Chapter 32

"Hey Bri," Tina said cheerfully on the phone the next day. "What do I owe this honor?"

"I need to talk to you," Brian replied.

"Well, here I am. Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise already, judging from the sound of your voice."

"That kind of depends. I need to talk to Bree about something but since you two knew each other for a long time, I wanted to get your advice first."

"Sure, ask away. What's wrong?"

Brian explained the situation just as he had to Paul the afternoon before and his concerns. Tina was silent the entire time, listening intently, before finally speaking up.

"Brian?"

"Yeah?"

"That pill you saw Briana take yesterday?"

"What about it?"

"They aren't what you think you are. She's not taking anything to prevent getting pregnant, but something to improve her chances of doing so."

He felt a huge burden being lifted. "You mean…?"

"Briana's taking fertility drugs, honey. See, when she and Gary were married, they wanted a child so much. There were a few false alarms, and though both of them got checked out and everything seemed all right, for some reason, Bree never got pregnant. So right before your wedding, she went to a new doctor for a checkup and was prescribed Clomid when she explained her situation during her appointment. She knows how much you want kids and of course she loves children too. She told me all about those pills when I was there for your wedding. Bree wasn't sure how to tell you about it because she wasn't sure how you felt about her doing fertility treatments."

"Let's just say I feel pretty damn good about it and leave it at that," he said brightly, feeling much better.

"Glad to be of service," Tina laughed. "Now, don't you think you should quit wasting time talking to me and getting busy starting that family with your bride? I don't think those pills she's taking are going to work by themselves, you know!"

"Right," he laughed back. "Thanks a lot, Tina. I think it's time for that chat with my wife first, though."

Later:

"Ah, there you are," Brian grinned

"I've been in here for the last half an hour," Briana smiled in response. "So what's up with you?"

"I was uh, hoping we could talk for a few."

"Something wrong?" Briana had a look of concern, stopping what she had been doing and gave him her full attention.

"Well, I kind of thought so, at least at first."

"Bri, what's going on?"

Difficult as it had been, Brian broke down and confessed what he had witnessed in the bathroom the day before, and his conversation with Tina earlier. "Why didn't you talk to me about this?" he wondered.

Briana sighed. "I wasn't sure either how to approach it or if you'd even still want to marry me if you knew I had a difficult time conceiving during my first marriage. It's not something I like making common knowledge."

"Sweetheart, did you really think I was that shallow? I'd married you anyway and would support any solution you would have sought."

She brightened. "You would? You do? I mean, I know how much you'd drop from time to time about kids, and–"

"Yeah, which I kind of thought you were taking birth control pills at first and was a little disappointed. Now that I know what they really are, I feel considerably different."

"Come to think of it, I feel better now that this is all out in the open," she nodded. "I don't want to hide anything from you, and now that you know what's really going on, I don't feel like such a freak anymore."

"I would have never thought you were a freak anyway, Bree. I love you. So how is that shit supposed to work anyway?" He was now curious.

"Kind of strange to explain really," Briana responded. "I take a 50 mg pill on days three through seven of my cycle, but apparently this stuff ill jumpstart ovulation in 80% of women using it, and about 40% to 45% of women will get pregnant within six cycles."

Brian raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Six cycles, huh? Then what the hell are we doing sitting here?"

He grabbed her hand, pulling her up toward the bedroom. "We got some work to do to see if this stuff of yours really is effective."

Briana laughed, following without protest. This could be more fun than I originally thought, she mused to herself.