he didn't want the baby" Kriss answered, "what did Arnold say?"
"It'll take a bit of getting used to," Yvonne answered
"I think I win on the nastiest husband race this time"
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him if he didn't want this baby then I couldn't be sure that he wanted any of our lovely children either and he needed to let me know when he decided what he wants"
"Okay" Yvonne took her best friend by the hand "let's forget about our silly men and talk about our babies"
"Okay" Kriss agreed
They marched down to the officer's club and poured themselves a lemonade each
"Come on then" Yvonne encouraged "tell me when it happened"
"Okay" Kriss leant forward and took a sip from her drink "it happened on the night I walked in on you and Arnold…"
"Are you sure?" Yvonne interrupted
"Yeah" Kriss assured her "we haven't done anything since"
"Oh"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because that's when my baby was conceived too"
"Really?"
"Yeah, we haven't done it since then either!"
"So" Kriss asked, "thought about any names yet?"
"Yeah" Yvonne answered "for a boy either Blaize, it means stammerer or firebrand, or Caleb, it means the bold one"
"And girls"
"Adeline, it means noble and kind, or Poppy, it means red flower"
"They're nice"
"And you?"
"For a girl Isabella, it means oath of God, or Lorena, it means laurel wreath"
"And boys"
"Damien, it means the true friend, or Achilles, it means swift."
"Lovely" Yvonne smiled "they're nice, what do you think of mine?"
"Wonderful" Kriss answered "we've both got good taste when it comes to naming our children"