Page 103 of Just My Ex

“How did you get in?” I ask when it finally stops and I can flush, grabbing yards of toilet paper off the roll to wipe and cover my mouth. “I locked it.”

He gives me a look ofReally? You have to ask?

“Oh yeah. You’re Mister High Security Boss of the Free World,” I say with a grin. Except he can’t see it because I’ve still got a lot of toilet paper in front of my face.

He tugs on a lock of my hair and gently moves it from my face. “What’s going on? You’re not okay …”

“It’s …” I stall, trying to think of something I can say that will placate him until I figure out how to surprise him with this epic news. I thought about doing a big reveal with his family or asking Victor to play an elaborate prank on him somehow.

But I haven’t had it in me to plan anything special, mostly because I’ve been spending all my free time right here on this very floor.

He gets up to wet a washcloth when I hear a gasp. Yep. I’m pretty positive he now sees the plastic stick on thesink, the second one I took because I was worried maybe yesterday’s positive test was a fluke.

“Quinn?” His voice is full of wonder.

I gaze at him as he holds up the pregnancy test to better catch the light. He’s got a sloppy grin, one of the many smiles that I love.

He catches my gaze and huffs out a laugh. “Are you serious? It’s real? This is really happening?”

I drop the tissue from my face and smile, managing to peel myself off the bathroom floor. I hold onto the wall for support and start to stand right as he picks me up in the air and spins me around, my feet riding the air.

“Two kids?” he whispers in my ear. “We’re having another one?”

The queasiness strikes me again and I clutch his shoulders. “Hold up!”

“Oh! Sorry.” He sets me down but keeps a steadying grip around my hips. “You don’t need a rollercoaster ride right now.”

Footfalls—the short, staccato, prancing ones of Navie’s and the galloping trot of Petra’s—sound outside the bathroom door, followed by Navie knocking on the door and Petra’sarf, arf, arf.

Henry brushes his fingertips along my brow and places a small kiss on both of my cheeks. “I’m so happy, Queenie. Are you okay? What can I do for you?”

“I’ll be better in a few more weeks.”

“Parents?” Navie’s talking through the door, but it’s muffled, like she’s smashed her face up against the wood.

Now that Henry knows, I want to hold Navie in our arms. We won’t tell her quite yet. It will be nice to marvel at the newness of all of this with Henry and I alone for a while.

We open the door and Petra bounds in, jumping up on me with a sniff and another bark.

“We played tug tug with the rope you made her, Daddy.” She flicks both sides of her hair out of her moist-with-perspiration face. “And then we--Down, Petra!” Navie insists, pulling on her collar and joining in the family cause to train this rescue dog as best as we can.

“It’s okay this once,” Henry says. “Because I think it’s time for a big family hug.” He picks up Navie and settles her on his hip, and then grabs my hand, tossing me a careful look as he guides us to the living room.

With Petra giving a quick play bow and a bark before joining in, we crouch down to encircle our little girl, who without even knowing it yet, will be a big sister soon enough. Holding our secret like the sweetest of gifts, he removes one hand out of the hug and places it gently on my middle, emotion brightening his eyes.

“This is exactly how it was meant to be,” I whisper in Henry’s ear.

He squeezes his eyes shut and breathes it all in. When he opens them, I see, through their vast blue, a stillness and calm I’ve never seen before.

If I’d been the author of this tale, if I’d crafted it from flights of fancy and drifts of thought, I would have never chosen the path we took to get here.

I could not have written this. But somehowthis—the soul-rendering joy we have now—could not have come without the darkness.

We needed all of it.

The love—heady and breathtaking.

The breaking.

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