Chapter 24
"I'm late."
"You're late?" I repeat dumbly.
"Yeah, I think so," Bella says, nodding at me with wide eyes. "I mean … I'm not entirely sure since I haven't been regular, but so far my cycles haven't been longer than thirty-two days."
"So, you're late?" I say again, apparently incapable of saying anything else.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just stress, or the excitement of our engagement."
"Bella, shit …" I look around the apartment frantically, trying to remember where I left my car keys. I spot them on the table near the stairs—where I always leave them—and get up to grab them.
"Where are you going?" she asks nervously.
"To get you a test!" I exclaim. "You need to take a test. What kind do I get? I don't know the first thing about pregnancy tests."
"Edward," she says with a smile, stopping my nervous movements and babbling before I can get out of control. "Calm down."
I nod and let out a breath. "Okay."
"I have some tests that I bought a few months ago. Let me just go check them out."
"Okay," I say again, back to repeating myself. I follow her through the apartment and perch myself on the side of our bed while Bella rummages through the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom.
"Here they are," she says triumphantly, holding up three different boxes. She comes out of the bathroom and sits down next to me.
"So, what do we do?"
"Well, I'm assuming I have to pee on one of them, but give me a minute to figure out which one to use."
"Okay," I agree. My heart is pounding furiously in my chest. This could be it, the moment we've been waiting for.
I watch as Bella scans the three boxes for a minute. "This one seems to detect pregnancy the earliest. Since I don't know for sure if I'm late or just irregular, I think I should start with this one."
"Okay." I really am an eloquent fucker today. She stands to go back into the bathroom, but I pull her back before she can get too far. I kiss her quickly. "I love you," I mumble against her lips. "No matter what."
She smiles at me. "I love you, too."
She walks back into the bathroom and shuts the door while I sit on the bed and bite my thumb nail. Only about a minute passes before she calls out for me.
"Yeah?" I answer, jumping up and rushing to the bathroom door.
"I need a favor," she huffs. "Can you come in here?"
I open the door and find her sitting on the closed toilet lid with the contents of the box spread out on the counter. "What's wrong?"
She laughs to herself. "My hands are shaking. I'm afraid I'll drop the damn thing in the toilet. Can you find me a cup or something?"
"I'll be right back." I quickly run to the kitchen and start pulling open cabinets, eventually finding a small, plastic cup that looks like it was a salad dressing take-out container. "How's this?" I ask when I reach the bathroom again.
"That'll work."
I look at her again and realize that she's really nervous. "Do you want me to stay?"
She laughs again but looks at me with pleading eyes, nodding her head. "Is that really weird? Do you mind staying with me?"
I chuckle a little, too. "I don't mind as long as you don't mind me in here." We pretty much have adopted an open-door pee policy, but we don't specifically set out to be in the bathroom when the other person is going.
Bella gets to work and I peruse the instructions that are laid out on the counter, still biting my nail. When she finishes doing her business, she sets the cup on the counter and we both just look at it like it's going to do something on its own.
"What now?" I finally ask.
"The instructions say to hold it in the stream for five seconds, so I guess I should just dip it for five seconds?" she asks more than states.
"Sounds good," I agree with a nod.
She dips the test and caps it, setting it down on a piece of toilet paper. "Three minutes," she states.
"Okay. So, what should we be looking for in three minutes?" I ask, looking over the instructions again.
"Two pink lines means pregnant and one line means not pregnant," she rattles off as she starts to wash her hands.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the test although I'm trying to ignore it. I totally fail, and instead watch as the window appears to get saturated, like the liquid is soaking up through the stick. I gulp as the liquid continues to move and one line appears in the area that's already wet. About ten seconds later, the liquid has completed its journey through the window.
"Bella," I choke out, my voice cracking. "You mean two pink lines, like this?" I point to the stick, where two thick lines show prominently, looking like an equal sign.
She turns around still holding the towel she was using to dry her hands and gasps. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open.
"Breathe, baby," I say quietly, putting my hands on her shoulders.
All the air rushes out of her. "We're having a baby!"
I pick her up and swing her around, as much as the small space will allow. "We're having a baby," I mumble into her neck, feeling a stinging in my eyes. "Fuck! I love you … so much!"
"I love you too, Edward." I can hear the tears in her voice, but at least I know this time, we're both crying happy tears.
I finally put her down and start kissing her, so excited about this development that it takes my mind a minute to register when she pulls away from me.
"What's the matter?"
"What if the test is wrong?" she asks with worry in her eyes.
"Can they be wrong?" I'm confused.
"I don't know," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "But what if it is? I don't want to get my hopes up and then go to the doctor and find out that we were wrong."
She's biting her lip, looking like she's ready to cry sad tears again.
"Wait! You have two more tests," I conclude. "And a cup full of pee! We can take the other tests and see if we get the same result."
Her eyes brighten. "You're a genius!"
"Eh, not really." I shrug. I'd just do anything to comfort her right about now. Plus, I really want to know and now she has me doubting the damn pee-stick.
"Okay," she says, ripping into box number two. "This one says 'hold for ten seconds and results should appear within four minutes.' Here, you dip it."
I take the stick from her and dip it into the cup, counting to ten in my head. Bella rips off a piece of toilet paper to set it on, and I place it on the counter.
"All right, what are we looking for on this one?" I ask.
"Um …" She looks back to the instructions again. "A plus sign for positive and a minus sign for negative. Makes sense." She shrugs. "Oh, but it'll be blue on this one."
"Geez, why can't they all just be the same?"
"I have no idea," she sighs. "Guess they just like to keep us on our toes, because waiting for a pregnancy test isn't nerve wracking enough."
Bella's still looking at the instructions when I glance back at the newest test stick. I'm not patient enough to wait the full four minutes before checking it out. Heck, it probably hasn't even been two minutes yet.
A smile creeps onto my face. "Okay, that's two out of two," I say, waving my hand in the direction of the blue plus sign that has already appeared. "Should we go for the trifecta?"
She laughs. "We may as well!" She rips into the last box and pulls out the contents. "This one couldn't be any easier. 'Hold for five seconds and results will appear digitally within three minutes,'" she reads off.
"Would you like to do the honor?" I ask, moving out of the way so she can reach the cup.
"Sure." She steps over and dips the stick, placing it on the toilet paper next to the last one. Reading from the instructions again she says, "It'll either say 'pregnant' or 'not pregnant' and beep when it's done."
The words are barely out of her mouth before a beep sounds.
"You look," I tell her, nudging her in the shoulder.
She turns to face the now crowded counter and lets out a breath. "Three out of three."
I look over her shoulder to see "pregnant" clearly displayed on the digital screen. "I think that's what they call 'irrefutable evidence,'" I tell her.
"Yeah," she says, smiling widely. "I can't argue with three tests."
"We're gonna have a baby," I say quietly, pulling her close and hugging her tight.
Her arms wrap around me and squeeze as she lets out a sob. I hold her a little tighter and kiss her head. "Happy tears, I promise," she says through the sobs.
"I know, Angel. Mine are, too."
Once we've finished celebrating the news, we talk about what comes next. The first thing we decide is that we're not going to tell anyone for a while. Bella's worried about complications because of her age, although I assure her she's perfectly healthy and takes good care of herself so she shouldn't worry. Regardless, she plans to call her doctor first thing Monday morning.
"You'll let me know when your appointment is," I make her promise. "I want to go with you."
She agrees and snuggles into my side on the couch.
Out of nowhere, she says, "We should get married soon."
I sit up and look at her, confusion clear on my face. "How soon?"
"I don't know … a few weeks? It shouldn't take long to plan." She sits up more and shrugs.
"You don't want a big wedding?" I ask.
"No. Do you?" Before I can answer, she's already apologizing. "Oh, gosh! I didn't even think that you might want something big. I'm so sorry, Edward!"
I cut her off with my hand over her mouth, laughing. "I don't want a big wedding, Bella. I thought you would want a big wedding," I say, removing my hand. "I'm a guy. As long as you show up, I'm happy."
She laughs and hugs me, sighing in relief. "I'm glad to hear that. I've done the big wedding, and frankly, it wasn't worth it. I was thinking that all we really need is our family and closest friends."
"That works for me. It can just be a family affair."
A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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